Calgary plants 1,400 trees across city parks this spring

Calgary is adding 1,400 new trees to city parks through a partnership with Trees for Life and Arbour Day Foundation, marking a significant step toward the city's goal of expanding urban canopy coverage.

On Thursday, volunteers planted the first 300 trees—buckeyes, oaks, and evergreens—at Winston Heights off-leash dog park in northeast Calgary. Next week, 400 more will be planted at West Nose Creek Park, with the remaining 700 scheduled for fall.

These plantings are part of urban revitalization projects happening across Canada this year. Trees for Life, a non-profit community tree planting organization that has worked with Calgary for three years, has also led plantings in Richmond and Toronto, with Edmonton on the agenda.

Mike Hurst, Trees for Life's development director, noted the organization's track record with the city: in 2024, it created a memorial tribute to the 100th anniversary of the Royal Canadian Air Force, and added 2,000 trees to West Nose Creek Park in 2025. Alan Joiner, urban forestry department supervisor, said these plantings help Calgary reach its goal of planting 7,500 trees this year with volunteer support.

Calgary's urban tree canopy currently sits around 10 per cent, and the city hopes to expand it by six per cent by 2060. "Calgary is a really big city in terms of land volume, so six per cent is a lot," Joiner said. "To put it in perspective, I would speculate that the airport is probably about one to 1.5 per cent of Calgary, so like four to six Calgary Airports of trees."

Increased canopy provides multiple benefits: it slows stormwater from reaching rivers, provides shade, and lowers the heat island effect through tree transpiration—keeping neighbourhoods cooler during summer months.

The city is ramping up its tree canopy as one of several climate adaptation strategies, particularly as Calgary experiences more intense heat waves.