Growing a Greener Lincoln: Trees, Climate & Community Action

What do trees, climate change, and your daily life in Lincoln all have in common? 

In this episode of The Lincoln Local, we’re joined by Adam Kelly (Town of Lincoln) and Dr. Alicia Powell (Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority) to break down how local action is shaping a greener, more resilient future.

From tree canopy protection and climate planning to community programs and volunteer opportunities, we explore what’s happening behind the scenes—and how you can be part of it.

🌿 What We Talk About

• What climate change actually means (locally)
• Why tree canopy matters more than you think
• Lincoln’s new Private Property Tree Bylaw
• Climate mitigation vs. adaptation (made simple)
• How environmental work impacts your daily life
• Easy ways to get involved in your community

🍵 Talk of the Town (Events & Updates)

Earth Week (April):

• Community cleanups across Lincoln
• EcoFest – April 25 at the Fleming Centre including a tree giveaway (pay-what-you-can)

Upcoming Events:

• Candidate Information Night – April 16, 6 PM (Town of Lincoln)
• Ball’s Falls Heritage Days – July 19 & August 9
• Ball’s Falls Thanksgiving Festival – October 9–12

🌱 Get Involved

Volunteer, plant, or learn more:

• NPCA: https://npca.ca/volunteer
• NPCA Foundation: https://npcf.ca
• Follow NPCA: @npca_ontario

🌿 Community Highlight: First Beamsville Scouting

• Pasta Fundraiser – April 11 (5–7 PM)
• Environmental projects + trail cleanups this spring

Learn more:
https://scouts.ca
firstbeamsvillescouting@gmail.com

Have a topic you want us to cover?
Know a local business or organization we should feature?

Visit SpeakUp Lincoln at
SpeakUpLincoln.ca/Podcast

Thanks & Credits

With support from:

• Niagara Region Economic Development
• The Watering Can
• Second Chance Decor
• Verhoef Electric

Transcript

Welcome And Why Trees Matter

Stephanie Hicks 0:02

Welcome to the Lincoln Local, a brand new podcast from the town of Lincoln. I'm Stephanie Hicks, the town's Economic Development Officer and co-host. I focus on growth, opportunity, and community, helping people stay connected to what's happening and what's next.

Sara Wilde 0:17

And I'm Sara Wilde, the town's Creative Design and Digital Media Advisor. Behind the camera, behind the design, and now behind the mic as your podcast co-host.

Stephanie Hicks 0:25

For a lot of us, some of our best memories growing up, raising kids, even just taking a breather happen outside, often under a tree. But what happens when those spaces start to disappear? Today we're talking about protecting those spaces and how Lincoln is planning for a greener, more sustainable future.

Alicia’s Conservation Journey

Sara Wilde 0:41

We're joined by Adam Kelly, Environmental Coordinator for the Town of Lincoln, and Dr. Alicia Powell, Manager of Conservation Area Programs and Services with the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority. With Earth Day around the corner, we're digging into everything from tree canopy and climate change to the real ways this work shows up in your day-to-day life, whether you realize it or not.

Stephanie Hicks 1:02

How did a younger Alicia find her way through the trails and into the role of Manager of Conservation Areas and Services?

Alicia 1:09

It's a great question. I'm so fortunate to have grown up in a rural agricultural setting. I'm the fifth generation to grow up on the same farmland in Binbrook, Ontario, which is part of the Niagara Peninsula watershed, of course. So growing up, spending a lot of time in the outdoors, first job working on a farm, visiting my family's farm, spending a lot of time in the outdoors and generating that appreciation and certainly learning that from my grandparents and my parents and my aunts and uncles. And then the great fortune of being able to spend a lot of time up north. I grew up and spent a lot of time in the French River, watershed, paddling, fishing, spending a lot of time there, certainly generating that emotional and physical connection to the land early on as a young child and carrying that through to my adulthood. But my academic background is in health and gerontology and our experience of our healthcare system. But a nuance that came out of some of the work that I did previously is in people's connections to the outdoors and to their natural environment. And so I've been very fortunate to have been with the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority since 2012. I started out as a humble park attendant at my home park in Binbrook Conservation Area. Fantastic place. Actually, my sister worked there before I did. And she said, You gotta come work here. You gotta check it out when I moved back to Hamilton for grad school. And so I did, and that really started my love of conservation, the authority growing up and having family picnics there every single summer was really important. But starting out in a humble position, worked every single job, cutting grass, cleaning washrooms, running kids' day camps and programs, and then coming out here and taking on some leadership roles with the NPCA has been significant in getting to see the impact that we're making on the lives of our park visitors, our communities, and starting to instill that love of the land that I got to grow up with. It's come full circle for me.

Sara Wilde 2:51

I was just gonna say that full circle moment.

Stephanie Hicks 2:54

Do you ever go back and visit? And it's like a I started here as a what was it, a parking attendant? Is that what you said? I started here as a parking attendant, and now look where my career is. Like that, that truthfully was part of that launch, right? That love and passion of your

Alicia 3:07

Yeah, and you know what? The manager at Binbrook Conservation Area who hired me, he's still there. He's still the manager. So we spend time together. Actually, it was just at we just had a big division meeting earlier this morning. Yeah, of course, spent a lot of time at my home park as much as I can. But I love being out at Ball's Falls too. So if you can never make me pick a favourite conservation area within our watershed, but close to the heart and the home for sure.

Stephanie Hicks 3:27

I don't think we would make you pick that up.

