Junction Creek Stewardship Committee receives grant from TD Tree Days to put in 150 native trees and shrubs
Never one to miss a tree planting, Sudbury ecologist Peter Beckett, one of the major figures behind the city’s world-renowned regreening efforts, was on hand in behind the Garson Library Oct. 17.
Volunteers gathered alongside Junction Creek to plant 150 native trees and shrubs – around a dozen varieties of them.
Beckett said planting trees in the riparian zone – or the shoreline – creates habitat for birds and insects as well as a microclimate by providing shade and cooling the creek.
“An event like this is to try and improve the creek so that in the summer the water remains cool, so the brook trout, which have been reintroduced, and other fish, which are coming back by themselves, have cool water,” said Beckett.
The tree-planting was put on by the Junction Creek Stewardship Committee in partnership with TD Tree Days, an annual volunteer program that brings people together to plant trees and shrubs in communities where the Bank operates.
In 2026, TD is working with 75 organizations to plant more than 30,000 trees and shrubs across North America. Since 2010, volunteers have planted more than 590,000 trees and shrubs through the program.
Beckett, a professor emeritus at Laurentian University and one of the founders of the Junction Creek Stewardship Committee 27 years ago, said the creek was at one time known as “Junk Creek,” referring to its polluted state.
But that has slowly changed, with industry diverting discharges to the water treatment plant, which has reduced heavy metals, litter removed from the creek (although this is still a problem), storm drains filtered and brook trout reintroduced.
“We’ve been very fortunate for a number of years to receive the funding to plant these trees from TD Toronto Dominion Bank as part of their environmental fund,” Beckett said.
Junction Creek is 52 kilometres long, and eventually drains into the Vermillion and Spanish rivers, and then the North Channel of Lake Huron.
But Garson is at its headwaters, meaning it’s a really important section of the creek, said Junction Creek Stewardship Committee executive director Miranda Virtanen.
“So everything starts here,” she said, adding that the volunteers’ efforts “will not only affect this area and future generations, but it’s going to affect all the communities and ecosystems downstream too.”
Jon Cole, senior regional manager for TD Financial Planning, said TD Tree Days aims to plant a million trees across the country.
“When you are down in the valley planting trees today, I want you to think about what it might have looked like 50 years ago, before the efforts of things like the Junction Creek Stewardship Committee and TD Tree Days,” he said.
“I want you to think of what it might look like 50 years from now. When you plant a tree, you do not plant a tree for yourself alone. You plant a tree for your grandchildren. A tree could still be going strong after the youngest person here today is long gone.
“That’s what you’re a part of today. I thank you, and enjoy the day. Let’s plant some great trees for future generations.”
Sylvie Gareau, a Garson resident who took part in the tree-planting, said she often walks in the area with her English shepherd dog, Willow.
Noticing an increase in the amount of trees over the years, she said she was very happy to come and help out.
Heidi Ulrichsen is a reporter with Sudbury.com.