180,000 trees to be planted across Calgary this year
City ramps up urban forest expansion in northeast and north-central neighbourhoods after federal funding boost.
Calgary is planting 180,000 new trees this year, continuing a surge in green infrastructure aimed at closing the city's urban canopy gap.
The push follows a $61-million federal grant received in 2024 through Ottawa's 2 Billion Trees program. Since then, the city has planted 360,000 trees across Calgary, with similar planting targets set for 2027 and 2028.
Most of this year's new trees will go to Ward 3 (north-central) and Ward 5 (deep northeast), each receiving between 60,000 and 70,000 trees. Ward 5 has the lowest canopy coverage in the city at under 3 per cent, while southwest wards like Ward 6 boast more than 20 per cent coverage.
Paul Atkinson, the city's urban forestry lead, stressed that neighbourhood-level planning matters more than ward-wide counts, since some areas—like those near the airport in Ward 5—naturally have lower tree density. "We have to look at it on a community by community level," he said, "because the community level helps us develop actionable criteria, street by street."
Trees improve air quality, manage stormwater, provide wildlife habitat, and reduce heat-island effects. A 2022 report found Calgary's tree canopy coverage—just over 8 per cent—lagged far behind Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal, all exceeding 20 per cent. The expansion is part of a long-term effort to catch up.