DUNROBIN – The sun was out, finally, and the Seventh Kanata Scouts were bringing trees back to the Dunrobin landscape last Saturday.

One of the biggest casualties during last fall’s West Carleton tornado were the trees of Dunrobin. Hundreds, if not thousands, were torn out of the ground; twisted like a corkscrew where they grew; and/or utterly destroyed.

The Seventh Kanata Scouts group wanted to do something about that and this year’s annual tree planting tradition brought the troop to their nearby neighbours to plant 300 trees on a sunny Saturday morning.

About 30 scouts (including Beavers, Cubs and Scouts) officially registered “and a bunch who just showed up,” group commissioner Kimberly Steski told West Carleton Online shortly after the last tree was in the ground. “Many hands make light work.”

She said when some nearby residents saw the work being done, they came by to help out.

The troop planted the trees at Dunrobin Park on Porcupine Trail. The area that was planted, is expected to become a forest over the years.

“This is now a no mow area,” Steski said. “It’s going to return to a forest.”

Scouts Canada has been planting trees each spring since 1972 – part if a program that has brought 80 million trees to Canada in that time. After weeks (and possibly all of winter) of bad weather, the crew got to work on the first great day this spring.

“It’s beautiful,” Steski said. “I’m glad I brought popsicles.”

Normally the scouts plant saplings, but for this project the trees they planted were a little more established.

“We’ve done saplings before, but these are a bit bigger,” scout Oliver Chabot said.

The City of Ottawa provided the trees and suggested the area.

The four young scouts, Chabot, Kitara and Keegan Sultan and Zachary Babin, that spoke to West Carleton Online all said they had been through the area since the tornado and were happy to help re-beautify the tiny village.

“The tornado took a lot of trees so this will help,” Zachary Babin said. “It was an interesting project.”

Following the project, Coun. Eli El-Chantiry invited all the volunteers over to the Dunrobin Community Centre to enjoy a barbecue.