Alicia 3:29

Thank you.

Sara Wilde 3:32

Which park is your favorite?

Stephanie Hicks 3:33

Adam, what drew you to a career in environment and sustainability?

Adam 3:37

So, what drew me to a career in environment and sustainability largely also had to do with my upbringing. My mother was a huge part of instilling an environmental ethic in me growing up. And it was also about the community that I grew up in. So I grew up in a suburban setting, which was nice for some reasons, not nice for other reasons. One thing that was nice is it that it gave me access to the environment. So I had lots of woodlots in and around my neighbourhood that I was able to explore and really just figure things out. Say, what species is that? Then hit the library, get a book. I was just a very curious kid, and that kind of just continued on, and I kept being curious, and eventually it led me down the line towards a career in environment and sustainability. And one thing that's not lost on me is the way that the municipality that I grew up in helped instill that. So attending City of Kitchener nature-themed camps growing up, and then attending tree plantings that the municipality would run. So those little things that you don't quite realize until you look back on it later that wow, maybe the municipality did have a decent role in bringing me along this pathway. That's how I ended up here, yeah.

Lincoln’s Tree Canopy And Bylaw

Sara Wilde 4:50

I love how for both of you, early experiences really shaped the work you're doing now. So let's talk about what that actually looks like here in Lincoln. So, Adam, tell us about what you're doing at the town to grow and protect our tree canopy in Lincoln.

Adam 5:04

Sorry for the cringe, but I'm not the Lorax, but I do my best to speak for the trees.

Sara Wilde 5:09

I love it. I love it.

Adam 5:10

Cue the applause there. Thank you. Thank you, thank you. No, I that guy is super orange. And got a good mustache. But there's a lot of work, in all seriousness, that we've been doing to grow and protect our tree canopy in Lincoln and kind of became a bit more on the radar of council and staff around five within the last five years or so. And so the town formed an urban forest working group with council members of the public and staff. And that urban forest working group has been instrumental in setting the directives for what do we need to do to help expand the tree canopy in town. And so one of the largest things that has come out of that working group so far is the private property tree by law. And that was implemented in late September of 2025. And so the purpose of this private property tree bylaw is to ensure that if healthy native trees need to be removed for a valid development reason, those trees can still be removed if there is no alternatives and the development needs to go there. But we need to make sure that we're compensating the community for the value of those trees. So even though that's that specific landowner's tree, the benefits that the tree provide goes beyond that specific parcel of land. And so making sure that we have a framework and a process in place to make sure that the value of those trees goes towards replacing that canopy that's lost in development. And so this private property tree bylaw, it's got tons of exemptions so that if you're removing a tree for a valid reason, like it's threatening your home or it's threatening infrastructure or it's already dead, dying, disease, those kinds of things. There's no application fee or any fees associated with removing a tree that's exempt, but we just want to make sure that we have a whole grasp of the situation and we're able to review the removal of trees. And so that's tree bylaw. We've been working on implementing it for the last year or so. And the website for applications to remove trees should be live within the next month or so. I don't want to put a specific date on it and pigeonhole us there, but sometime very soon it'll be live. And so between the private tree bylaw and the urban forest working group, a lot's being done for the canopy here in town.

Trees For All And Nature’s Value

Sara Wilde 7:25

I love that's what's happening at the municipal level. And Alicia, we're seeing the same kind of work regionally as well. The NPCA is doing amazing work to protect trees across the region. Can you tell us about the Trees for All program? I've actually not heard of it. So what is it and what can people do?

Alicia 7:42

Absolutely. Happy to share. Something that we're super proud of. Of course, the Niagara Pens Conservation Authority, our mission, vision, our statement is Nature for All. And so we launched the Trees for All program in 2023. And how the program works, our organization works with landowners, municipalities, private organizations, schools, clubs, community groups to plant trees on both private and public lands. So we're working with those municipalities, public sector landholders as well as private. And essentially it's a cost-share program that's aimed to reduce the barriers to ensuring trees for all, getting some more tree, and increasing our canopy, as Adam shared. And so we provide subsidies to reduce some of those costs. And we support the planting of trees through that program on those private properties and the acquisition of the tree asset as well. As a larger collective, the NPCA, our goal is to enhance ecosystem health by increasing our tree canopy. And as Adam mentioned, sometimes working in urban environments and suburban environments, that's some of the places that we need it the most. And we're also working towards Canada's goal of planting two billion trees. If we've got trees for all, or we're working to meet some of those federal objectives as well. And since 2023, really exciting and proud to say that the NPCA has executed agreements for service with every single municipality across Niagara region. So this is just a testament to our shared commitment. Working together with the municipalities, recognizing that, seeing some of the bylaws that are being passed and collective efforts across the region has been really exciting. And recognizing the benefits of trees that canopy, supporting both environmental stewardship in our own backyards as well as those social experiences. When I was a kid, I used to meet my best friend under the big tree. And we're starting to do that work and create those opportunities for our communities as well. And of course, this is work that's being done by our restoration team at the NPCA. They're preparing for a really busy planting season. So you'll see them out and about, both public and private land lands across the region this spring and fall. And we always encourage folks if you're interested to volunteer, visit us npca.ca slash volunteer. You can reach out to our restoration team as well. And I'd just like to share back in 2023 as well, we released Niagara's natural asset inventory and we did a lot of really exceptional work looking at all of our natural assets, not just forested canopy. There's over 51,000 forested hectares across Niagara, but we graded that and looked at the value of those assets. And like right now, we're looking at carbon sequestration, the value of that across Niagara and those forested hectares over $38 million annually. So the Trees for All program, the bylaws that are supporting the canopy that exists and contributing to that canopy has a major impact on our environment, on air quality. Over $330 million annually of ecosystem services that our forested and natural assets across the region contribute to us. So we're really fortunate. And I say we straddle the two Great Lakes. We're surrounded by the Niagara Escarpment and beautiful forested areas. How fortunate. So the Trees for All program is one mechanism that public organizations and private landowners could participate in to increase that canopy.

