The City of Barrie says work is well underway to restore thousands of trees lost during last year's devastating ice storm.
The storm damaged about 46,000 municipal trees and destroyed more than 5,000 street and park trees across the city.
"When last year's ice storm damaged thousands of trees across Barrie, we made a commitment to restore what was lost. Today, that work is well underway. With a $2.1 million investment, we're replanting trees in our parks, neighbourhoods, and natural spaces, with approximately 1,400 already in the ground and thousands more to come," said Mayor Alex Nuttall. "I want to thank city staff, contractors, and community partners like Living Green Barrie for helping us move this work forward. Together, we're restoring Barrie's tree canopy and ensuring future generations can continue to enjoy the beautiful green spaces that make our city such a great place to live."
Barrie City Council approved a replacement planting program last June, and crews have already planted about 1,400 new trees in parks, natural areas and along street boulevards.
The city planting will continue over the next few weeks before resuming in the fall and again in the spring of 2027 to reach the goal of replacing all 5,000 trees lost in the storm.
