Students gathered on a plot of city-owned land Friday to do their part for the environment, spending the day planting trees on city-owned land just outside Gueph.
Friday's goal was 1,500 trees of various types.
Leading the way was the Upper Grand District School Board's CELP (Community Environmental LEadership Program), a four-credit course offered to Grade 10 and Grade 12 students that involves a variety of environmental and outdoor components.
They were joined by elementary students from Rickson Ridge and Kortright Hills.
"We (CELP) teach about 500 kids a year a two-day environmental science program, so those schools are very environmentally friendly and today we've got out some Grade 7s, 8s and 5s," said CELP teacher Joel Barr.
He said this is the 13th year for the tree planting and so far they have planted 35,000 trees.
"It all started with our bus driver. He said 'you know, you're using lot of gas to drive to your program every day,' so he got on the horn with the city and said 'where can we plant some trees?'" Barr said.
The location was just north of Arkell Road near Starkey Hill.
"The Arkell Springs wells are all through that nearby forest and our goal is to secure this land, allow for the snow pack to stay here, it then trickles down and feeds into the aquifer, then it's pumped into the city," Barr said.
"This is the city's plan to increase tree cover and also to secure water for Arkell Springs, which is 60 per cent of Guelph's water."
Friday's project was a joint venture between the CELP program, the City of Guelph and Green Legacy, a local tree-planting initiative.
Green Legacy supplies the trees, the city supplies the mulch and the coconut mat to protect the base of the tree from weeds and the students supplied the manpower.