Stephanie Hicks 10:36

I don't think I've ever, I guess, heard that kind of comparison trees to dollars. And now I will be definitely looking at trees much differently when especially like the escarpment, right? Like I that's incredible. Thank you for actually putting that comparison forward and putting numbers.

Alicia 10:55

Absolutely. And you can read the full report, uh Niagara's natural asset inventory report at the NPCA's website. It's a really phenomenal read, exceptional work done across the region.

Stephanie Hicks 11:04

Amazing. Yeah. Okay.

Climate Change Explained Locally

Sara Wilde 11:05

Put it in the show notes.

Stephanie Hicks 11:07

So we have talked a lot about trees specifically, but let's zoom out a bit and get more to a bigger picture. I want to talk about climate change. And first, this is a two-point question. What is it? I think people think they understand what climate change is, and truthfully, I'm not even sure I fully understand it. And second, Alicia, what is the NPCA doing to address it?

Alicia 11:28

Yeah, that's a really great question. So we're fortunate at NPCA. We have a new manager of climate change and sustainability services at the NPCA. And I'm learning more every day. We help to educate folks and students, learners of all ages in thinking about this and thinking about climate change. We recognize that these changes are generally when Earth's average or anticipated weather patterns change. It's not just global warming. It's not what we traditionally consider. Things can get hotter or colder. We may see more or less rain, dry periods, right? We see forest fires occurring in really dry land areas. And of course, we look to our neighbours in the States and globally at some of those significant weather events, increased storms, heavier rainfall quantities when it does storm, more and greater intensity of wind patterns and weather and patterns than previously. So we see wilder weather, we see things that we didn't previously anticipate. And you may speak to some of the older generations, parents, grandparents, or our neighbours, farmers, people that spend a lot of time in the land, and they'll say over the past several decades, the wind patterns have changed. The summer, the planting season has changed. The flow of water over their land has changed. And so this is climate change. And at a local level, the conservation authority and what we share with folks is we see a more frequent and more intense flooding events. And that's part of our responsibility as a conservation authority across Ontario. What we all do is monitor for flooding events and natural hazards that may occur as a result of climate change and seasonal changes. And in southwestern Ontario, we have an expectation as to what our weather will be. And oftentimes we talk about, we get an early spring, late spring, extended winter. But those changes start to have impacts on communities, on business, on economy, on agriculture. Certainly that's important to us here in Lincoln. And we've traditionally been really dependent on consistent weather patterns, and we just can't depend on that to be the same anymore. So what are we doing for climate change and starting to adapt for that? The NPCA, our core mandate, is to protect people and property from natural hazards. That goes back in the Conservation Authorities Act. That's what our role has always been. We contribute to floodplain mapping that helps the development process and building process across the region and identify areas that might be susceptible to some of those major flooding events or hazards to occur during large storm events. So certainly we're looking at shoreline properties, Lake Erie Shoreline here in Lincoln, across Lake Ontario's shoreline. And of course, we conduct that good natural asset inventory and assessment work. So mapping areas to better understand the value and the safety and supportive benefits of wetlands, areas of land that retain and sequester water during flooding events or high water events, and how those can help to reduce the risk of flooding and build climate resilience. So by having low-lying areas restored to a natural wetland setting, that really helps us to start to mitigate and become more resilient in the face of climate change. And then the other thing I'd like to plug for Lake Ontario Coastal Resilience is a pilot project that we've launched just last summer in 2025 across the Lake Ontario shoreline to develop strategies, tools, and actions to help to protect our shoreline. So that's something that we're really excited about and working with the municipalities to do. Certainly, Lincoln's a substantial partner to us in that project. And some of the work that my team does within our own conservation areas is start to educate the next generation. We welcome thousands of school children and learners of all ages through our conservation areas to start to learn about our environment, about flooding, about climate change, and really excited to say we welcomed over 15,000 learners in 2025. And that's an increase. We see more people coming through, more students and children coming through our programs. So we're really excited to start to create that connection similar to what Adam and I had growing up, that that passion for the land and getting out and exploring. We're starting to do that with our own communities and certainly classes and school groups across Niagara. So we're working on a climate change action plan with the NPCA. We're working to reduce our own emissions. So we're greening ourselves as a conservation authority. We're working really hard on that and continuing to grow our programs and services and work with municipalities to adapt areas of stormwater management and working on low-impact development solutions as well. And you'll see that in some of our properties, like Rockway Conservation Area here in Lincoln.

Stephanie Hicks 15:33

So I just want to go back to climate change and then I'm gonna ask you a question, Adam. But would you say this winter, because we've heard a lot about this winter being one of the roughest winters we've had as as Canadians, and truthfully, I think we've just had a lot of easy winters, but would you say to some effect that's because of climate change, like the snow dumpage and constant snow dumpage we've had?

