Region forester sees the forest through the trees
Trees are kind of like us – they need to be part of a community in order to fully thrive. And when forests thrive, they can be a force in the fight against climate change. That’s why Andrew Puchalski works with them every day to ensure they stay healthy. For him, this work runs in the family.
“My great grandfather was a forester, my grandfather worked in forestry, my mother in forest stewardship, and my uncle worked as a steward in sawmilling,” he says.
Puchalski is the Region of Waterloo’s new forester. He protects essential green infrastructure by managing our 16 forest tracts and enforcing the woodland conservation bylaw.
The first of our forests were acquired almost half a century ago in response to large land clearings for farming in Southern Ontario. These properties were reforested at the time with coniferous trees (those are trees that have cones and needles rather than leaves).
“We are losing forests across Southern Ontario at an alarming rate, so ensuring the health and diversity of the tracts we have left is more critical than ever before,” says Andrew. “These woodlands are essential to helping address the effects of climate change.”
While Andrew says adding trees within parks is also important, those trees are often solitary and do not have the same resilience as their peers in more forested areas.
“Their roots are surrounded by hard packed concrete and gravel so they can’t work together. Trees aren’t individuals, they work as a community and share resources and that’s what makes forests so critical.”
Through the Region’s woodland conservation bylaw, Andrew ensures landowners respect ecosystems and wildlife habitats when cutting trees within their woodlands. He monitors properties to determine if they are following good forestry practices.
He says the Region’s Sandy Hills woodland in Elmira is a demonstration forest where good forestry practices are applied. “We want to show where the bar should be, so we inspire industry and landowners.”
Coniferous trees require tending to control competition for scarce resources such as light, moisture and nutrients.
“We did some selective cutting this year to create gaps in the forest canopy, allowing remaining trees to develop and mature, while also allowing native hardwood trees such as black cherry and sugar maple to seed in and establish.”
As well as maintaining our forest tracts and supporting others in the region, the Region of Waterloo works with partners in the community to add trees where we can. Check out our partnership with Trees for Woolwich and their ambitious plan to add 22,000 trees along Regional roads!
We hope you enjoyed meeting Andrew! The Region of Waterloo may be a large organization, but within it are thousands of people working to support their neighbours. This is part of a “Here For You” series to introduce you to the many faces and roles at the Region who are working to deliver programs and services you rely on every day.
Follow the Region’s social media accounts (X, Facebook and Instagram) to meet more of these employees. You can even ask questions and get answers from these folks as we go.