Calgary continues efforts to plant nearly a million trees, and better balance local canopy

Andrew Jeffrey · CBC News

· Posted: May 04, 2025 7:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 11 minutes ago

After a large influx of national dollars past fall, Calgary's efforts to works much trees continues this spring.

Since 2023, Calgary has planted 200,000 trees arsenic portion of an effort to present 930,000 successful full by 2029. Looking further ahead, Calgary, a metropolis of astir 7 cardinal trees, aims to astir treble its municipality canopy sum from 8.25 per cent, arsenic measured successful 2022, to 16 per cent by 2060.

The section effort was bolstered by astir $61 million from the national authorities past fall. The backing is portion of Canada's 2 Billion Trees program, a nationalist effort to amended municipality spaces, supply cleaner aerial and assistance the state accommodate to clime change.

But wherever Calgary's caller trees volition spell is simply a pressing question surrounding this project.

Many of the much well-established and cardinal Calgary neighbourhoods have much trees. But Calgary's canopy often grows much sparse successful neighbourhoods further from the city's core, successful areas that weren't developed with trees successful caput oregon person poorer ungraded quality.

The disparity creates a occupation for residents who miss retired connected benefits similar trees that connection shadiness to mitigate vigor successful the summertime and disrupt winds to support from the acold successful the winter, while besides much efficaciously managing tempest water, improving biodiversity, and enhancing societal and intelligence wellbeing.

Paul Atkinson, the city's acting municipality forestry lead, said Calgary tries to tackle this disparity by targeting areas with little trees per hectare of nationalist land, but it's not ever a elemental fix. Some areas request ungraded rehabilitation, which tin beryllium expensive, portion different neighbourhoods weren't developed with capable abstraction for trees, based connected thoroughfare plan and wherever utilities were installed.

"If you instrumentality that bird's oculus presumption and look astatine immoderate of these sites, they mightiness look similar perfect spots to works a tree, but they mightiness really person high-pressure state lines oregon utilities oregon thoroughfare airy cables oregon each these things underground," Atkinson said successful an interrogation with This Is Calgary.

LISTEN | Where volition Calgary works astir a cardinal trees?

A representation of the city's municipality canopy shows neighbourhoods similar Eau Claire, Erlton and Garrison Green person much than 25 city-maintained trees per hectare. But different neighbourhoods similar Franklin, Sunridge and Mayland have little than five.

The city's efforts don't conscionable extremity connected nationalist onshore though, arsenic its Branching Out programme offers astir 5,000 trees per twelvemonth for residents to turn connected their land, with quadrants covered by little canopy fixed priority.

Frustrations implicit a much sparse canopy

But immoderate parts of the metropolis privation a stronger effort to equilibrium the scales betwixt trees successful each neighbourhood.

Much of Ward 5, which is represented by Coun. Raj Dhaliwal, has an municipality canopy acold beneath the city's average. In November, Dhaliwal said helium planned to telephone for a sizeable magnitude of the national backing toward caller trees to beryllium utilized successful his ward.

Saddle Ridge is 1 neighbourhood with little  coverage, boasting conscionable 8 city-maintained trees per hectare.

Asim Baig, president of the Saddle Ridge Community Association, points retired parts of his neighbourhood consciousness barren, with nary trees astatine each oregon older plants damaged by hailstorms. He said helium often hears frustration from different residents, due to the fact that it seems arsenic though trees damaged by hail aren't replaced astatine a complaint matching the damage.

"Every clip we propulsion for having much trees astir our boulevards and parks, the crushed that we perceive is that ungraded is not arsenic bully arsenic the different communities. And our vexation is that determination has to beryllium immoderate benignant of remedy to mitigate this problem," Baig said.

Baig added that caring for trees has besides had an effect to unite residents who stock a passionateness for it, and that the neighbourhood connected the full wants to spot much trees.

"[Trees] adhd a consciousness of belonging," Baig said.

"It's not adjacent [just] amended for environment, but radical travel together."

Planning planting ahead

Atkinson said ungraded quality, extent and availability tin each beryllium improved, and the benefits of amended ungraded health, c sequestration beneath crushed and histrion longevity outweigh the associated cost. But it's inactive an costly process, and tin pb to immoderate resistance.

"When you're dealing with trees and convincing radical if we heighten the ungraded it'll prevention america wealth implicit 200 years and it volition nutrient a canopy implicit 200 years, it's a beauteous pugnacious merchantability due to the fact that I won't beryllium present successful 200 years to find retired if we're each correct," Atkinson said.

The metropolis plans its canopy improvement astir a twelvemonth out, and it's utilizing other methods to enactment much trees successful the crushed like new micro-forest areas. It's planting potted trees that, due to the fact that they request to beryllium cautiously dug into the crushed by hand, tin beryllium installed person to immoderate underground utilities.

In immoderate neighbourhoods, Atkinson says they've already enactment successful the enactment successful each of the available plantable area, the canopy just needs time to grow. In different cases, there's much enactment to beryllium done.

"We privation radical to person entree to trees. We privation each national to person these cost-effective solutions to mitigate vigor and each these things astir residences," Atkinson said.