Alicia 15:56

The intensity of precipitation and snowfall, certainly those quantities have changed over time, and that can be impactful. I think the real impact that we have on infrastructure, so things that you and I would notice more so than perhaps people that are studying things over a longer term, is that when we have sudden freeze thaw conditions, that starts to impact our road infrastructure. It heaves concrete, our sidewalks, and makes things less accessible, less friendly or easy to get around. And those are the things that we notice. So when we do have those significant changes in temperature, for example, as a result of a change in climate, that starts to impact our infrastructure. And so can we to mitigate those negative impacts and the millions of dollars we're going to be spending repairing our roads and private property and public property as well. Can we start to build and develop and mitigate those impacts in a smart and sustainable way? So does that mean using different materials and resources to build to patch or repair our roadways and infrastructure, for example? So yeah, I would say those fluctuations can be very impactful, but these are things that you and I notice because we're dealing with it every single day. If we look at it over a longer term, we'll start to see those fluctuations at a grander scale and what that does to our environment. We've registered some of the coldest days on records, you know, since we've been recording temperature back at Pearson Airport. I think that was one of the reports we heard in January during that deep freeze. So certainly climate change doesn't just mean that it's getting hotter or warmer. That means that we're seeing those intense events and greater fluctuation day over day.

Lincoln’s Climate Plans And Emissions

Stephanie Hicks 17:23

For sure. So bringing it to the town's work, Adam, what is the town of Lincoln doing to tackle climate change?

Equity In Urban Shade And Access

Adam 17:32

Yeah, so just echoing on some of Alicia's points there, climate change overall, it's not some hippie environmentalist thing that we're just looking to push on people. Climate change is an existential threat that really threatens everything from our economy to our livelihoods to the standard of living that we're used to. And so at the end of the day, climate change planning is about economic efficiency and the standard of living and securing a good quality of life for everyone in town. And so council recognized this, and in 2021, council adopted the Town of Lincoln's corporate climate change adaptation plan. And so that plan was the beginning of a climate change planning framework that the town has been working on developing. There's two terms that I really like to make sure people know when we're talking about climate change mitigation and adaptation. And so a good phrase is the following adaptation is managing the unavoidable, and mitigation is avoiding the unmanageable. So what that means is that when we're planning to mitigate the impacts of climate change, that means we're trying to reduce the total amount of greenhouse gases that we put into the atmosphere. So the overall amount that the climate changes and goes into chaos is less. The other part of that strategy is adapting to the impacts of climate change. And so that's building more resilient infrastructure and making sure our systems can have the capacity to weather the storm and continue operating. So those are the two fronts that we're looking at when it comes to climate change planning. Doing our part globally to reduce the amount that we're driving climate change, but also making sure that we're doing our part locally right here and adapting our systems so that we can keep on chugging and having a good time, even though climate change is here and is coming. And so, as part of that framework, we are developing more climate change plans. And so there's two focuses here. We have the corporate climate change planning and the community climate change planning. So the corporate climate change planning is just focusing on Lincoln as a municipal corporation. So it's our operations. So we're looking how can we mitigate the emissions associated with our operations and how can we adapt our operations to be more resilient to the impacts. But we're also looking at plans that focus at the community at large that gives suggestions and strategies for how we can decarbonize as a community. Because it's not just municipal operations that need to decarbonize and become more adaptable to the impacts of climate change, it's the community at large. We're developing a set of three plans, and so I'm gonna list them off here. We have, as I said, we already have our corporate climate change adaptation plan, and we're currently underway with our corporate climate change mitigation plan as well as our community climate change mitigation plan. So emission inventories are the first step in those mitigation plans, and initial emission inventories have been teased to council at the last committee of the whole meeting, and full reports are going to be coming on that in the coming months. And really, that's just looking at operational strategies to reduce our the amount of greenhouse gases that we emit. And so we have this whole framework that we're working on, and within this framework, it's guiding strategies for how we can tweak certain things and how we can alter our investments so that we make sure that we're doing the very best job that we can to make the life quality of life that the citizens of Lincoln live to make sure that it's the best possible. That's the gist of what we got going on.

Sara Wilde 21:11

The gist, I love that, because all of that work sounds and is really big. But how does this important environmental work impact people's daily lives in Lincoln, not just today, in the future? And Adam, I'll ask you that.

Adam 21:24

Yeah, so a lot of the past projects really do impact people's daily lives. So I think about the Bartlett Creek restoration work and the tree plantings that went on there. And shout out to Trees for All for helping enable that. I think about the Rotary Park plantings and the butterfly gardens that are over there by the Fleming Center and how beautiful they are in the summer, and how people can live their life and look at the beautiful biodiversity that's going on there. So there's a lot of those lived experiences that really a lot of great experiences that people can have on a daily basis there. But then there's also lots of aspects of environmental work that impact people's daily lives in ways that maybe they don't quite immediately recognize. So one of the outcomes from our urban forest working group was the development of an urban forest management strategy. So it's another strategy document that's soon to be released and public, but we're still finishing off some little things on it. And it really speaks to how putting equity first when it comes to our urban forestry canopy and really decreasing environmental injustices associated with an unfair distribution of trees across the urban neighbourhoods across Lincoln. And so by putting equity first in our urban forest management strategy moving forward, we make sure that everyone has access to the environment and the benefits that come from a productive urban environment. And so the environmental work that we're doing at the town really penetrates into every aspect of the lived experience of someone that lives in Lincoln. And so you might not notice it or think about it as you're walking down the street, but it's really nice to walk under the shade of a big tree. And so making sure that experience isn't specific to any given neighbourhood and is equally shared across town is really important to us. And so that's a summary of some of the work that we're doing. Yeah.

