It seems Forest Technician Paul Cottenden’s career path was determined when he was a child.
“When I was a little boy, I just loved the outdoors,” Cottenden said. “I was so driven by it. I used to climb people’s trees, and take the seeds and cones.”
He’d bring them back to his own backyard. Not that he’d plant them; it was enough just to collect them.
When the neighbours complained to his dad, Cottenden would be grounded for a week – but it didn't bother him. Come the fall, he’d be back climbing the trees.
Asked why, Paul told his dad, “I have to collect those seeds so we can continue to have trees.”
Cottenden, now 59, has spent a lifetime making sure that “we continue to have trees.”
Working first with the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR), then with other public and private tree-planting agencies, for the past 19 years he has been a Forest Technician with the Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority (LSRA).
By any reckoning, he has planted more than one million trees in Ontario.
Earlier this week, during National Forest Week, the Authority recognized Cottenden for his efforts.
“Paul has planted a lot of trees,” LSRCA Chief Administrative Officer Mike Walters told a gathering at Scanlon Creek Conservation Area’s Arboretum. “By a lot, I mean a million. Paul has single-handedly planted over a million trees in his lifetime.”
“He was one of those individuals, and he still is, who was incredibly dedicated,” said special guest Graeme Davis – Cottenden's former supervisor, now the County of Simcoe's forester.
Davis remembered asking Cottenden to carry out an inventory in the Durham Forest. Despite a heavy snowfall and a lack of snowshoes, “Paul did that work anyway,” said Davis. “It was always done well and done with care, and the same goes for his tree-planting.”
He noted that the results of Cottenden’s efforts are visible around the watershed.
Phil Davies, Manager of Forestry and Greenspace Services with the LSRCA, noted Cottenden has worked to ensure “the success of each planting project, and the planting of each seedling. He’s literally the ‘poster child’ for our tree-planting program.”
Davies added, “Over 1 million trees – that’s a forest. An inspiration for what we can all do.”
At the podium, Cottenden noted that he planted his first tree at the age of eight, at the Wye Marsh. His career began in 1979, with the MNR.
It's one that has brought him a great deal of satisfaction.
“You get to visually see the fruits of your labours,” he said, referencing the forests that have taken root, here in southern Ontario and in the northern boreal forest where he was first employed.
Cottenden credited his late father with inspiring his career, despite all the groundings.
“My dad told me to pick something where you’ll make a difference in the world,” he said. “He really instilled in me to pick something I was passionate about – something you can look back and be proud of.”
Planting one million trees would have made his dad proud.
“It’s so significant,” Cottenden said, “especially today.”
To commemorate the occasion, and Cottenden’s milestone, a Burr Oak was planted in the Arboretum – a 'tree park' at Scanlon Creek that has over 130 specimens of more than 40 different tree species. The oak was described as Cottenden’s “favourite tree.”
“I love all trees,” said Cottenden said, “but Burr Oak particularly rings a bell,” ever since he worked on a tree-planting project in the Holland River flood plain in Aurora. A massive Burr Oak - “a big beautiful tree” - stood near the work site, and he would admire it daily.
Even as a child, he had noticed the stand of Burr Oak trees along Highway 400.
“They live so long. They live hundreds of years,” Cottenden said. There is something about the longevity and permanence that has always attracted him: "After we’re gone, they’re still standing.”
Cottenden said that he’d never thought about the actual number of trees he’s planted, until it was pointed out by his co-workers.
“I’m lucky to work for an organization that appreciates planting one million trees,” he said.
