REGINA – The provincial government has officially launched Saskatchewan’s spring forest renewal program to replenish the ecosystem and help the industry, which depends on it, grow. More than nine million trees will be planted in the province this year.
“Saskatchewan, as we know, has many pristine forests and it has a thriving, once again, forest sector,” said Saskatchewan Environment Minister Scott Moe.
On Monday, he joined tree-planter Ashley Gilbert to symbolically plant two trees near the Legislative Building to symbolize the ratio of trees undertaken by the province compared to its population – two to one.
Gilbert says she usually hand-plants between 3,500 and 4,000 trees a day.
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The government’s reforestation projects are underway and will focus on sites in the Carrot River, Hudson Bay and Prince Albert areas. The planting of 2.2 million jack pine and white spruce will be done by private contractors.
Under current agreements, Saskatchewan’s forest industry is responsible for renewing areas they harvest. The ministry renews areas not covered by these agreements.
“The forest management agreements have just come into play in the last number of years, the 2.2 million that the province is replanting is really reforesting areas that were logged prior to those agreements coming into play,” said Moe.
“This year is comparable to previous years.”
Together, the province and the forest industry have planted over half-a-billion trees since the 1930s.
The planting season in Saskatchewan runs from May to the end of June, according to Gilbert.
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