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More than 1 billion trees planted in BC over 4 years

British Columbia has planted more than one billion trees since 2018, including 301 million this year.

The province continues its work to reduce the effects of climate change and make sure healthy forests are here for generations.

“B.C. is leading the country in its science-based reforestation efforts and has planted over 1 billion trees since 2018,” said Katrine Conroy, Minister of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development. “This milestone would not have been possible without the hard work of thousands of silviculture workers who prepare and plant millions of diverse saplings, ensuring our forests are resilient for generations to come.”

British Columbia planted just over 301 million trees in 2021, a record 304 million in 2020, 258 million in 2019 and 255 million in 2018. More than 1.1 billion trees have been planted since 2018.

About 5,000 silviculture workers throughout B.C. will be employed planting trees in 2022. Right now, in nurseries throughout British Columbia, another 1,300 workers are preparing millions of seedlings for cold storage, where they’ll wait until spring to be shipped to planting sites around B.C.

B.C. plants a mix of native tree species, including lodgepole pine, interior spruce, western red cedar, Douglas fir and Larch. This helps ensure future forests are climate-adaptable, resilient and diverse.

“Replanting harvested areas and those areas ravaged by wildfire and pests is essential to our fight against climate change and rebuilding forest health. The millions of trees planted this year will increase the carbon-capture capacity of our forests and reduce emissions in our province over the long term,” said George Heyman, Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy. “These trees will also reduce the risks of landslides and floods while supporting the essential biodiversity and wildlife habitat all British Columbians value.”

Trees are valuable for carbon sequestration. They capture and hold carbon from the atmosphere and mitigate the impacts of climate change. By the time they are grown, one million trees planted today can have the greenhouse gas benefit of removing 42,000 cars from the road for a year, helping to ensure a cleaner environment for future generations.

Annual tree-planting efforts in B.C. start on the coast in early February, then expand throughout the Interior and Northern regions by the second week of July. Fall planting makes up a small portion of the annual reforestation effort but takes place in September and October in some parts of the province.