Locals dug into the soil of north Calgary while world leaders flew out, as G7 Summit-related helicopters offered a soundtrack to entertain their gardening. 

Dozens volunteered their time to the non-profit organization, Trees for Life, on June 17 to plant 500 trees at Nose Creek Park. In partnership with the Arbor Day Foundation, the project seeks to offset the impact of inner-city and nearby polluters.

The initiative is funded by Amazon, which opened its first Alberta-based data centre, named the AWS Canada West Region, in 2023. Community engagement manager at Amazon Web Services, Wilberte Paul, said that Calgary is just one example of the many tree planting events they hold. 

“We want to stay in and around where we have data centres, because that’s where our employees work and live and play every day,” she said. 

Being situated on public land, the project is also in partnership with the City of Calgary and is a step toward achieving the goals outlined in the Calgary Climate Strategy plan. Released in 2022, the document outlines the city’s aspiration of upgrading the current tree canopy coverage from roughly eight to 16 per cent by 2050. 

The city’s urban forestry superintendent, Alan Joiner, said that 2,000 trees — a mix of coniferous, evergreens, and aspens — will be planted by September 2025. With much of Calgary’s land being privately owned, he said that community engagement is crucial for extending the canopy. 

“If we can find ways to lower the barriers to tree planting on private land and work with groups to enable them and empower them to plant in those spaces as well,” said Joiner. 

“We feel like we will have a much better chance of achieving that goal.”

Why does Calgary need more trees?

According to Nature Canada, tree canopies must cover about 30 per cent of a neighbourhood to be successful. Joiner said that bettering Calgary’s inner-city coverage will allow residents to feel improvements in air filtration, but that the aftermath of weather events will arguably be the obvious difference. 

“They really help with storm water runoff,” he said. 

“With all the trees in the ground, once we get one of those June rain storms, the trees absorb a lot of that.”

Development director at Trees for Life, Mike Hurley, said that their mission is to plant trees to compensate for the 80 per cent of Canadians who live in urban areas where canopy coverage is slim. 

“There’s a ton of work that we need to do to combat climate change,” he said. 

“But one of the quickest, simplest, and easiest things we can do is plant.”

Despite the organization’s previous efforts of planting approximately 10,000 trees in and around Calgary, Hurley said that the city needs more. What’s different about this project, however, is that it does not solely seek to alleviate climate change. 

In 2015, Trees for Life was founded following its first project: the Highway of Heroes Tree Campaign. The inaugural event planted a tree for every fallen Canadian soldier along a section of Highway 401 between Trenton and Toronto, Ontario. 

Even a decade later, they have the same mission, as Hurley said that the 2,000 trees coming to Calgary will be dedicated to first responders, health care workers, and firefighters. Naming it the Hero Forest, he said that even “the ordinary, average, everyday heroes” will be celebrated. 

“It’s a way of saying thank you to the many different kinds of heroes that make Calgary and make Alberta a great place to live,” said Hurley. 

This is not expected to be the last local initiative, and he encouraged those interested in volunteering to keep an eye on their social media accounts and the City of Calgary’s webpage. 

“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, but the second-best time is today,” said Hurley.