As part of the NPCA's Trees for All program, staff from the Welland, NPCA, and volunteers from local schools and communities came together to plant Welland's first Mini Forest in September 2025. In July 2026, NPCA staff conducted a survival assessment and the GAC is happy to share the following results:

• The result was 87% survival, which means the planting is well on its way to becoming a forest!
• Many tags were buried in the soil making locating the tagged trees difficult initially, but thankfully very few actually ended up being missing.
• The species doing best on site from survival percentages were Red Maple, Freeman's Maple, Bur Oak, Trembling Aspen, Sycamore, Nannyberry, Black Elderberry, and Highbush Cranberry; all of which had 100% survival rates!
• For the species which stood out as doing the best, Highbush Cranberry grew the most in average crown width (1090% growth; most going from 1cm [or single stem width] to 14-21cm width), Black Elderberry grew the most in height (93% growth; max increase from 25cm to 90cm tall), and Pussy Willow grew the most in root collar diameter (73% growth; max increase from 5mm to 18mm)!
• Based on specific growth information collected and compared, the average increase in crown width (measured width of spreading branches) was 396%, the average increase in height was 19%, and the average increase in root collar diameter (the width of the base of the stem where it meets the soil) was 32%!
• Some invasive purple loosestrife was present at site around trembling aspens but were knocked down during site visit. Monitoring will watch for its spread within the site at future site visits; if it progresses too much, removal is recommended.

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Pre-planting in September 2025:

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Assessment in July 2026:

The next assessment for this site will be in 2029.