Projects

UP NEXT: JUNE 2025, STONEY NAKODA CASINO & RESORT SHELTER-BELT

Bow Valley Senior Citizen’s Lodge, Canmore, 2024

With the help of CYAN, Canmore Young Adult Network, UFIA planted 60 Green Ash trees and 180 Alberta Rose bushes around the permitter of the Bow Valley Senior Citizen’s Lodge. A good time was had by all. In 25 years, the new deciduous trees will soften the street scape and act as a firebreak from the coniferous forest of the adjacent Policeman’s Creek.

Cougar Creek, Canmore, Alberta, 2023

Our team planted 190 Lodgepole Pine and 90 White Spruce saplings along the base of the TransCanada Highway and Cougar Creek. There is still alot of rehabilitation needed for this site after the 2013 floods, but these little trees are a good addition. The lowest parts of Cougar Creek get full sun, which has left the earth dry. It is hard for vegetation to take root there. In 7 to 15 years, the addition of these new trees will be evident in their contributions to this place: water retention, erosion prevention, habitat rehabilitation, and enhanced pedestrian enjoyment. Fingers crossed, Elk do not eat them in the coming years while they reach for great heights.

OPERATION PINECONE DROP

When you clean up the yard, collect your fallen coniferous cones. Scatte them where you think trees should grow. This is the slow approach to wilding. A great place is amongst massive granite boulders along steep slopes or waterways. Over time, when trees grow, they will help hold the soil in place, provide habitat and help the watertable do its job. Trees contribute to naturalized urban environments.

Johnny Apple Seed~ Grimsby, Ontario

Erin Deakin, a teacher in Southern Ontario, a current board member of the Urban Forest Initiative, has 250 Canadian apple seeds in her collection. Once germination starts, in 3-6 years from now we will find the perfect place to start a new, naturalized, organic orchard.