Calgary gets nearly $61M to expand urban canopy

Calgary is developing plans to add 930,000 new trees around the city, with nearly $61 million in funding through an agreement with the federal government.

The agreement is part of the national 2 Billion Trees program, which is designed to support new tree planting projects across Canada.

Calgary's new funding will go toward its urban forest canopy expansion project, which aims to plant the new trees during the next five seasons, with a targeted completion date in March 2029.

Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek said the new trees will offer more shade for the city's streets, increase Calgary's biodiversity, more effectively manage stormwater and enhance the city's collective social and mental well-being.

In determining where to plant, Gondek said city administration will have to assess which areas are most in need of additional tree coverage. 

"Both myself and councillors like [Raj] Dhaliwal have been very clear to administration that they need to look at the equity maps that we have in existence already to understand where those trees may be needed," Gondek told reporters on Thursday.

Urban canopy coverage varies widely around the city.

In areas east of Deerfoot Trail, including Ward 5 represented by Coun. Raj Dhaliwal, the urban canopy falls far below the city average. Dhaliwal said he's already planning a notice of motion to call for a sizeable amount of the funding to be used to plant more trees in his ward.

"Let's give the equity to deserving groups, which definitely Ward 5 is at the top," Dhaliwal said.

The city reports that it has already planted more than 200,000 trees and seedlings on public land in the past two years, and provided 7,500 trees to residents to plant on their property.

This ongoing work is part of an overall effort to double the city's canopy coverage from 8.25 per cent, as it was measured to be in 2022, to 16 per cent by 2060. Urban canopy refers to how much of the city is covered by trees, their branches and leaves.

Calgary's urban canopy coverage received one of the lowest marks in the country among major cities, with Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver boasting coverage above 20 per cent.

CBC News analysis in 2022 found that some areas in the city scored less than one per cent coverage, while others closer to parks had upward of 40 per cent.

By 2031, the federal government plans to invest up to $3.2 billion in efforts to plant two billion trees, supporting provinces, territories, third-party organizations and Indigenous groups.

Bev Sandalack, a professor with the School of Architecture and Planning at the University of Calgary, said the investment from the federal government is great news for the city.

She noted that trees offer physical, psychological and climate benefits, as well as economic benefits as neighbourhoods with more trees are seen as more desirable to live in.

She argues that the city should first find neighbourhoods with existing infrastructure to take on more trees and where street trees are common, and fill in existing gaps of tree coverage.

"It's not just a matter of targeting the neighbourhoods that are under-supplied with trees," Sandalack said.

"Start where there are gaps, and then start to look at the underserved areas and see where [more trees] can physically be possible."

Neighbourhoods with low canopy coverage were often developed in a way that didn't prioritize making space for trees, with large driveways, no back lanes and limited sidewalks — all amounting to less space to plant trees.

Sandalack thinks the city should look at developing practical ways to introduce trees to these neighbourhoods as well, even if it means tearing up asphalt on some streets to do it.

At a larger level, she added that trees shouldn't be thought of as an add-on to existing neighbourhoods but instead be an integral part of how streets and communities are planned.