In an effort to mitigate climate change and beautify the streets of Saskatoon, the SOS Trees Coalition will be planting over 70 trees and shrubs on a piece of land off McPherson Avenue. President of the Coalition Linda Moskalyk  says the activity is the fourth annual Community Tree Planting Day, which takes place leading up to arbour week. “We’ve got fir oak, Manitoba maple, trembling aspen, dogwood, prickly rose, snow berry, and lots of Saskatoon berries. We’re hoping that will attract people to come pick berries eventually.”

The group will be joined by Grade five students from St. Francis Cree Bilingual School and high school students from Walter Murray. Volunteers from the public are encouraged to join from 10:00-12:00am. “We need to see higher canopy cover over the city. Climate change is going to be a big factor. It is already. We’ve had about four or five years of drought and heat in the city, so we need a way to cool the city, and this is one way we can do that without running air conditioners steady.”

Arbour Week will proceed until June 1st with various activities such as a Saskatoon tree photo contest, a self-guided tree tour, a USask webinar, a tree-athlon, and a film night. A list of events and times can be found on the SOS Trees website.