Tree Planting and Forestry Services
Order Trees
- Order five trees or fewer: Click here to order 1-5 trees – Planting with Purpose Native Tree Sale
- Order 20 or more trees: Click here to download fall tree order form (PDF file) to order 20 or more trees through ABCA Fall Tree Planting Program (Visit Tree Order Web Page here)
Buy trees through Planting with Purpose native tree sale
Each landowner may order up to five trees through the new Planting with Purpose purchasing portal and native tree sale.
All trees must be pre-ordered.
Tree buyers pick up their trees on Saturday, September 6, 2025, in Varna, at the Stanley Community Centre, from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. (This pick-up day is a Watershed Awareness Day event).
The Planting with Purpose native tree sale and Watershed Awareness Day event is a partnership of Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority (ABCA) and the Municipality of Bluewater with support from the Blue Flag program and Ausable Bayfield Conservation Foundation.
Order trees through spring and fall tree order programs
- Order trees on tree order web page (Download the fall tree order form PDF now)
Each year, Ausable Bayfield Conservation, landowners and municipalities plant tens of thousands of trees to improve forest conditions within the watershed.
Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority (ABCA) also offers multiple other tree services to help you manage and get the most out of an existing woodlot on your property.
What to plant
Not sure what to plant? Ausable Bayfield Conservation offers a range of species native to our watershed area in different sizes to suit your tree planting needs.
Visit our What to Plant page:
Staff is available to provide site visits, planting plans, species advice as well as tree planting services, vegetation control, and more.
Ausable Bayfield Conservation offers trees for windbreaks, riparian plantings, and fragile land retirement.
To find out more about tree planting contact Ian Jean, Forestry and Land Stewardship Specialist, at 519-235-2610 or toll-free 1-888-286-2610.
Forestry Services
Woodlot Marking
Certified Ausable Bayfield Conservation staff members can mark your woodlot for harvesting to properly sustain its commercial, recreational and wildlife habitat value for the future. They will assess timber value, mark individual trees for harvest, and calculate the number of board feet to be sold. They can also assist you in selling the timber by advertising and preparing the timber sales agreement between the seller and the lumber mill.
Vegetation Control and Drain Spraying
Licensed Ausable Bayfield Conservation staff can provide assistance to municipalities and landowners in controlling unwanted vegetation like willows, hawthorn and dogwood along open drains and roadsides. Herbicide can also be applied on unwanted grasses and weeds around newly planted trees.
Managed Forest Tax Incentive Program (MFTIP)
The Province of Ontario provides a 75 per cent reduction in property tax for forest owners who have more than 10 acres of woodlot and don't receive the farm tax reduction on the property. Ausable Bayfield Conservation staff members can assist landowners in compiling and submitting a forest management plan.
The deadline for submission of new plans is June 30. The deadline for renewal of existing plans is July 31 each year.
For more information visit MFTIP website.