NCC nowhere near goal of planting 100,000 trees by 2026

The National Capital Commission (NCC) made a pledge in 2021 to plant 100,000 trees in five years but so far it's planted just 5,000, or five per cent, according to a sustainable development strategy approved by its board of directors on Thursday.

The NCC's efforts were a bid to more effectively manage its forests (72 per cent of its lands are forested), and to maintain its overall tree canopy percentage of 74 per cent.

Despite falling far behind the pace of its goal, help could be coming from the federal government, which has separately pledged to issue $3.2 billion in funding to plant two billion trees across the country, the board heard.

Some residents have criticized the NCC's maintenance of its woodlands, and question whether the commission will be able to handle the responsibility as climate change brings more powerful and frequent storms.

The NCC itself has said rising stress on ecosystems "will make it increasingly difficult for the NCC to maintain the tree canopy and achieve its tree-planting targets," according to a 2022 climate vulnerability and risk assessment.

"Additional resources will be required to maintain this existing resource in a functional state. Even more resources will need to be allocated for the planting and management of additional trees because of the effects of climate change," the assessment read.

NCC woods generate $212M in economic benefits annually: report

Woods perform important work, according to a 2016 NCC report that assessed their economic value, including climate regulation, improving air quality by intercepting pollutants and particulates, filtering water, preventing erosion, pollination, providing habitat and more.

The total economic value of NCC forest ecosystems, calculated per hectare, was estimated at about $174 million per year in 2016. That's about $212 million annually in 2023 dollars. 

NCC tree canopy was last measured in 2017, before several tornadoes, last year's highly destructive derecho, and the ice storm this spring. In the NCC's Pinhey Forest and Pine Grove alone, about 70 per cent of the upper tree canopy was lost to the derecho — nearly the size of five Central Experimental Farms.

Cleaning up has been costly and "required significant staff effort," the sustainable development strategy states.

During the board meeting, Geneviève Mercier, the NCC's chief of sustainable development programs, said in French the NCC is working with Natural Resources Canada "to enhance our tree-planting program in light of their goal to plant two billion trees, so the implementation continues.

"I'm convinced that in the years to come, we'll make a lot of progress in the area of tree planting but also for the protection of urban trees," Mercier said in French.

Sites for future tree planting identified

Also on Thursday, the NCC board endorsed a sustainable development strategy annual report. 

That report stated foresters visited woodlands in 2022-23 to assess any maintenance required, and inspected hundreds of urban trees to update their inventory and prescribe maintenance for each, among other tasks.

The fieldwork revealed compacted soil and physical damage to trees.

"Priorities for the 2023 work plan will involve finding sustainable solutions to address these problems, in addition to the challenges caused by the derecho storm in May 2022," the annual report reads.

As for the NCC's tree planting pledge, the annual report says sites for trees have been scouted out, and planting will take place "on a priority basis" over the next four years.

Some of the 5,000 trees planted so far are located in Hampton Park, along the north side of Highway 417 west of Island Park Drive. More trees will be planted there in the fall in conjunction with community groups protecting Hampton Park and Carlington Woods.

Other groups partnering with the NCC on tree planting include CIMA+, which is donating $20,000 in support, and Forêt Capital Forest, which donated 200 trees to be planted along Aviation Parkway.