The trees are in the ground; now it’s up to Guinness Worlds Record to confirm whether the multi-team tree planting record attempt on May 20th was successful. In total, 28 teams from across North America banded together to plant multiple sites in locations ranging from Thunder Bay, Ontario to Washington, D.C. The goal: Plant the most trees simultaneously within a one-hour period by teams of 25 to 100 people. The previous record holders out of India planted more than 40,000 trees in one hour back in 2012.
With this goal in mind, Sustainable Forestry Initiative set out to challenge the record in a big way, all in an effort to promote responsible forest management and sustainable communities. And while the planters won’t learn the outcome of the record attempt for some weeks, leaving a lasting impact on landscapes across the continent may be reward enough.
Among the day’s planting teams were seasoned veterans representing Resolute Forest Products, who hosted three separate planting events. One of their sites, in Dog River Matawin Forest northwest of Thunder Bay, saw tree planters from Haveman Brothers Forestry Services undertake the planting. The company, based in northwestern Ontario, is involved in extensive tree planting operations on the surrounding forest in the spring of 2015. With shovels in hand, the team of 48 tree planters planted an impressive 19,620 jack pine, black spruce and white spruce seedlings.
“It’s fantastic to see so many people coming together to achieve a common goal,” said Al Corlett of Forests Ontario, who acted as an official witness to the plant near Dog River. “Sustainable Forestry Initiative, through their organization of this record-setting event, is helping to ensure a future of healthy forests across North America. The teams from Resolute Forest Products, and those others participating elsewhere, should be proud of the legacy that they leave for future generations.”
Together, the Resolute Forest Products teams in northwestern Ontario planted nearly 39,000 trees. All told, the 28 teams that participated contributed to the planting of more than 200,000 trees by over 1,100 planters across the U.S. and Canada. In a separate but related effort, Forests Ontario partnered with Michael’s Hair Body and Mind and the Credit Valley Conservation Authority to form a team of tree planters at Rattray Marsh in Mississauga who also contributed to this record attempt. Read more about their experience here.