Sara Wilde 23:13

That's amazing. As someone that does not like the sun very much, the sun doesn't like me. I love the sun. I love a big shady tree. So they're the best. Yeah, I can always appreciate one.

Stephanie Hicks 23:22

And I think it's one of those things that you don't necessarily notice, but you would notice if it was gone.

Sara Wilde 23:27

Exactly.

Park Prescriptions And Volunteer Ways

Stephanie Hicks 23:27

Right? You really don't appreciate and love it as much until it is gone. And then you really notice how much you love and appreciate the shade of a tree. So if someone is listening and thinking, I want to help, Alicia, how would you encourage people to get more involved in nature and protect the environment?

Alicia 23:44

Absolutely. Love this question because you can do a lot. But let's just start with the individual, with you yes, you listening. The first thing that you can do, get out and stretch your legs. If you can go for a walk, spend some time in nature, whether that's your neighbourhood park, walking down the street under those beautiful shady park trees, or within your own streetscape, that's excellent. I strongly encourage and invite you out to visit your local conservation area. Here in Lincoln, we've got Cave Springs, Rockway, of course, Ball's Falls, my own backyard, my home park. Come stretch your legs, spend some time in nature. Develop those relationships. Take your kids, your grandkids, spend some time just by yourself walking the trails. Develop that passion, hone in that passion, reset your mind, feel well outdoors in nature. That's the first thing you can do. That's good for you too. Good for your mind, good for your health physically, certainly, but good for us spiritually, emotionally as well to spend time in nature. One of the things that we also do, and I'm really excited and proud to give a plug for it, is last year in 2025, the NPCA partnered with BC Parks Foundation on their park prescriptions program. And you might have heard of it. It's a form of, I guess, social prescription, but prescription to spend some time out in nature. Niagara Health is a major supporter, and there are a number of different practitioners and prescribers across Niagara that have partnered with this program. The next time you're visiting a prescriber or a clinician, spend some time talking about the opportunities perhaps to be well in nature and experience the therapeutic benefits of being outside. The PARX or Parks Prescription Program is an opportunity for prescribers to write a script and support their patient to get outside and spend time in nature. And the NPCA offers to those park prescription holders five free passes to our paid admission conservation areas, Ball's Falls, Binbrook Conservation Area, and Chippewa Creek and Long Beach down in Wainfleet. So it's a really great opportunity for folks to step out and spend time in nature for their health. And sometimes we take that more seriously. And you take it more seriously when it is a doctor that is handing you a script that says get outside. So we're really excited about that. I think that's key. Research shows us that access to nature and spending time outdoors in natural spaces is therapeutic. And of course, the NPCA has plenty of them across the region. Our beautiful conservation areas. We know that access to green space, so that parkland is important to us. But actually, spending time in and around blue spaces, so areas that have water running through them that you can hear and view water, those blue spaces are actually clinically more therapeutic than just spending time outside generally. So spending time near the water by along the Lake Ontario shoreline, how phenomenal sitting and listening to the 20 Mile Creek out at Ball's Falls, listening to the roar of the waterfall. So spending time in nature is good for our health, and we recognize that, and that's why what we do is so important. Ways the community can get involved. If you love this, you're passionate about the trees and the canopy and a little bit of shade on a sunny day. There are plenty of volunteer opportunities to get out into nature and participate in some of our tree planting initiatives with trees for all. And we are getting ready for that busy planting season. So we're going to be out and about and sharing all of those opportunities on the NPCA social channel. So at NPCA underscore Ontario is where you can follow us on socials and stay tuned. Visit our website npca.ca slash volunteering for more information. And we've got lots of really great partnerships. So you'll see us, you'll see our logo and our folks out and about in the town here. We've worked on some major restoration projects, planting over 15,000 trees just across the region itself. In 2025, here we did some plantings at Ashby Park with over 600 trees planted along the creek there. And we're really fortunate for our partnership with Town of Lincoln, the mini forest that was planted along Serena Drive. Your support, some extra trees from your giveaway program, went along 19th Street, By Ball's Falls, and we've participated in a number of different pollinator plantings. And hey, if you visit us at an event, I brought them along with me, but I've got some really beautiful butterfly garden native seed mix pouches here. You might be able to pick those up. And if you've got a backyard at home or even a little planter for your patio, you can have some native plants like oxeye daisy and echinacea. We've got some really beautiful brown-eyed Susans. You can take a look at some of those beautiful native pollinator plants in your own yard. So you can do those things at home too. So some really good things for ourselves, right? We can do some plantings at home. We can spend some time out in nature and uh ensure our own health as well as the environment's health too.

Sara Wilde 28:04

Yeah, I love that. It's all therapeutic, actually. So digging in dirt is supposed to be therapeutic.

Stephanie Hicks 28:09

100%.

Sara Wilde 28:10

And when I'm feeling down in the dumps, I'm like, I need to go for a walk by the water. That's all I always say that. I need to go outside. I'm feeling down. I need to just get outside and especially by the water. I'm so for you to mention the blue space, I was like, yes, that is a thing. Absolutely.

Stephanie Hicks 28:24

I would agree with that. But I do actually have a question. We've said a lot of P words on this podcast, which is also a P so parks, planting, pollination.

