Written by
Heather Miller
Recreation & Programming Manager
City of Melville
Andrew Fahlman, the Director of Public Works and Planning, took on the task of producing two new programs due to
this opportunity. He created the ‘Adopt-A-Tree’ program that allowed community members to plant trees in front of their
homes, ensuring that the city’s streets are lined with trees for many years to come. The home owners have pledged to take care of their trees for the first five years, which will help make sure that the trees take root and grow for another 100 years.
The second program Andrew created w
as ‘Green Melville’. This program allowed eighteen parks and green spaces around our community to receive replacement trees for those that were destroyed in recent storms over the past few years, or receive trees for the first time, such as the Trans Canada Trail and Melville Reservoir. Additionally, this program allowed the City to bring the community together and had community groups help plant trees, while raising funds for their individual organizations. We were very fortunate to have eleven groups, more than 100 volunteers, planting with us on June 10, 2017, with a majority of the organizations involving youth during the planting. What a great way to share a legacy and teach our youth the importance and benefits of planting trees!
With the grant, we were able to plant 31 carefully selected tree species to encourage biodiversity, disease resistance and wildlife habitat. We were even able to include 227 Manitoba and Amur Maples to celebrate Canada’s 150th birthday. We also planted white birch to honour Saskatchewan’s Provincial tree and white poplar to symbolize and honour the First Nations peoples of our province’s Sun Dance.
The City of Melville’s Public Works department spearheaded these programs because they saw the benefit they would bring. We are extremely fortunate to have a Public Works department that is so supportive of green spaces and has such a respect for everything that we believe in and advocate for in recreation. The City is also very lucky to have Andrew specifically on board because he has a true passion for the outdoors, environment, wildlife and nature in and outside of work, which clearly was showcased in the programs that he developed for the city.
Andrew has created two very successful programs that will leave a legacy within the City of Melville, as approximately
1,500 trees will grow during our time and our children’s time.
This story was originally published in the Fall 2017 issue of DIRECTION Magazine.
