This book is about the slow and daunting process of persuading human beings to allow the wisdom of the natural world to prevail, and it is full of lessons to be learned, among the most important for survival:

1. Tree cover protects water sources, prevents flooding and keeps soil from turning to sand and blowing away.

2. In case desertification has already happened, plant pine trees to start the process of reforestation.

Incredibly, in the late 1800s in Ontario, the soil did become desert in many places due to deforestation, and water sources began to dry up. The logging industry and to a lesser extent, agriculture, created the crisis. In the new century a single-minded provincial forester and a Simcoe County farmer  turned politician would begin the long process of restoration. 

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In October 1905, when Edmund Zavitz set off to meet E. C. Drury for the first time, he rode his bicycle from Guelph to Toronto, stayed overnight, then rode on to the Drury farm north of Barrie. An extreme sport event by today's standards, even in 1905 this must have been considered an ambitious outing, and an indication of the depth of Zavitz's commitment to expanding his forestry connections. Over the next few years, the two men toured and documented the expanding sand wastelands of Ontario. Their findings became part of the County Reforestation Act in 1911, which sat on a shelf until E. C. Drury became premier and aggressively promoted it.

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Edmund Zavitz was provincial forester In 1919 when the election of E. C. Drury as premier began a three-and-a-half-year Golden Age for tree policy. The partnership of Drury and Zavitz is described as a "coalescing of political power and professional capabiity." (121) But each of the partners had strong expertise and skill in the sphere of the other, which sparked their success. 

 

The Drury/Zavitz years laid the foundation for what became a comprehensive rehabilitation of Ontario's wastelands. Under Zavitz's expert oversight, the Ontario Tree Seed Plant was established in Angus, reforestation stations were opened, transplant nurseries and demonstration forests were created and, due to the Agreement Forest Program, hundreds of thousands of trees were planted. Controlling forest fires was a more frustating part of Zavitz's mandate but the Drury/Zavitz partnership made progress here, too. In 1921, Provincial Park legislation was amended to require, as a condition for timber licences, the disposal of brush left behind after logging--a major factor in the spread of fire.

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E. C. Drury's term as premier was all too short, and Edmund Zavitz had to adapt to working with a Conservative government, which he did with characteristic skill. John Bacher descrbes the traits that made this possible:

1. Edmund Zavitz was polite and had a sense of humour. (44, 45)

2. He used "his knowledge, formidable tact, diplomacy, and the lure of genial entertainment such as fishing trips in the forests of Ontario..." (145)

3. Patience, perseverance and a strong will to prevail, qualities Zavitz shared with the pines he planted, kept him focused on the work at hand, even when faced with the hostile Hepburn government of 1934, and demotion from his post as deputy minister.

Edmund Zavitz's accomplishments were made possible by a cast of hundreds, and many of these names appear in John Bacher's book. As a young man, he was influenced by his family of conservationists, their connections, and his mentors in the emerging discipline of forestry. As a lecturer at the Onario College of Agiculture and as a civil servant, he was able to influence his students, his colleagues, local politicians, his political bosses, and the employees and farmers and land owners who planted trees in Ontario. One farmer gave Zavitz the ultimate compliment: "Mr. Zavitz will help you along with the work, and if you are quite green in the work, he is not afraid to take off his own coat and help you do it." (87)

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John Bacher creates a portrait of Edmund Zavitz as a man whose life--his family, career and favourite pursuits--was grounded in an unwavering belief in conservation; in the knowledge that trees are essential for the well-being of all that lives, and the more of them, the better. As a truth, this is simple, obvious and indisputable. yet, as this book relates, we have forgotten it more than once, and always to our detriment.

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Edmund Zavitz has left us a living legacy. We are the tree planters and tree keepers of today. There is no one else. It is up to us to ensure that the legacy endures so that there will always be Two Billion Trees and Counting....

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​For more perspectives, see Kate Harries' review:

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And Mark Cullen's review:       

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