Gift Trees Planting Project – Alberta

Project Description

This Gift Tree Planting Project  is in the area around Mistehae Lake, a remote area of northern Alberta, Canada. This forest area was degraded in a large forest fire called the McMillan wildfire in 2019. The area has struggled to regenerate itself post fire, and the goal is to create a big healthy forest.

Planting trees in Alberta is an effective method to restore the land and eventually return the area to a spruce-dominated mixed wood forest. The species planted include black and white spruce, tamarack, pine, dogwood, poplar, and mixed native willows. Soil stability is an immediate ecological benefit of reforestation and the area provides enough light for a new forest to grow efficiently. This project focuses on restoring riparian function along river and lake banks and minimizing future bank slumping and erosion by re-establishing the riparian zone.

As the forest regenerates, it will provide a critically important regional habitat for furbearers, migratory songbirds, raptors and owls, amphibians, and black bears, moose, elk, and deer. This project will also provide jobs for people in the area, a better quality of air and water, and a recreational outdoor space for the citizens of this remote Alberta area.