Sara Wilde 28:32

Ooh, look at you.

Stephanie Hicks 28:33

I was taking note as prescription. Oh I'm gonna say a terrible P word. Pandemic. So my question is during the pandemic, we do know that there was an increase of people spending time outdoors.

Sara Wilde 28:45

P word.

Stephanie Hicks 28:45

P-word. People spending time outdoors. Are people keeping that up? Was that the start of? I know myself, I actually got into gardening, and that's when I discovered that dirt don't hurt. It actually is therapeutic. So have you seen that increase continue, didn't just drop once everybody kind of was able to take the masks off and go back indoors and that kind of stuff?

Alicia 29:06

Yeah, certainly ourselves and many other park operators across, I would say across Canada, certainly across Ontario, Ontario Parks, Parks Canada, and conservation authorities across the province have seen the maintenance of those numbers. Certainly not the really high spikes that we saw once things open back up again coming into 2021. That was really profound, but we still see a significant number of folks visitation. And we do look at that. We have trail trackers. We're looking at the visitation of hikers and vehicles in and out of our properties. That helps us to understand what the carrying capacity and utilization of our sites are throughout the year. So we are seeing that. And we also see a recognition of the importance of our green spaces and parks and natural spaces from a tourism perspective and visitors to the region. So I'm really excited and encouraged by that recognition as well with the Destination Niagara strategy and what we've got coming up this year. Really exciting with the World Cup, with visitors to the region. People that are coming out to see Niagara Falls will come spend some time in our beautiful natural spaces, our urban parks. If you're staying in the town while you're visiting Niagara, come stretch your legs out with the local parks and conservation areas. So we see that happening as well, and people recognizing that is not only a natural asset, our parks and our late natural assets, they are also economic and tourism assets as well. So that's something that's exciting as well if you look at it from that economic perspective. People want to spend time having their family picnic while they're visiting the area under a big shady tree. So let's make sure that we've got those for them in our green space.

Earth Week Events And EcoFest

Sara Wilde 30:32

Yeah. Yeah. And like you said, events coming up. So there is a bit coming up in Lincoln and surrounding area. So this is the part in the podcast called the Talk of the Town Tea, where you spill what's brewing in Lincoln from upcoming events and community initiatives to ways our listeners can get involved, which we talked about a bit. Alicia, we'll start with you. What's the talk of the town?

Alicia 30:53

We've got a lot going on at over at the NPCA. And certainly we do at Ball's Falls, as you can imagine. We've got a lot of really exciting programming coming up. So just two years ago, Ball's Falls received our heritage designation from the town of Lincoln, recognizing the heritage village at Falls or the old village of Glen Elgin. So we've got two really exciting dates. Save the date for July 19th and August 9th. Those are the return of our heritage days at Ball's Falls where the village comes to life. We'll have our docents, our interpreters, all sorts of good stuff going on where you can step back in time to the early 1800s. So great opportunity on the weekends in the summertime to step back in time with us at Falls. But hey, we start running heritage tours every single day, starting on Victoria Day weekend, right up until Labor Day. So if you're passing by, you want to go through the village, you want to step inside the Ball family home, go back in time, maybe some memories from some field trips that you've taken in the past. Come and visit us. We've got some really exceptional volunteers, interpreters, docent, and educators. And hey, we'll lead some guided hikes for you too. And it is the return of the big, bountiful, beautiful Ball's Falls Thanksgiving Festival, October 9th through the 12th coming up in October. So we're really excited for that. The planning, it actually started last Thanksgiving.

Stephanie Hicks 32:04

I believe it. That's a big thing. 100%. Well, how many people? Like 30,000?

Alicia 32:08

Yeah. Last year we were really fortunate. We had almost 30,000 people come through that event. It's significant, certainly, for us here in Lincoln and across Niagara. So we're excited for that too. And then, hey, we've got Earth Day coming up. We are going to be out and about at so many different events and programs across the region. So if you see us, my colleague, my friend Katie, is our community outreach coordinator. She's going to be at a lot of programs, as well as our foundation. So stop by if you see us at an event, come pick up a seed pack. You can plant your own pollinator plants in your own backyard with that. So come visit us. We are going to be doing some work with a wonderful volunteer group and organization called the Green Herons. We do a garbage cleanup and turtle parades that's coming up in honor of Earth Day. Do a bit of a cleanup in and around Jordan Harbor conservation area with the Green Herons, so they're fantastic. And then, of course, we've got our foundation. So the Niagara Pens Conservation Foundation or NPCF works to raise funds so that the NPCA can continue our important work like land protection, environmental education through my division and growing green spaces, acquiring new property, ensuring the increase of wetlands so we can start to mitigate those risks of climate change, increase the number of pollinator gardens across the region, and support more tree planting. So you can follow us at npcf.ca to learn more about our foundation. And our website has a ton of exceptional resources. You've got to check out npca.ca.

Sara Wilde 33:29

Amazing. And Adam.

