OFGCC Reforestation

The Tree Farm is the property where the Orillia Fish and Game Conservation Club carries out its reforestation programs. The Tree farm is an 80 acre site which is managed under the ‘Managed Forest Tax Incentive Program’ (MFTIP) and supervised by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF). The club enrolled the Tree Farm with the MNR’s ‘Woodlands Improvement Program for Private Lands’ in 1969 and that program was renamed ‘The Forest Management Plan’ in 1984 and the MFTIP in 1998.

The program requires the OFGCC to hire a certified forestry consultant to survey the property and develop a’ Forestry Management Plan’. The original plans could be a 10 or 20 year long plan with 5 year reporting from the club but now it must be updated every 5 years by a forestry consultant.

The Tree Farm Is Divided Into The Following Sections:

The Tree Farm is divided into sections

  1. Uplands Hardwoods – 22 acres of Maple, Red Oak, Basswood, Black Cherry, Beech and Ash – last improvement/lumber cut was done in 1985. To keep the forest healthy a ‘firewood cut’ is carried out from time to time.
  2. Lowlands – 14.5 acres of Soft Maple, Hemlock, Yellow Birch, Beech and Ironwood, mainly a wet area and home to local deer and wild turkeys.
  3. Uplands 2 – 17 acres mainly mature Red Pine planted in 1963 and is currently receiving a thinning cut on a 7 year cycle giving way to hardwood tree growth
  4. Christmas Trees – 4.1 acres assorted trees, White Spruce, Frazer Fir, Balsam, Douglas Fir
  5. Red Pine Plantation A – 2 acres of Red Pine planted in 2000 ready for a first thinning cut. This plantation will be increase by an additional 1.5 acres(1,000 trees) in 2023
  6. Wildlife Habitat – 13.5 acres of scrub trees and grassland with poor soil conditions – ideal habitat for Snowshoe and Cotton Tail rabbits, Spruce Grouse, ground squirrels and grassland birds.

Red Pine Forest

Red Pines were planted throughout Simcoe County after the land was stripped of its forests and converted to farmland. The dry and sandy soil conditions did not support a typical hardwood forest but was ideal for Red Pine that suited the growing conditions. Thousands of acres of Red Pine was planted throughout Simcoe County in the 1960-70s and provide a significant source of income to the county.

            As Red Pine forests grow they improve the quality of the soil. By doing thinning cuts to harvest the trees, the forest floor gets opened to sunlight, which propagates the germination of  trees like maple and oak creating a more sustainable forest. This is the natural regeneration process and the Red Pines are not replanted. OFGCC’s old plantation was planted in 1963 and is mature for harvest. A second plantation of approximately 2 acres (1,500 trees) was planted in 2000 is ready for its first thinning cut but will not be ready to start harvesting until 2050.

Christmas Trees

The OFGCC started planting trees, as a fund raiser, to be sold as Christmas Trees, in 1980. Originally the trees planted were White Spruce and Scotch Pine but by 1990 the Scotch Pine became infected and removal of these trees commenced. By that time over 10,000 Scotch Pine trees had been planted. Since 1980 the club has planted over 22,000 Christmas Trees of assorted species; White Spruce, Scotch Pine, Fraser Fir, Balsam Fir and Douglas Fir.

            Christmas Trees take approximately 10 years before the seedling grows to a size of 6 foot in height in Ontario, and the trees require continued maintenance to make sure the trees are of a quality to sell as a Christmas Tree. At the OFGCC Tree Farm we plant new seedlings (500-1,000) in May, apply mulch around the tree to hold moisture, fertilize, then water weekly through the summer and into September depending on weather. Seedlings are mulched and watered for 2 years. (The watering is essential to the success rate and takes 6 Members about 4 hours to complete each time). Trees are fertilized annually and once the trees are about 4 years old they have to be pruned every year to generate thickness in the growth and to maintain the shape. Pruning stops when the tree is sold.

            Because of the tremendous amount of manpower required to raise Christmas Trees, the OFGCC  is limiting the Christmas Tree plantation to a manageable number of trees and moving some of the acreage over to Red Pines, which provide a much lower revenue stream but also require a minimum amount of maintenance.