In September 2014, a late-summer snow storm impacted Calgary’s urban forest. The recovery and restoration of Calgary’s forest will take time. The City estimates that 50% of Calgary’s 500,000 public trees and 1.5 million private trees were damaged. Some trees require corrective pruning, while others will need to be removed and replanted. There are three times as many damaged trees on private property as there is on City land and recovering from this storm will require us as a city and a community to look after our trees together. City Council has dedicated $35.5 million over 3 years to recover from the 2014 snow storm. This includes replanting, pruning, and public education. You may find several resources by visiting www.calgary.ca/trees or view the original framework for details on funding and plans for this initiative.
You may also find out when the tree recovery and restoration is happening in your community by visiting http://maps.calgary.ca/TreeSchedule/.
ReTree YYC is a City of Calgary initiative to raise public awareness of the value of trees to reverse the damage caused to over 1 million trees by ‘Snowtember’. The primary goal of ReTree YYC is to work in partnership with citizens to understand the proper planting and maintenance of our urban forest. By helping Calgarians plant and maintain trees on both public and private property, we hope to make the city landscape better for generations to come.
Planting trees provides many environmental, public health, welfare and socio-economic benefits to communities including: improvement of air quality by removing gaseous pollutants and dust particles, absorption of carbon monoxide, climate moderation, energy conservation, storm water retention, wildlife habitats, aesthetic value and they increase property value.
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