Carbon Footprints to Forests

Carbon Footprints to Forests Program

The Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority (ABCA) Carbon Footprints to Forests Program gives people, businesses and community groups a local way to compensate for their personal carbon footprint by donating funds to plant trees in the ABCA region.

Donate now:

To learn more, visit footprintstoforests.com or call Ausable Bayfield Conservation at 519-235-2610 or toll-free 1-888-286-2610.

If you would like to know how much carbon dioxide and greenhouse gases (GHGs) you produce through home energy use and travel by automobile and/or plane, access the carbon calculator at footprintstoforests.com. You can then choose to donate all or part of your carbon footprint.

When you travel by automobile or plane or power your home you create carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases but participate in the program, those greenhouse gases are captured by having trees planted. Every three trees planted capture about one tonne of greenhouse gases (such as carbon dioxide) in their lifetimes.

The online easy-to-use carbon calculator tells you how many tonnes of greenhouse gases are produced by your vehicle and home energy use (and air travel, if you travel by air). The calculator also tells you how much it would cost to balance the impacts of these activities. The site also tells you how many trees will be planted by your local conservation authority thanks to your donation.

Meeting organizers can counter-balance the carbon footprint of automobile travel to a meeting by planting trees through footprintstoforests.com. They can simply use the ‘one-time event’ drop-down choice in the website’s carbon calculator. The ABCA also invites corporations to consider ways they can reduce and/or counter-balance their carbon footprint.

The Carbon Footprints to Forests program was launched in 2014. In the ABCA region trees were planted, between 2015 and 2022, at two ABCA properties: Triebner Tract near Exeter and Linfield Wildlife Area near Bayfield.

Trees capture carbon, add biodiversity, improve water quality, connect forests, and provide habitat. Trees add resilience to pests, diseases, and other climate change impacts. Tree planting alone is not enough to fight climate change but it is one strategy, combined with others, to sequester carbon.

For more actions visit Ausable Bayfield Conservation and County of Huron.

Read about recent changes to the Carbon Footprints to Forests program: