Features Industry News News Opinions
Canada has a wildfire crisis and a workforce that can help, so why aren’t we using it?

Talking Points

As Canada faces another severe wildfire season, the role of tree planters in forest restoration is often underestimated. Each spring, around 6,500 tree planters restore 400,000 to 500,000 hectares of forest, yet they are frequently viewed merely as labourers. This perspective overlooks their significant capabilities in managing complex restoration efforts.

• Canada's 2023 wildfire season destroyed a record 18.4 million hectares, necessitating active restoration.
• Tree planters possess entrepreneurial and leadership traits that extend beyond planting trees.
• The forestry sector employs tens of thousands of young Canadians each summer, providing valuable skills and experience.

Recognizing the full potential of tree planters is crucial for effective wildfire recovery and long-term forest resilience, especially as youth unemployment remains a pressing issue in Canada.

Powered by:
Annex Intelligence

Show more

As Canada braces for another severe wildfire season – with warnings of above-normal fire activity across much of British Columbia, Alberta, and Ontario – a critical question is going unasked: who rebuilds what fire destroys? The answer is hiding in plain sight.

Each spring, approximately 6,500 tree planters head into the Canadian wilderness to plant between 600 to 700 million seedlings. That’s 400,000 to 500,000 hectares of forest restored every year. Yet, a persistent misconception follows them. In Canada’s forestry sector, tree planters are simply labour, and planting contractors are simply labour brokers: boots on the ground, hired to put seedlings in soil and move on. It’s a narrative that undersells not only the people but the entire capability of an industry hiding in plain sight.

The truth is far more interesting – and far more valuable.

From “labour” to leadership

Despite the sophistication of the work, many in government and industry still default to a narrow view. Need trees planted? Call the planters. Need brushing or basic silviculture? Same answer. But anything beyond that? Rarely considered. That’s a missed opportunity – especially now.

Canada’s 2023 wildfire season scorched a record 18.4 million hectares. The 2024 season brought more of the same. Each year of catastrophic fire means millions of hectares of destroyed forest that require active restoration – not just natural regrowth, which can take decades and often fails without intervention. Large-scale wildfire restoration requires hiring professional foresters, conducting field assessments, developing prescriptions, coordinating access and road reactivation, managing supply chains, and delivering verifiable outcomes across tens of thousands of hectares with damaged infrastructure, regulatory complexity, staffing shortages, and tight timelines.

The same teams being overlooked are already managing exactly these challenges – and delivering.

Consider wildfire camp deployment: building fully operational, self-sufficient camps for hundreds of people in remote locations with no water, no sewage systems, and no infrastructure. Within days, barren land becomes a functioning community—housing, food systems, logistics, and operations all stood up from scratch. That level of execution isn’t luck. It’s capability.

The untapped advantage of tree planting

What makes this workforce uniquely effective is a combination of traits rarely found together. Tree planters are entrepreneurial—each individual is responsible for their own output and efficiency. They are athletic, performing physically demanding work in extreme conditions. They are adaptive, solving problems in real time with limited resources. And they are collaborative, working in teams where collective performance determines success.

These are not entry-level qualities. They are foundational leadership traits—and they translate far beyond planting. From supply chain creation in remote regions to coordinating multi-stakeholder restoration efforts, including meaningful partnerships with First Nations, this workforce already operates at a level that many institutions are trying to build toward.

There is also a compelling economic and workforce development story here. Tree planting is one of the few industries that consistently employs tens of thousands of young Canadians each summer—many of them students—in physically demanding, skills-building work. At a time when youth unemployment remains a persistent policy concern, this sector quietly absorbs and trains an entire generation of problem-solvers.

An industry undervalued

Silviculture is often seen as a cost centre, while harvesting is viewed as the economic driver. But it’s short-sighted. Without regeneration, there is no long-term industry. Without restoration, there is no resilience. And without the people who know how to execute both, there is no path forward.

The other issue is fragmentation. Forestry in Canada is represented by a wide range of organizations—contractors, associations, government bodies, and Indigenous groups—often operating in parallel rather than together. The result? Missed opportunities to tell a unified story about the value of the sector and the people within it.

A better way forward

If we want to shift perception, we need to start with clarity and evidence. That means investing in credible economic impact data to quantify the true contribution of this workforce. It means telling the story publicly, consistently, and at scale. And it means creating spaces where the full ecosystem of forestry can align around common goals.

But above all, it requires a mindset shift. With wildfire seasons growing longer and more destructive, and a generation of young Canadians looking for meaningful work in a sector that matters, we need to stop asking tree planting companies what they can do within a narrow scope—and start asking what problems they can solve.

Because the answer, increasingly, is: a lot.

Jeff Lutes is co-director of stakeholder engagement for the Western Forestry Contractors’ Association and co-owner of Blue Collar Silviculture Ltd.