Volunteers plant nearly 400,000 trees to protect local river over past 25 years

CTV News

21 hours ago

The Pine River Watershed Initiative Network marks 25 years of protecting the Pine River in Bruce County, seen near Ripley on June 11, 2025. (Scott Miller/CTV News London)
Murray Yungblut and Don Farrell are pretty proud of the work they and fellow volunteers have done to protect the small, but important, Pine River over the past 25 years.
'The Pine River Watershed Initiative Network is a group of concerned citizens who started maybe a little over 25 years ago with concern about the quality of water coming from the Pine River and entering Lake Huron with the algae and E. coli. So, we got together and decided we had to take some action,' said Yungblut, a long-time volunteer and director with the Pine River Watershed Initiative Network.
After seeing the degradation of their river, running from Ripley to Lake Huron, citizens joined forces and stopped pointing fingers, and came together to try and rehabilitate their waterway.
With the approval and assistance of local farmers and landowners, Pine River Watershed volunteers have planted 365,000 trees, installed 21 berms to control field run-off, and helped install 24 kilometres of fencing to keep livestock out of the Pine River.
Pine River Watershed
Pine River Watershed Initiative Network Directors Don Farrell and Murray Yungblut walk through one of the 50 projects completed by the volunteer conservation organization near Ripley on June 11, 2025. (Scott Miller/CTV News London)
'It was really a situation where they got the right people at the right time doing the right thing. And, at the end today, we benefit from it,' said Pine River Watershed Initiative Network Director and long-time volunteer Don Farrell.
'We try to work with the farmers to make it beneficial for both of us. And so farmers have been very big in the support of our group, which is important because this is a heavily agricultural area,' said Yungblut.
The Pine River Initiative isn't taking farmland out of production and isn't buying up land to build forests, they've simply identified areas of the river that could be protected, and gotten permission to go in and do the conservation work on marginal land that really couldn't be farmed, anyways.
'We're trying to slow down the access of the water to the river that lets the silt to settle out before it gets into the river, and then ultimately into the lake,' said Yungblut.
Pine River Watershed
Pine River Watershed. (Source: Pine River Watershed Initiative Network)
'After the trees are planted, we have no jurisdiction, they're your trees. But, as a rule, I'd say 99.9 per cent of the landowners look after the trees we planted 25 years ago. They're still there today,' said Farrell.
The non-profit organization is funded by private donations, corporate sponsorship, and government funding. Some of that government funding has dried up in recent years, but the work from the Pine River volunteers isn't slowing down, because the threats to their river aren't going anywhere either.
'The Pine River itself is not a major river. It's a very minor river. But the watershed takes up most of our township, and our township is very agricultural, and but there are many field margins and many river margins where we could have success,' said Yungblut.
The Pine River Network has turned one of their approximately 50 projects into an Environmental Study Area to allow the next generation of conservationists to see what's possible when like-minded people work together for the betterment of their local community.
'I can bring your grandchildren out here and show them grandpa planted that tree. You know, those are some of the things that count,' said Farrell.
You can learn more about the Pine River Watershed Initiative Network online.