Lloyd Wilson Centennial Park is getting greener thanks to partnerships

May 29, 2025 · 0 Comments

By Riley Murphy

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The Village of Inglewood Association has partnered with Credit Valley Conservation to plant 150 native trees and shrubs at Lloyd Wilson Centennial Park.

Nearly 30 volunteers came out Sunday morning to help with the planting.

Jeff Theeuwen, a Village of Inglewood Association member, helped get this initiative going.

He had attended a committee meeting where there was talk of securing trees for planting. He went on to submit an application to the Town of Caledon’s Climate Action Fund, and they secured 100 per cent funding for this project.

He then approached Credit Valley Conservation (CVC) for a recommendation, and they said not only could they do that, but they wanted to help with the initiative.

CVC helped plan and provide the Village of Inglewood Association with trees, water, and shovels.

Theeuwen shared that looking out and seeing everyone come together to plant these trees was really nice.

“When I see it here now, I’m really proud of the community and being able to secure the money and do this,” shared Theeuwen.

“The community doesn’t come together without volunteers, so to see as many people come out and volunteer is just amazing. That’s what makes a community: people coming together. I really feel fortunate to live in this community. It’s a wonderful community.”

Pascale Bider, Program Assistant with the Community Outreach Team at CVC, shared why it’s exciting to plant these native trees and shrubs in the community.

“Native trees and shrubs do a bunch of awesome things,” said Bider. “They store carbon, they have deep root systems so they can store a lot of carbon in the soil, so that’s one of our big tools for fighting climate change, and they produce oxygen for us to breathe. They provide us with shade, so it cools down the air, it cools down the neighborhood.

“They produce a lot of flowers and fruit that are a food source for our native insects like bees, as well as native birds. We’re replacing an area that was underused turf grass, so now they won’t have to mow this portion either, so a little bit less carbon emissions through that as well.”

Bider expanded on the kind of trees they were planting that day.

One of them is the species Serviceberry tree.

“They actually have berries that we can eat,” remarked Bider. “If you beat the birds to them.”

Trees were also being planted midway towards the top of the Credit River watershed, which will help shade the river and cool it, bringing positive effects on water quality to Mississauga.

Bider said that Credit Valley has been doing these stewardship activities for many years.

Every spring and fall, they participate in community tree plantings, garbage cleanups, and invasive species pulls with community groups.

“Really grateful to the folks who’ve come out to help us, because we couldn’t do this without all of our volunteers,” said Bider.