Ottawa River Pathway

September 2023

Fall 2023 Tree Planting and Reforestation

In keeping with the city’s goal to increase its tree canopy cover as well as the community feedback received as part of the survey supporting reforestation of this city owned greenspace, Forestry Services as developed a reforestation plan for the Ottawa River Pathway located at 6317 Radisson Way. The plan identifying the new reforestation areas can be accessed through the Library Documents tab on this page.

The reforestation initiative involves planting 3,500 tree saplings across 1.42 hectares of land. The tree species will include a variety of native deciduous and coniferous species, suitable to the site’s growing conditions.

Planting is scheduled to begin in late October 2023 and is anticipated to take approximately 3-4 days to complete. Please note that the cross-country ski trail will be maintained and realigned, as indicated on the plan.

If you have any questions about this reforestation project, please contact Forestry Services, Julie Jackson at Julie.Jackson@ottawa.ca.

April 2022

What we learned

Ottawa River Pathway - Potential Future Tree Planting and Reforestation

Thank you to everyone who responded to our survey about options for potential future tree planting and reforestation along the Ottawa River Pathway.

With over 180 participates in the survey we learned that many residents use this area and more than 85% of residents would like to see changes to the existing conditions in this area of the Ottawa River Pathway.

Most responses indicated that they would like the annual grass cutting in the meadow areas stopped to allow naturalization of these areas. There was a response rate of over 95% indicating they would like to see additional trees planted within this study area of the Ottawa River Pathway.

The preferred option for reforestation of the meadow was Option C, south of the pathway with areas to be designated as no grass mowing zones. Option C was selected with over an 87% response rate. The second preferred option was Option A north of the pathway. The least preferred option was planting individual shade trees south of the pathway with no changes to the existing grass mowing practices.

Residents provided additional feedback through the survey. There were several recurring themes in the feedback including:

• Planting more trees, not planting trees, promoting wildlife habitat; climate change, safety concerns, visibility to the river, access to the river, riverbank stabilization and park furniture.

The public feedback has been summarized below:

• Only plant native species
• Plant more evergreens to provide a wind break
• Maintain access for cross country ski trails
• Reduce grass cutting practice to either side of the pathway and near rear yards of properties on Voyager Way.
• Maintain the visibility of the river and even increase openings to view the river
• Improve riverbank stabilization
• Request to remove noxious species
• Add benches along the pathway
• Create access point to the river

Next steps:

The Options Analysis was the first step in learning the public’s opinions. The next step will be for Forestry Services in collaboration with Park Maintenance to develop the preferred option into a future planting plan with appropriate plantings and a maintenance program for this study area. Forestry services will be the lead for this next stage. For more information and updates please contact Forestry Services, Heather Pelz at Heather.Pelz@ottawa.ca

Projects that were identified through the survey that were out of scope of this project such as park furniture will be reviewed by Parks and Facilities Planning to determine feasibility.

December 2021

The City is looking for feedback on potential tree planting options within the Ottawa River Pathway, located at 6317 Radisson Way. The areas for potential tree planting are located north of Voyageur Drive between Fairwinds Terrace and west of Radisson Way. The community has the opportunity to select where future tree planting and reforestation could take place within this stretch of the Ottawa River Pathway. This survey proposes general tree planting and reforestation locations. A detailed planting plan by Forestry staff would be created as an outcome of this community survey. A maintenance plan is also presented within these options. This community survey does not address tree planting through-out Ward 1 and is limited to this specific location. The proposed tree planting options are in the document library on the right. Please share your feedback below.