A small team of Niagara College students joined Prof. Wayne Wakal on Shakespeare Avenue in Chautauqua last Thursday to plant the seedlings of the mighty oak trees that make up the neighbourhood’s tree canopy. 

The canopy is a defining feature of the area and has been growing thinner every year as a result of human activity and climate change.

In 2016, Chautauqua resident Leslie Frankish began the Chautauqua Oaks Project to help preserve the neighbourhood’s tree canopy.

She and her fellow volunteer residents have been doing an annual tree planting ever since. 

In 2018, they joined forces with Niagara College’s school of horticulture.

Last week, the team of students from the college planted 48 trees under Wakal’s guidance. 

Students from the college’s seed germination class harvested the saplings from acorns dropped by the heritage oaks in Chautauqua.