Forests Canada

The Ontario Envirothon Championships returned to the University of Waterloo from May 24 to 27 and Forests Canada is proud to announce that a team from University of Toronto Schools was crowned as the 2026 Ontario Envirothon Champions!

From the 12 teams that advanced to the Ontario Envirothon Championships, the three top-ranking teams were:

• First Place: University of Toronto Schools
• Second Place: Waterloo Collegiate Institute
• Third Place: Milliken Mills High School

Congratulations to the students who challenged themselves throughout the year to grow their environmental awareness and thanks to the many educators and volunteers for their time, dedication, and knowledge.

nvirothon was made possible through the support of Maple Leaves Forever, Enbridge Gas, the J.P. Bickell Foundation, the University of Waterloo Faculty of Environment, Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada Inc., and the Central Canada Sustainable Forestry Initiative Implementation Committee.

Severe weather has reshaped many of our forested landscapes — and together, we’re helping them recover.

In recent years, provincial parks have been impacted by extreme weather, invasive species, and shoreline erosion. To restore these natural spaces and support species conservation, we are working with Ontario Parks to plant 12,000 native trees and shrubs across nine provincial parks.

Last fall and this spring, 4,500 potted trees and shrubs representing 39 native species were planted in targeted areas throughout those nine parks. An additional 7,500 seedlings were recently planted at Samuel de Champlain Provincial Park to help it rebuild after extensive storm damage forced the park's temporary closure in June 2025.

A heartfelt thank‑you to park staff, our nursery and planting partners, and the volunteers who helped us plant these future forests.

Learn about these projects and more: https://forestscanada.ca/en/article/forests-canada-and-ontario-parks

On Friday, we gathered with the Ontario Greenbelt, Toronto and Region Conservation Authority, Councillor Christina Early, Councillor Mario Russo, Mayor Michael Dehn and many others at Albion Hills Conservation Park to share some exciting news!

Since 2022, we’ve partnered with the Greenbelt Foundation to plant 750,000 trees across the Greenbelt to enhance near‑urban and rural forest cover, boost biodiversity, improve water quality, and help reduce flooding and extreme heat close to urban areas.

With the spring planting season well underway, we announced the next step: another 250,000 trees will be planted this year, bringing us closer to achieving the one-million-tree milestone this fall through the One Million Greenbelt Trees Program.

To mark the moment, we planted two beautiful red maples together. Thank you to everyone who joined us for this special day.

Read more – https://forestscanada.ca/en/article/forests-canada-and-greenbelt-foundation-nearing-one-million-tree-milestone

Toronto and Region Conservation Authority