“Acts of creation are ordinarily reserved for gods and poets, but humbler folk may circumvent this restriction if they know how. To plant a pine, for example, one need be neither a god nor a poet, one need only own a good shovel.” ALDO LEOPOLD – Sand County Almanac
“Glenn McLeod owned a few good shovels and with them, performed his share of ‘acts of creation’ in and around our region. In fact, it is safe to say his acts of creation, with shovels, tractors, tree planters and seedlings too vast in number to count, have altered the very landscape and ecology of our part of Ontario.”
These words, written about Glenn McLeod in the 2009 Winter issue of Watershed by Norm Wagenaar, stand as a testament to a man who shouldered the responsibility of land and forest stewardship with the strength and the wisdom of a gentle giant.
Glenn started his career at the Orono tree nursery after he graduated from Lakehead University with a degree in forestry. When the nursery closed, Glenn opted for a position as Stewardship Coordinator with the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR).
In his role as stewardship coordinator, Glenn worked with a council of Northumberland landowners and farmers who were interested in conservation projects – forest management, tree planting and stream quality improvement. Glenn was a natural leader. Not only did he have the knowledge of his profession, he had the common touch.
But Glenn had more than one shovel in the ground. He also recognized the role that science plays in the diversity of our forests. He worked with the Forest Gene Conservation Association studying species under threat, collecting seeds from trees that were disease resistant and developing stronger strains that would survive for future generations. He gave workshops on invasive species and talked to hundreds of landowners about planting trees.
In his spare time Glenn was a partner in the Northumberland Tree Planters. Every spring, Glenn, Laird Nelson, Bill Newell and Art Marvin would unload a tractor trailer load of trees – bundles of root stock – waiting to be planted. They’d hook up the tractor and plant along the banks of our local streams, hillsides and vacant lands. The Northumberland Tree Planters put over a million trees in the ground throughout the Northumberland region in the last 25 years. Yes, over a million trees.
When the Ontario government shifted its focus away from stewardship councils, they looked to Glenn once again, despite the fact that he had retired. He was hired by Forests Ontario as a field advisor, but he continued planting with the Northumberland Tree Planters. Art Marvin remembers sitting on a hillside looking south toward Lake Ontario one spring day with Glenn: “We were halfway through a tree plant and having a bite to eat. Glenn smiled and said, ‘Just think, we’re being paid for something we’d do for free.’ I’ll never plant another tree without thinking about Glenn.”
Glenn McLeod was a gentleman, a cultivator of community, a family man and a planter of dreams. He passed away on February 10.
Jane Kelly
