This project was spearheaded by local resident Matt Thomson, in collaboration with the County of Simcoe and TransCanada Energy, and made possible through a grant from Pollinator Partnership with funding by Toyota. The site is a 4-acre pipeline corridor at the Simcoe County Forest Silver Creek tract on Division Road, just outside of Orillia.
After about a year of planning and coordinating, the work finally began in early May! First, a tractor and a tiller was borrowed from a neighbour to break up the sod (no easy feat!)
And then – Saturday, May 13th was the big day. A group of about 10 volunteers gathered at the site, where we were given instructions and then were introduced to the seed mix we would be using – a lovely blend of annuals and perennials that pollinators are sure to love: purple coneflower, partridge pea, sweet mignonette, corn poppy, borage, black-eyed susan, and more!
We then began broadcasting the seed. We formed two lines in the middle of the corridor and made our way in opposite directions until we got to either end, scattering seeds every few steps. We got the whole 4-acres done in just one hour – turns out many hands make light work! All that was left to do was wait for some rain.
We are very grateful to have been a part of this, and a huge shoutout and thank you to Matt Thomson for all of his hard work on this amazing project! Trail signage will be installed this summer to let visitors know what we did and to recognize the support of all the partners. This is possibly the first project of its kind in Canada and one of the only public tracts of land in Simcoe County that has a pipeline corridor section. Matt has said it best in a personal social media post: “With any luck, we hope this sends a message across the country that these underutilized, vacant spaces can be repurposed into something important, and also beautiful.” You can read Matt’s interview on the project here.