Adam 33:31

Yeah, so lots of stuff going on around the town. And as Alicia mentioned, one of the most exciting things upcoming this month of April is Earth Day and Earth Week, if you will. Because it's not just Earth Day. We'll give it an Earth Week. And so one of the things the town is doing is we're going to be highlighting a lot of the litter picking that's going on around town throughout that week. So there's a couple different organizations, like Alicia mentioned, the NPCA and the Green Herons are going to be doing some work in the Jordan Harbour, as well as the scouts are going to be doing some work all over Beamsville, and the downtown BIA is going to be doing a big cleanup with some of the local schools as well. And what we're going to be doing is the town's going to be highlighting these litter picking events that are going on, as well as running some litter picking events. So stay tuned to the socials to find out how you can help join and help clean up the community. And then, of course, EcoFest on Saturday, April 25th at the Fleming Center. So there's going to be tons of environmental NGOs and community groups, and the Green Herons will be there with their turtle parade. So bring out your kids. It's a family event. And I'm excited to announce there will also be some one-gallon potted trees that will be available for purchase. So what we're going to be doing this year is a pay what you can model. So if you want to come grab a tree for free, that's cool. If you want to provide a donation so that we can plant more trees, that's also cool. We have some money that we can put towards this, and we're happy to reallocate any money that we take back to putting more trees in the ground. So it's trees all over the place. But between the litter picking series and EcoFest, we got our hands full for Earth Week coming up. And then something that also is crossing the airwaves and is on the news cycle is the Ashby Drive Rain Garden planting. And so that's not going to actually happen until the fall. But we've recently been awarded $11,000 from the Niagara Community Foundation for this project, which is enabling it. And so that's very exciting that we're able to upgrade what's currently at this site into a full-fledged blue-green infrastructure, low-impact development, rainwater, retention, infiltration, cleaning asset that's providing an immense benefit to the community directly around Ashby Drive by managing that stormwater. And when that community planting comes up in the fall, it's going to be really exciting, but you should see some news releases around that. And yeah, that's what's going on around the town. Lots of stuff.

Sara Wilde 36:02

Awesome.

Candidate 101 Session Invitation

Stephanie Hicks 36:03

It's exciting. And nothing sounds cuter than a turtle parade.

Quickfire This Or That

Julie 36:07

Have you ever wondered what it's really like to serve on council here in Lincoln? Or maybe you've thought about putting your name forward. If so, I'd like to personally invite you to our upcoming candidate 101 information session, designed to give you a clear local perspective on municipal government. You'll hear from the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing on rules, eligibility, and financial requirements. As the Town Clerk, I'll walk you through the nomination process and what the role of council truly involves here in our community. You'll also hear directly from three local counsellors sharing their first year in office, giving you a real, on-the-ground view of what it's like to serve. So whether you're thinking about running or simply want to learn more, this session offers practical insights and a realistic perspective. Join us on April 16th at 6 p.m. at the Town of Lincoln. Register for free today on our website. We'll be glad to see you there.

Stephanie Hicks 37:03

So we're at the part in the podcast where we do a this or that. We ask you a question, and you can both answer the question. You just have to answer what comes to your mind quickly. Don't deep dive it. Don't think long. Just first thing. And we'll we'll start with Alicia and then go to Adam. Sounds good. Forest or beach?

Alicia 37:21

Forest.

Adam 37:23

Forest.

Sara Wilde 37:24

Native plants or veggie garden.

Alicia 37:26

Native plants.

Adam 37:27

Veggie garden. I'm so hungry. All the time. Veggie garden.

Stephanie Hicks 37:33

Early morning hike or sunset walk.

Alicia 37:36

Sunset walk.

Adam 37:37

Early morning hike.

Sara Wilde 37:39

Or would it be bike ride in your case?

Adam 37:41

Oh yeah. Always on the bike.

Sara Wilde 37:43

Plant a tree or remove invasive species.

Alicia 37:47

Ooh, that's tough.

Sara Wilde 37:49

I know.

Alicia 37:50

That's a tough one. I'm gonna say remove invasives.

Sara Wilde 37:54

Okay.

Adam 37:55

I agree. Gotta yeah, gotta remove those invasives.

Alicia 37:58

Make the space for the tree.

Sara Wilde 38:00

Yeah, there you go.

Adam 38:01

Let the trees plant themselves. We'll take out the invasives first.

Sara Wilde 38:04

That's perfect.

Stephanie Hicks 38:05

Okay. Paper maps or GPS.

Alicia 38:10

I love a paper map. I love a paper map.

Sara Wilde 38:13

I do too. I really do. I love paper maps. But geography was my most favourite subject. Just pull out that paper map. And anyway...

Adam 38:23

My my bachelor's degree is in mapping. So I would be remiss to say paper maps. I'm gonna have to go with digital maps.

Sara Wilde 38:32

All right. Would you have a well-kept lawn or a wild yard? Wild yard.

Adam 38:38

Oh, absolutely wild yard.

Alicia 38:42

Exactly.

Adam 38:43

Nature is chaos. Gotta have it chaotic.

Sara Wilde 38:45

I love that. It really all does tie back to what we've been talking about today. We talked a lot about trees, how they shape our communities, support our environment, and play a really important role in how we respond to climate change. And maybe the next time you're out for a walk in Lincoln, you'll notice them a little differently. Not just as part of the background, but as something that's actively making our neighbourhoods healthier, cooler, and more connected. And when we talk about climate action, it's not just about big global solutions. It's also about what's happening right here at home.

Stephanie Hicks 39:13

Lincoln is doing some really progressive work when it comes to urban forestry and climate planning, and it's something we can all be a part of. So if you take one thing from today, plant something, spend time outside, or get involved in a local initiative because small actions really do add up. Huge thank you to Adam and Alicia for joining us today and sharing the work happening right here in our community. Thank you so much.

Sara Wilde 39:35

Thank you, guys.

Alicia 39:37

Thank you.

