Meet Ontario’s father of reforestation

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This photo, labelled by Edmund Zavitz as 'Ganaraska Wasteland Photo #23', illustrates what had become of Ontario's once lush environment at the beginning of the 20th century.


The year was 1899 and a 24-year-old jack of all trades from southern Ontario enrolled at McMaster University, then located in Toronto.

It was there, on Bloor Street West, that he found his calling: forestry.

Edmund Zavitz would go on to pursue his passion for nature, and trees in particular, as the province’s first chief forester and later as director of reforestation.

It wasn’t a common career path at the time. There was no such thing as “environmentalism,” nor was there much concern for preserving the province’s seemingly endless wilderness.

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McMaster grad and “father of Ontario reforestation” Edmund Zavitz.

Land was gobbled up by speculators, aided by political allies. Forests were routinely burned. Sites such as the Oak Ridges Moraine – an ecologically significant landform near Peterborough – were becoming dust bowls due to extensive deforestation, erosion and spreading deserts.

Beginning in 1905 with his first reforestation project, Zavitz led the charge to educate the public, influence the politicians, and craft the public policies we take for granted today.

By the mid-1940s, conservation authorities, provincial nurseries, forestry stations and bylaws had been put into place.

Highlights of his career include the development of the Forest Fires Prevention Act and the establishment of the provincial air service.

As a result of his work, the Niagara Escarpment is now a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve.

In recognition of a lifetime of public service, Zavitz was awarded an honorary doctorate from McMaster in 1952.

A month before his death in 1968, the one billionth tree was planted in Ontario. Some two billion more have followed – a tangible tribute to a remarkable legacy.

More information can be found in the book Two Billion Trees and Counting: The Legacy of Edmund Zavitz by John Bacher, who received his PhD in history from McMaster in 1985.