City of Greater Sudbury's Regreening Program to Benefit from Vale Base Metals' $3 million Nature Funding Agreement

The City of Greater Sudbury will be able to further extend its regreening efforts under the guidance of VETAC, the City Council’s Advisory Panel on Regreening, with the support of a $3 million Nature Funding Agreement from Vale Base Metals. This contribution will be a major asset to the City’s work, creating significant opportunities over the next decade, helping build a healthier, greener environment in and around Greater Sudbury.

Since the 1990s, the City has worked closely with Vale Base Metals (VBM) to conduct annual aerial seeding operations over targeted areas. Each year, the company drops seeds and soil treatments from an aircraft over a specific area to prepare it for the following year when the City’s regreening staff return to plant seedlings, many supplied by VBM. With this new round of funding, the City will work closely with Indigenous communities to identify opportunities for Indigenous Knowledge to inform its practices over time, with at least $250,000 of the total dedicated to support this work.

“Greater Sudbury’s regreening story is recognized around the world as a renowned model of environmental recovery and collaboration. Since the program began in 1978, partners like Vale Base Metals have played a critical role in transforming once-barren landscapes into thriving ecosystems,” says Mayor Paul Lefebvre. “This renewed investment builds on that long-standing partnership, allowing us to continue restoring our landscape, strengthening biodiversity, and working alongside Indigenous communities to incorporate traditional ecological knowledge. Together, we are ensuring a greener, more resilient future for generations to come.”

“For decades, Vale Base Metals has proudly partnered with the City of Greater Sudbury to heal and restore the landscape. Through our Nature Agreement, we are reinforcing this long-standing partnership by committing our resources, expertise, and shared responsibility to accelerate regreening efforts—supporting aerial seeding and strengthening biodiversity, reinforcing our responsibility to the land and the community we call home,” says Gord Gilpin, Director of Ontario Operations, Vale Base Metals.

Additionally, VBM’s support paved the way for implementation the City’s Living Landscape: A Biodiversity Action Plan for Greater Sudbury (2009). The resulting initiatives include researching new ways to restore ecosystems and replanting trees and other vegetation. These contributions have advanced efforts to protect natural assets such as lakes and wetlands, increase biodiversity to strengthen forests against pests and disease, reduce climate change impacts on urban spaces and more initiatives outlined in the City’s Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP).

This new round of funding will extend support for the City’s regreening work over the next 10 years. While regreening science continues to evolve, some priorities remain constant. The City will keep following the BAP by protecting and restoring wild spaces and helping Greater Sudbury mitigate and adapt to climate change.  Vale’s contribution will make the City’s regreening goals possible, and it will be celebrated along the way.

Background on Regreening

Regreening in Greater Sudbury is the process through which plants that were previously eliminated from the landscape by past industrial practices are reintroduced. The City of Greater Sudbury’s regreening program works in many capacities to continue regreening efforts and share our city’s regreening story. Learn more about regreening in Greater Sudbury here: www.greatersudbury.ca/regreening