City of Waterloo receives almost $2M to plant 10,000 trees

Sarah Soerensen, parks plant coordinator with the City of Waterloo, posed for a photo on July 24, 2025. (Ashley Bacon/CTV News)

The City of Waterloo is preparing for a different kind of growth thanks, in part, to a large grant.

The Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) and the Government of Canada is giving the city more than $1.9 million through its Growing Canada’s Community Canopies grant program.

The city has announced plans to match that amount, bringing the total investment for the project to $3.8 million dollars.

The funds will allow the city to plant a total of 10,000 trees across 82 locations in Waterloo.

“There will be some boulevard plantings done where we haven’t had trees in the past,” said Sarah Soerensen, planting coordinator and arborist for the City of Waterloo.

Trees will also be planted in city-owned parks and some cul-de-sacs.

The effort will continue over the next two years, and a third year will be dedicated to maintaining the new growth.

Through the initiative, 1,300 trees have already put down roots.

As for what species will be chosen, it will depend on soil conditions.

“We’re planting bitter nut hickory, shagbark hockey, some Carolinian species, a few black hum and red mulberry [trees],” Soerensen said.

Selecting several different species of trees is about more than aesthetics.

“When things start to brew and go sideways, the populations that’s impacted by those pests and diseases is much smaller,” Alison Morrison, manager of horticulture at the University of Guelph’s arboretum, explained. “The ability to spread is much more limited.”