Case Study

Planting trees and enhancing forest resilience on private land in Alberta

Published:May 11, 2025

Written by: Ron Laverdiere,

TELUS Environmental Solutions

- https://www.telus.com/en/social-impact/caring-for-the-environment/restoring-nature

The parcel of land in question was purchased in 2019 and shares part of its border with a wetland protected by Ducks Unlimited. The property is quite diverse, with everything from well-drained aspen and balsam poplar stands with white spruce starting to break through the canopy layer to black spruce bogs with tamarack scattered throughout, and everything in between. Around eight acres of property was paper birch-dominant (ridges of aspen and balsam poplar with birch in lower areas that were subject to periodic flooding). The land was acquired with the intention of building a long-term off-grid homestead nestled in the quiet backdrop of nature sounds and a thriving forest landscape. It could be characterized as a “lifestyle” property being built up to live off the land. The landowner has a small garden and regularly harvests wild mushrooms (chaga, boletes, ink caps, and oysters) and wild herbaceous plants from the land and heats the cabins with firewood cut from windfall (and standing dead birch!).

During the wet spring of 2020, the beaver presence grew, and they built a successful dam that flooded most of the birch lands on the property. Although paper birch can handle temporary flooding, most of the birch stand drowned due to persistent flooding that lasted the entire summer. Some of the birch trees were able to survive with varying degrees of flood damage, while the majority of the birch in the low-lying areas died due to the flooding. The beavers also felled over a thousand mature aspen and balsam poplar trees growing on the higher ground adjacent to the birch and bordering the wetland. This Canadian icon, the beaver, essentially decimated many acres of forest after moving into the area and exhibited the behaviour for which they are so well renowned: drastically changing the natural landscape.

Working with nature

Upon consultation, the property owner wanted to allow the beavers to thrive as they followed their natural pattern of modifying nature to suit their needs. To reforest the area filled with standing, dead, flood-damaged birch trees, the decision was made to plant native black spruce and tamarack trees in their place. There is an extensive birch seed bed in place, which will allow the species to regenerate. However, it will be mixed with more flood-tolerant species to increase the forest's resilience. Black spruce and tamarack occur naturally on the property within 150 m of this area and are not preferred by beavers, so they were a natural choice for this tree planting project.

Seed sourcing and local adaptation

There was no registered seed for the desired species in the local seed zone (AB DM 2.2, Dry Mixedwood Plains), so the closest seed zone (AB CM 3.1, Central Mixedwood) with tamarack and black spruce was used. The site is within 40 km of the CM 3.1 seed zone, which has a similar elevation; therefore, the trees should be well adapted to the site. The aspen and balsam poplar were both suckering from their root systems, so replanting them was unnecessary. The shrub layer, which consisted predominantly of willows, continues to thrive in small pockets throughout the property, so it was not required in the planting prescription either.

Long-term project update

The black spruce and tamarack seedlings had a high success rate due to the ideal match between the planted species and the moisture content and soil composition. The seedlings are also taking advantage of the protection from the mature stands of established trees in two directions, and they are thriving—as are the beavers.