Adam 39:37

Thank you for having us.

Sara Wilde 39:39

Welcome to our community highlight. In this segment, we shine a light on a community group doing amazing work in Lincoln and make it an outstanding place to live. We'd like to introduce Andy Adcock, Section Scouter with First Beamsville Scouting. Andy, thanks for joining us today.

Andy 39:54

Thanks for having me.

Stephanie Hicks 39:55

First, we'd love to hear how and when your path took you to the scouting world and specifically to First Beamsville Scouting.

Andy 40:03

I've been a scout volunteer for about 10 years now. That really started when my son was in first grade back in Texas. I was in a welcome to scouting sort of meeting with a bunch of Cub Scouts, and somebody needed to raise their hand to lead the first graders. And then when we moved up here to Beamsville, one of the things that I was looking for when I first moved up here was my kids really still enjoy scouting. Is there a good group around here? And then that naturally led to, oh, we have a scout hut. It's in town. I don't really have to go very far. And I've been with First Beamsville for a little over four years now as a as an adult leader.

Sara Wilde 40:48

So if you could go back in time and be the same age as your son, grade one, you said, how would you convince your friend to become a scout?

Andy 40:57

It would probably involve some video game I don't even know about. Yeah, it would probably be worse.

Sara Wilde 41:02

That's relatable, yeah.

Andy 41:03

Yeah. So it really, to me, the thing that would sell me on it that I didn't really have awareness of when I was a kid because I really only got through Cub Scouts. I didn't get the opportunity to go on larger adventures like camping out in Algonquin Park. ..

Sara Wilde 41:21

In the middle of winter in a cave.

Andy 41:23

Yeah, camping. We were camping a couple months ago and it was what, negative 20? You know? Yeah. So I enjoyed camping a little bit at that age, but not as much as some kids like it more than others. The reality is there's just all kinds of adventures that we get up to. And so a lot of the times if you pull a kid aside and you ask him, why are you here? One kid will say, Oh, you know, my best friends are here, which is really great. Another kid will say, Well, this is like my this is my safe space. This is where I like to be. And then you have other kids that are like, Oh, I like to be outside. I like to go camping. So it's you'll hear all sorts of responses to that same question if you were to come out, which I highly recommend. Come on down to the Scout Hub and visit us. Got a bunch of great kids over there.

Stephanie Hicks 42:14

I love that. So we're at the point where we call it the Talk of the Town Tea, and it's your opportunity to share the great things happening with the first Beamsville Scouting to our listeners.

Andy 42:24

We're currently in the process of raising funds for a trip to Switzerland with 30 of us. So it's gonna be about 20 kids and 10 leaders. And to fund that, we've been doing a lot of activities. One of those is we had a fish fry right up the street at the community centre. It was quite an undertaking. I don't know how I literally was there to kind of guide kids around, honestly. I I'm not I can cook, but I can't cook in like large amounts like that. But as far as other fundraisers, we have our pasta fundraiser. This is the third time we've done it, and it's gonna be at the community centre on April 11th from five to seven. And it's $20 a person. You get a big meal with salad and dessert, and it's cheaper for kids, and you know, it's a lot of fun. We'll have a 50-50 and a raffle and all that goodness. As far as these next few months, so it's very much kind of Earth Day, Arbor Day, pick your name. The weekend that we're doing the pasta dinner, April 10. There is a week weekend where we're going to be camping out at Camp Wetaskiwin, which is inside of Short Hills. What we do every year is we have an environmental camp that is not just our group, but groups from all around the region. And we are currently working on efforts to mitigate some of the erosion that's happening inside of Short Hills. And so we're doing that by last year, we planted. Like hundreds of trees. This year we're coming back and doing removal of invasive species. And then we're going to actually plant more native plants along the riverbanks to make sure that the soil is retained. And then on top of that, here in Lincoln, we always like to do trail cleanups with our youth. It's just one of the ways that these kids can help give back to the community that we live in and make it a better place. And that's going to be a big part of what we're up to this spring. But throughout the year, we help set up the trees for the lions. We have kids that volunteer at their pancake breakfast. We are doing food drives. We get to participate in the huge food drive that happens here in town with community care.

Sara Wilde 44:50

If my kiddo wanted to join, how does that?

Andy 44:53

You can go to scouts.ca and also just drop by the scout hut. Our beaver scouts are from ages five to seven. They meet on Tuesdays. Our Cub Scouts are ages eight to 10. They meet on Wednesdays. Scouts are 11 to 14 and they meet on Thursdays. And then our venture scouts meet on Tuesdays. Those are 15 to 17 years old. So if you go on scouts.ca, you can find information on when our meeting times are, or you can reach out to first beamsville scouting at gmail.com.

Sara Wilde 45:33

Thanks, Andy, for being a part of our Lincoln Local podcast. You're doing some incredible work for the community. Thank you for all you do to inspire youth and keep our community thriving.

Andy 45:42

Oh, thanks for having me.

Sponsors And Final Sign Off

Stephanie Hicks 45:44

That's all for today's episode of the Lincoln Local. Thank you to our sponsors, Niagara Region Economic Development, The Watering Can, Second Chance Decor, and Verhoof Electric.

Sara Wilde 45:53

New episodes drop twice a month and will be shared through the town's social media channels.

Stephanie Hicks 45:57

And if there's a topic or local business you'd like us to feature, visit speakuplincoln.ca backslash podcast. Don't miss the next Talk of the Town.