They are going to plant 2 billion trees....

[checking]

With respect to the writer, "we need wide open spaces, room to make a big mistake." They are called "cities".

With our small rural population, Sk. rural could never carbon destroy its 3D environment. It is a people problem. Look to the cities, if you can't stand the way you think you're being impacted.

If you insist that this wide space be returned to its historical setting, get use to a devoid of trees.

[chuckChuck]

Most of the tree planting is planned for cities.

Aren't farmers farmers asking for support for sequestering carbon using direct seeding, less tillage, perennials,cover crops and protecting wetlands and grasslands? Farmers in Manitoba have been promoting alternative land use services (ALUS) for awhile.

The PFRA was a valuable organization that provided a lot of support to farmers to drought proof their farms with water storage, field and farmstead shelterbelts. The country side is full of PFRA farmstead trees given to farmers. How many farmers want their house and yard sitting out on the bald ass prairie in the middle of a blizzard?

Now many of the current generation want to bulldoze all the trees and drain their wetlands no matter who is flooded out down stream or the consequences of destroying habitat.

Trees, wetlands, grasslands all have valuable roles to play in protecting the environment and providing habitat. We may have lots of boreal forest but we are quickly losing a lot mixed parkland and grasslands that are rich in bio-diversity.

Only shortsighted ill informed people think it is good idea to destroy all the wetlands, forests and grasslands.

[jazz]

Only shortsighted ill informed people think it is good idea to destroy all the wetlands, forests and grasslands.

Have you even driven around Canada? Its ALL forest, rock, muskeg, wetlands, mountains and lakes. How much natural habitat do you want. Only 4% of the land mass is considered to be developed and there is lots of open space between there.

2B trees will take up a space equal to Vancouver island. So which backyards should we start with?

They will have to expropriate land along the northern treeline in Sask to plant these.

[bucket]

Only shortsighted ill informed people think it is good idea to destroy all the wetlands, forests and grasslands.


Yup... its called Nature Conservancy of Canada and Ducks Unlimited....very stupid, arrogant and hypocritical people in those organizations...

They want to return our area to natural state so more floods occur after the PFRA used the series of lakes for flood mitigation...they are just stupid people always looking for government handouts and then abandoning their works.....

NCC was given 100 million...

[AlbertaFarmer5]

If you insist that this wide space be returned to its historical setting, get use to a devoid of trees.

How true. Was recently talking to the curator at the Fort Rocky Mountain House National Historic Site about the earliest picture of the fort. Not a tree in sight. As far as they know this was a combination of regular forest fires, the need for wood for construction and firewood, room for camping and security.
He commented that everytime he wants to cut down a few trees for a new project he gets pushback that he needs to keep it authentic, to which he responds, OK, we will just remove them all so it is historically accurate, and they allow him to remove the few. Same is true for early pictures of other western towns and forts.

According to the old timers, the earliest settlers to this area didn't have to deal with forests at all, they were all burnt recently, and never got to the age and size that they do now thanks to regularly recurring forest fires. Settling this part of the world now and having to clear bush by hand would be monumental to say the least, considering the size and density of the forests.

Jazz, I think you missed some zero's with your figure of 60 trees per acre, that would be trees 27 feet apart in every direction. Google told me a white spruce forest in Nova Scotia has seedlings up to 200,000 per acre, and expect 5 to 6000 to survive to be 15 years old.

[chuckChuck]

Most of the tree planting is planned for cities! Do you guys not read?

Lots of farmers planted trees and still keep their field windbreaks. In dry parched areas trees trap snow, reduce wind speeds and erosion. And the shelter belt land lost to trees makes the adjacent land more productive.

[chuckChuck]

WTF? Why would anyone argue against planting trees in cities?

How many farmers when at a barbecue try to find a cool shady tree to sit under? Or would you rather sit out in the hot sun? LOL

[jazz]

Why go to all that trouble to plant trees when you can just shut down the softwood industry. Problem solved.

[sumdumguy]

Small communities have by- laws dictating that when you build a new house you pay a $1500 deposit that you get back if you plant 100 or 150 bushes or trees. That seems like a lot but really it is doable and the developments green up pretty fast.

[chuckChuck]

Trudeau announced this initiative as a measure to capture more carbon. Trees have many other benefits as well.

Unfortunately farmers are left out of this approach. Why not encourage and reward farmers for using practices that capture carbon, protect the environment and improve the soil?

The political problem is that farmers overwhelmingly vote Conservative, so all the parties including Conservatives don't have to offer anything to farmers to secure their support.