CALGARY – The City of Calgary says thousands of trees will be planted throughout the city to make up for the damage caused by a devastating fall snowstorm last year.
The snowstorm in September 2014 – nicknamed “Snowtember” – damaged half of the city’s urban canopy. It’s estimated 40 centimetres of snow fell during the storm, which began on Sept. 8 and lasted for three days.
MORE: Calgary makes list of top 10 weather stories of 2014
On Thursday, the City of Calgary announced 3,600 trees would be planted – along with the 5,000 usually planted every year – to help the city recover.
“The magnitude of damage to Calgary’s trees from last year’s storm was unprecedented, and it will take years to fully recover,” said Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi at a news conference. “Over one million trees in our city were damaged.”
To date, 6,619 trees have been planted and more than 64,000 trees have been assessed and/or pruned. City officials say their goal is to assess and/or prune 80,000 trees by the end of this year.
“The city has been working hard all year to plant and prune trees on public property while also sharing with citizens what they can do to help their own damaged trees,” added Nenshi.
MORE: Nenshi blasts NDP for ‘unbelievable’ Snowtember funding denial
To commemorate ‘Snowtember,’ the City of Calgary will plant two trees at St. Jerome School, the Arbour Day school for 2016.
In addition, the city is holding several ReTree YYC Tree Fairs for people concerned about the tree damage in their yards. Click here for more information.
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