Because forests touch our lives in so many ways, we have a responsibility to grow and nurture them for future generations. To make sure our forests are always with us, companies put back more trees than they take.

Under Alberta law, any area that’s harvested needs to be regenerated, and the company that completed the harvest is responsible for regenerating the site. Forestry companies in Alberta go beyond just regrowing what was there, regrowing more trees than they harvested, and the purpose of this isn’t to create “tree farms.” Our forest industry doesn’t regrow monocultures – the new, regenerated forest is expected to show the same level of biodiversity as a forest that grew without human involvement.

For many years, Alberta’s forest industry has been proud of regrowing an average of three conifers for each one harvested. As of 2021, we’ve reached a new milestone: we’re now regrowing three trees for every one we harvest, instead of just two. Alberta forestry companies regrew over 100 million coniferous trees in 2021 and we’ve regrown nearly 2 billion trees over the past 20 years.