Board hears that a federal program to plant 2 billion trees could help NCC’s work
The National Capital Commission (NCC) promised in 2021 to plant 100,000 trees in five years, but so far it has only planted 5,000, or 5%, of those trees, according to a strategy for sustainable development that its board of directors approved on Thursday.
The NCC tried to better manage its forests (72 percent of its land is forested) and keep its overall tree canopy percentage at 74 percent.
The board heard that the federal government has promised to give $3.2 billion to plant two billion trees across the country. Even though the state is far behind its goal, the federal government could help.
Some locals have said that the NCC doesn’t do a good job of taking care of its forests, and they wonder if the commission will be able to handle the job as climate change makes storms stronger and more frequent.
According to a 2022 climate vulnerability and risk assessment, the NCC itself has said that increasing stress on ecosystems will make it harder for the NCC to keep the tree canopy and reach its tree-planting goals.
“This existing resource will need more resources to keep it in working order. Because of the effects of climate change, even more money will need to be spent on planting and taking care of more trees,” the assessment said.
Report: NCC woods bring in $212M in economic benefits every year
According to a 2016 NCC report that looked at the economic value of woods, they do a lot of important things, like control the climate, improve air quality by catching pollutants and particles, filter water, stop erosion, pollination, provide habitat, and more.
The total economic value of NCC forest ecosystems, calculated per hectare, was estimated at about $174 million per year in 2016. That’s about $212 million annually in 2023 dollars.
The last time the NCC measured tree canopy was in 2017, before several tornadoes, last year’s very destructive derecho, and this spring’s ice storm. About 70% of the upper tree canopy was lost in the NCC’s Pinhey Forest and Pine Grove because of the derecho. This is about the size of five Central Experimental Farms.
The sustainable development strategy says that cleaning up has been expensive and “required a lot of work from staff.”
During the board meeting, Geneviève Mercier, the NCC’s chief of sustainable development programs, said in French that the NCC is working with Natural Resources Canada “to improve our tree-planting program in light of their goal to plant two billion trees, so the implementation continues.
Mercier said in French, “I’m sure that we’ll make a lot of progress in planting trees and protecting urban trees in the years to come.”
Places where trees will be planted in the futur
Also on Thursday, the NCC board approved an annual report on a strategy for sustainable development.
In that report, it said that foresters went to woodlands in 2022 and 2023 to see if any maintenance was needed and to look at hundreds of urban trees to update their inventory and tell each one how to be cared for.
The fieldwork showed that the soil was compacted and that trees had been physically hurt.
“Finding long-term solutions to these problems and the problems caused by the derecho storm in May 2022 will be top priorities for the 2023 work plan,” says the annual report.
As for the NCC’s promise to plant trees, the annual report says that tree planting will happen “on a priority basis” over the next four years, after tree planting sites have been found.
Some of the 5,000 trees that have been planted so far are on the north side of Highway 417, west of Island Park Drive, in Hampton Park. Together with community groups that protect Hampton Park and Carlington Woods, more trees will be planted there in the fall.
Other groups that are helping the NCC plant trees are CIMA+, which is giving $20,000, and Forêt Capital Forest, which gave 200 trees to be planted along Aviation Parkway.