Flemming College Arboretum

Arboretum planning began in the Fall of 2016 when Fleming College received a Tree Canada, Canada 150 grant & a TD Friends of the Environment grant
First phase of the arboretum was planted in May 2017
New Trees and shrubs trail was created in August 2017
SAR trail planted October 2018 – mostly Carolinian species (SAR due largely to habitat loss/destruction in southern Ontario)
Emphasis on native shrubs in Spring 2019
266 tree & shrubs planted in total
Trees planted support curriculum – Trees & Shrubs and Dendrology courses
Trees sources from local nurseries & growers. Some started from seed in our own greenhouse (i.e. rock elm, catalpa)

There are several motivations for the establishment of an arboretum that ultimately will benefit the Frost campus and the Kawartha Lakes community.
First, the arboretum can be used as an outdoor classroom by various programs including, but not limited to, Ecosystem Management, Forestry, Fish & Wildlife, Arboriculture, Urban Forestry and Outdoor and Adventure Education.
Having a greater variety of trees on campus and increasing our overall canopy cover allows us to maximize the environmental services that urban forests provide, including improved air, soil and water quality, reduction of greenhouse gas concentrations, stormwater runoff abatement, wildlife habitat creation, increased biodiversity.

The mission of the Arboretum at Frost Campus is to create a campus wide living laboratory, showcasing a variety of native and non-native trees and shrubs in a variety of landscape settings (natural and aesthetic) for the purposes of education, research and community engagement.
1. Enhance the collection of native and non-native trees and shrubs on Frost campus in a manner that contributes to curriculum development and delivery at Frost campus. Education is our primary focus.
2. Increase canopy cover and improve biodiversity on the Frost campus in order to maximize the ecosystem services that trees provide in an urban environment.

Kawartha lakes looking to adopt regional seed strategy for seed collection and long term storage Response to Angus seed plant closure – responsible for cleaning, storing and selling seed used across the province for reforestation, restoration and conservation efforts. Serviced Academia and private nurseries & growers.

Nut orchard contributes to seed bank initiative by being living seed bank - contains several SAR (Butternut & American Chestnut) and Shellbark & Shagbark hickory. With demise of American Beech due to Beechbark disease, our forests are losing an important mast producing species (any species of tree that produces food for wildlife is considered a mast species). In light of climate change, foresters are looking at the feasibility of using hickories (a Carolinian species) to replace the void left by the decline of beech in the GLSL forest region.