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December 3, 2024
The City’s planting season has concluded for 2024, with a new record of 342,157 trees and shrubs planted through City programs. This surpasses the previous record of over 230,000 trees and shrubs planted in 2023.
“We continue to make great strides in growing our urban tree canopy and reaching the City Plan’s goal of planting two million trees by 2030,” said Mark Beare, Director of Infrastructure Operations. “Whether through the naturalization of new areas or replacement of trees in our inventory, these efforts all contribute to a climate-resilient future, enhancing air quality, biodiversity and quality of life.”
Number of Trees Planted in 2024 through City Programs
Naturalization Program - 218,547 Trees, 116,432 Shrubs
Boulevard and Open Space Tree Renewal Program - 3,195 Trees
Boulevard and Open Space Backlog Replacement Program - 3,000 Trees
Boulevard and Open Space Growth Tree Planting Program - 905 Trees
Boulevard and Open Space Community-driven Planting Program - 78 Trees
Much of the City’s plantings were accomplished through the naturalization program, which includes the Root for Trees volunteer tree planting program.
“We greatly appreciate the work of volunteers who have helped Edmonton move closer to our tree planting goal”, said Kortney Tompkins, Naturalization Team Lead. “To date 4,795 Root for Trees volunteers have participated in the program. In 2024 volunteers planted 42,342 trees and shrubs at 212 locations.”
City naturalization efforts also continued with plantings at 45 locations this year compared to 22 locations last year. Ongoing public engagement is helping inform naturalization planting at 120 potential locations in 2025.
This year, the City also replaced the 1994 Naturalization Master Plan with A Greener Edmonton: A Vision for Restorative Activities on our Urban Landscape. Aligning with international best practices, the Breathe: Green Network Strategy and other climate and ecological goals, this new plan updates the City’s approach to recovering natural ecosystems, including urban naturalization, restoration and reclamation.
The City continues working towards planting more than two million trees and shrubs by 2030 as part of the City’s Urban Forest Asset Management goal of achieving 20 per cent canopy cover by 2071. To achieve this goal, the City received $48 million in funding from the Government of Canada’s 2 Billion Trees program as well as approved capital budget funding of approximately $66 million. Planting work in support of Greener as We Grow began in April 2022 and will continue until the end of 2030.
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