Hundreds of new trees planted in Calgary’s Nose Creek Park

Calgary is adding to its urban canopy with plans to plant nearly a million trees by 2029 as part of a $61 million agreement with the federal government.

Five hundred new trees are transforming West Nose Creek Park thanks to dozens of volunteers who took part in the first of several planting events on Tuesday.

“There’s an old adage that the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, and the second-best time is now,” said Amy Lester with the Arbor Day Foundation.

The non-profit is collaborating with the City of Calgary, Trees for Life and Amazon. By the end of September, there will be 2,000 new trees filling in gaps in the tree canopy in that area.

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The group says this will move the needle on the city’s goal of expanding the urban canopy to 16 per cent from 8.25 per cent.

“We’re seeing, at least in the Fahrenheit scale, that trees can lower the temperature by around 10 degrees in cities,” said Lester.

“(Trees) are a natural tool to be able to address a lot of the air pollution issue that we’re seeing, the heat of course, and just like the general well-being and health of citizens within our cities.”

Mike Hurley, the development director for Trees for Life, says the Hero Forest is also an important part of this initiative.

Trees are planted and dedicated to heroes, including first responders, health-care workers, military personnel and firefighters.

“Trees are the heroes of the urban environment,” says Hurley, adding this makes the forest a fitting tribute.

Since 2015, the charity has planted 76,950 trees in Alberta.

If you want to learn more about “planting the right tree, in the right place, for the right reason, and looking at your climatic zone and seeing what kinds of trees are going to be best in your area,” Lester says you can visit the Arbor Day Foundation website.