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1 Million Trees and Counting

A Massey Ferguson tractor® helps a Canadian group meet its conservation and restoration goals.

By Amy Bickers

Lawrence says the combination of the MF2650 HD and a machine planter makes that high number possible and leads to better survival rates.

Lawrence says the combination of the MF2650 HD and a machine planter makes that high number possible and leads to better survival rates.

In June, the Kettle Creek Conservation Authority, a conservation group in Ontario, planted its 1 millionth tree with a celebration at the Dan Patterson Conservation Area in St. Thomas, Ontario.

Since 2011, the task of planting has been made easier by a Massey Ferguson® 2650 HD. Jeff Lawrence, Forests and Soils Conservation Supervisor for the conservation authority, says they purchased a MF2650 HD in the spring of 2011. “So it just finished up its third spring planting season,” says Lawrence, explaining that the MF2650 HD is used for a variety of tasks.

In each year since that purchase, the conservation group averaged planting about 60,000 seedlings using a machine planter. Lawrence says the combination of the MF2650 HD and a machine planter makes that high number possible and leads to better survival rates.

“Most landowners plant their trees on marginal or fragile land that is often of poor soil quality or sloped land that is too difficult to farm,” Lawrence continues. “This tractor provides sufficient power and stability to allow us to plant using the machine planter on some of these properties that we would have had to hand plant in the past.”

The Kettle Creek Conservation Authority was incorporated in 1965 and encompasses approximately 520 square kilometers (approx. 320 miles). Its programs promote and further the conservation, restoration, development and management of the natural resources of Kettle Creek watershed. The area is sometimes termed “the banana belt” because it has the warmest average annual temperatures and the mildest winters in Ontario.