British Columbia Planted Over 280 Million Trees in 2024

More than 280 million trees were planted in British Columbia forests in 2024, the BC Ministry of Forests announced on December 23.

“2024 was a banner year for tree planting in BC, including celebrating 10 billion trees planted since 1930,” Minster of Forests Ravi Parmar said. “Our government’s commitment to sustainable forests has seen us lead the country by planting more than two billion trees since 2017.”

Caring for the province’s forests has come a long way since reforestation programs began in 1930. Meticulous planning goes into selecting which types of trees are seeded and encouraged to grow on public lands. This year, 13 different native tree species were chosen in an effort to preserve natural ecosystems and prioritize key characteristics, such as resilience to climate change.

The province’s 2024 reforestation efforts were primarily focused on fire-damaged areas. This was in addition to the work undertaken by forest tenure holders as part of their legal requirements to regenerate harvested areas.

John Betts, executive director of the Western Forestry Contractors’ Association said, “We are in good shape right now based upon a run of strong years and the government’s commitment to tackling the impacts of climate change through adaptation and keeping reforestation programs at a level to help regrow our forests. Our members have been adapting to the concept of a restoration economy targeting ecosystem resilience through all kinds of different planting programs.”

BC Timber Sales (BCTS), a division of the Ministry of Forests responsible for managing vast areas of forested public land, also marked a milestone this year. More than one billion trees have been planted since the organization was founded in 2003. BCTS supports local jobs and communities by issuing approximately 40 tree-planting contracts to small business operators throughout the province every year.