Elora Environment Centre

Founded in 1993, the Elora Centre for Environmental Excellence's (ECEE's) mission has been to identify, field test and deliver environmental programs at the community level, and to promote sustainability through public education and program activities. Our vision is that all communities and citizens adopt sustainable approaches to how they live and utilize resources such as energy, water and materials, and commit to environmental stewardship as a way of life. One of the ECEE’s most enduring programs, Neighbourwoods, addresses the needs of trees. Like in most rural and small municipalities, tree care is almost always reactive. Since 2009, Neighbourwoods has worked hard to promote proactive tree care/management by providing a variety of community education programs. This includes a Tree Inventory program, which over 10 years has inventoried 12,000 trees, as well as the Citizen Pruner pilot program that has provided comprehensive training on techniques to prune a number of young public and schoolyard trees under the guidance of certified arborists. One of keys to Neighbourwoods’ success is its grassroots approach, one that builds broad public and volunteer engagement; the same approach being taken with Tree Trust, ECEE’s newest program, focusing specifically on the care of mature, legacy trees – our true climate champions.