Budgeting and funding
Project Cost Categories
Consider breaking up your project costs into 3 categories and the timing associated with each step:
Planning your project
Land (communications, outreach and surveying for suitable land or purchasing land for project delivery)
Stock materials (deposit if applicable)
Seed sourcing including forecasting, collection, processing and storage if applicable
Equipment and labour needs (deposits if applicable)
Data management
Delivering your project
Equipment (tools, machinery)
Site preparation
Transportation
Stock materials (final payment)
Tree planting labour
Follow-up and maintenance
Tending
Long-term monitoring
In addition to understanding what costs to expect, the timing of when these costs occur is also important to consider. For instance, when putting in an order for nursery stock, often a 2-year lead time is needed to propagate a requested stock type, which also may require a deposit to the nursery at the time of ordering. Alternatively, you may be able to secure surplus nursery stock that season right before planting, but you run the risk of them not having the species or stock type you need. Planning your project in advance will also allow you enough time to source appropriate contractors for site preparation and/or tree planting activities. If requiring new vehicles, machines, or tools, you may need to check if what you need is in stock and that it’s available in the province you’re working in. The tree planting industry deals with specialized equipment, so it is not rare to have customized tools and equipment shipped into you from another province in Canada or even from outside of the country. Events hosted all over Canada allow you to see demonstrations of small and large tree planting equipment. Visit one near you to get an idea of what you may need for your operation. BushPro is a popular source for hand tree planting equipment, based in western Canada and Replant.ca offers a comprehensive online forum for common equipment used by planters
Financing Your Project
Funding your tree planting project may require you to find financial resources from more than one place, through public and private sources, or by working with the landowner / land manager to recover costs. Raising funds from different sources can come with variable reporting requirements and therefore it is a good idea to set up a good method for data tracking, reporting and project management. The funding available to you will vary with the type of organization that you are (i.e. a registered charity, private sector, landowner, Indigenous, not-for-profit), your region in Canada and your project type.
Funding for tree planting typically falls into the following categories: direct funding, grants offered by a funding program, connecting with a project developer to discover different opportunities, or through working with your landowner. We will go through each here in more depth:
Find direct funding
Direct funding will provide the highest financial investment for your tree planting program or project but comes with an expectation for a high organizational capacity, willingness and ability to complete application and reporting paperwork, and a demonstrated ability to manage complex projects and budgets.
Funding programs are available at different levels of government (federal, provincial, municipal) for tree planting and forest restoration in Canada. Look online or check with your local provincial and municipal government office to inquire about what is available. Public funding sources often will not provide full funding and may require a match or additional resources for the project.
Private funding may be available for your planting project through partnerships or sponsorships with local businesses or larger corporations. Sponsorship and partnership opportunities with corporate companies for tree planting have been on the rise in recent years because of the popularity of natural climate solutions. In addition to climate abatement goals, many companies are becoming more and more interested in other nature-based markets; ecosystem services, biodiversity metrics, and overall Environmental, Social and Governance goals that all work together to provide companies return on investment for their sponsorship in tree planting activities. You can take advantage of these opportunities for investment to seek funding for your tree planting projects where you can find partnerships that align with your project’s goals.
Bring your project to a recognized funding program for a grant
While you set out to seek funding for your project, don’t forget that there are tree planting organizations who are already set up with recognized tree planting funding programs and aggregate resources to carry out reporting on a wide variety of projects. They rely on creating partnerships with operational tree planting companies who lead and carry out the work required. Through this type of partnership, you can receive funding for your tree planting activities while saving time on some of the administrative work involved with fundraising and reporting.
Connect with a project developer
With the increase in popularity of tree planting activities and investment in Canada in recent years, there have been project developers and groups that have been actively working to connect tree planting companies with funding opportunities in Canada. You can choose to work with such a project developer who will assist you with discovering new partnerships with the organizations who manage recognized tree planting funding programs.
Cost recovery from landowner
Whether delivering your project for a landowner or municipality, you may be able to recover some the costs of the project with their support. After you have secured as much funding as possible for completing your project, the landowner or land manager can also be a source of project cost recovery as well. In some instances, you can also use in-kind value of landowner participation in key project activities, such as mowing or other site preparation land work, as financial contributions to the project which is helpful when identifying matching funds for government funding for example.
Incentives for private land forest establishment and management
- Check to see if there are incentives available to the landowner if your project is taking place on private land. Such incentives are available across Canada that may help to reduce long-term costs overall for project implementation. One example is the availability of tax incentives for landowners that have plans in place for their property that sustainably manage or conserve newly planted or restored areas. Additionally, there may be resources available within the region to help with long-term management of the establishing forest to maintain forest health. Rotherham (2017)[1] provides a comprehensive guide on tax incentives and financial support for private forest establishment in Canada. Here are some examples of landowner incentives for private land forest establishment in Canada:
- Ontario: the Managed Forest Tax Incentive Program (MFTIP) provides a tax break for establishing a forest on properties greater than 4 hectares. The landowner needs maintain an approved Managed Forest Plan. When the plan is active, they can save a significant amount on the municipal residential property tax rate each year.
- British Columbia: private forest owners can qualify for the Managed Forest tax rate, under the Private Managed Forest Land Program, guided by the Private Managed Forest Land Act.
- Quebec: rebates of up to 85% of total annual property taxes paid are provided to private forest owners through the Real Estate Tax Reimbursement Program for Certified Forest Producers, paid out as a deduction on the provincial income tax. Subsidies are available for forest management work through the Financial Assistance Program for the Development of Private Woodlots, wherein landowners become “Forest Producers”.
- New Brunswick: property taxes due on forested lands are inherently lower. There are no specific tax-based incentives to encourage timber growth and harvesting but the lower tax rate on forested lands provides incentive to landowners to prevent converting the land from forest to another land use. Financial assistance for silvicultural work on woodlots owned by primary forest product producers are delivered through regional Forest Products Marketing Boards.
- Nova Scotia: forested land has a lower tax rate to begin with, incentivizing the prevention of land conversion to non-forest. Financial assistance for silvicultural work on woodlots owned by primary forest product producers are delivered through regional Forest Products Marketing Boards.
- Prince Edward Island: landowners qualify for receiving financial support from the province for forest management plan development and implementing silvicultural treatments, through the Forest Enhancement Program and the Forest Investment Program, respectively.
- Newfoundland/Labrador: forested land has a lower tax rate to begin with, incentivizing the prevention of land conversion to non-forest.
Literature Cited
Rotherham, T. 2017. The taxation of privately owned forest land in Canada: A review of the taxation systems in all ten provinces. The Forestry Chronicle 93(2):104-112 (online)
