Combating Climate Change Through Reforestation

This spring, ERCA celebrated its busiest tree planting season in more than a dozen years. "Our 2007 spring tree planting has been our most successful in years, with more than 218,000 trees being planted and distributed," explained Ray Renaud, Chair.

In addition helping move closer to our community goal of a healthy and sustainable future by achieving a target of 12% natural areas coverage, reforesting land to a natural state also helps to sequester carbon, offsetting some of the impacts of climate change.

For example, it is estimated that just one hectare of seedlings can consume about 6 tons of carbon per year. As the plantation ages, that amount increases. At forty years of age, it will sequester 89 tones per hectare per year, and within a century each hectare will consume 257 tones.

To put that in perspective, the Trees Canada Foundation estimates that on average, a vehicle can produce about 5 tones of climate changing emissions each year. Of course, a smaller car will produce less, while a less efficient car will produce more. Using those figures, it is easy to see that a single hectare of newly reforested land can offset the emissions of one car per year. As the forest ages, the carbon it sequesters increases dramatically, such that the same hectare of mature forest can offset the impacts of more than 50 vehicles.

Forests also help to clean the air, recharge ground water, filter surface water, provide habitat for plants and animal, and provide great recreational and economic opportunities throughout the province.

"ERCA and all conservation authorities will have to consider the impacts of climate change in designing and implementing forest management activities in the future," says Matthew Child, Director of Watershed Restoration. "Understanding and reducing the impacts of climate change and developing early adaptation tools and techniques will be important to ensuring the protection and restoration of the region's natural areas."

If you are interested in planting trees on your property of two acres or more this fall or next spring, contact ERCA's forester at pgiroux@erca.org.