Tree seed plant in Angus closing

Tree seed plant future A tree seed plant in Angus will close permanently despite hopes it might prevail. CTV's Roger Klein finds out what the future holds.

“I am absolutely flabbergasted.”

Despite faint hopes of a last-minute reprieve, the Ontario Tree Seed plant in Angus will permanently close.

usan Antler with the Friends of Utopia Mill says, “If you want to save the Ontario Tree Seed facility, if you are concerned about the health and future of your forests, you better get involved because we are moving down a road I never expected.”

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry is hosting a series of transition workshops as the province exits to tree seed business.

The plant has been extracting, processing and storing tree seeds for reforestation programs since 1923.  Samples of the tree seeds will be stored at The Ontario Forest Research Institute in Sault Ste. Marie.

The workshops will explore how the history of the plant can be preserved while assets, including the land, are liquidated.  Local nurseries will need some of the specialized equipment at the facility.

Organizations like Forests Ontario hope talks lead to new beginnings.

The workshops will continue for two more days.  Items from the tree seed plant are now listed for sale on the ministry’s website.