Facing separation discussions, elector list distributions and waiting for a pipeline, my words today are about trees.

In windswept Calgary, trees are a source of shade, beauty and healthy air. Capt. John Palliser stated in 1858 that the land around Calgary — the “Palliser Triangle” — would “forever be completely useless.”

Unlike Vancouver or Toronto, almost every tree in Calgary was hand-planted by someone over the past 100 years. This weekend, garden centres will be selling trees to be taken home, planted, watered and nurtured to become part of Calgary’s urban forest.

In 1991, the federal government launched the “2BT plan” to plant two billion trees in Canada by 2031. The program has been scrapped with less than 230 million trees planted. The City of Calgary has a free tree planting program that will distribute 10,000 trees to residents in 2026, and those trees will be added to the landscape.

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Calgarians love their trees, and walking or driving........

© Calgary Herald