In a media release Wednesday, July 5, Terry Duguid, member of Parliament for Winnipeg South and parliamentary secretary to the minister of environment and climate change, on behalf of the Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, federal Minister of Natural Resources, Manitoba Natural Resources and Northern Development Minister Greg Nesbitt, and Manitoba Environment and Climate Minister Kevin Klein, announced Manitoba’s multi-year tree-planting agreement, which benefits from a federal contribution of $8.85 million under the 2 Billion Trees (2BT) program. Additionally, the Manitoba government is contributing $8.85 million to this initiative.
Under this nine-year agreement, the Manitoba government will plant up to 1 million additional trees annually. Seedlings will be planted on forest lands that have been affected by wildfires and other natural disturbance events, and large saplings will be planted annually in rural, urban and Indigenous communities. These trees will reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Manitoba by an estimated 52,473 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide by 2050, the equivalent of taking 16,076 vehicles off the road.
The Indigenous projects are intended to facilitate Indigenous participation on reforestation initiatives through capacity building, planning and site selection, seed collecting, preparation and monitoring. Earlier this spring, the 2BT program supported a planting project in Norway House Cree Nation, providing employment and skills training for 19 community members to establish a new forest. The Manitoba government provided 50,000 conifer seedlings, funding to pay the planters, and in-kind training for the project.
In 2023, the Manitoba government will focus on identifying more planting sites and partners as well as prepare areas for planting. In 2024, large-scale planting will begin. Since 2018, the Manitoba government has planted 8.6 million trees, an average of 1.7 million per year.
The Government of Canada’s 2BT program is helping to clean the air, keep neighbourhoods cool in the summer, create jobs and fight climate change while protecting nature. By working together with provinces, territories, local communities and Indigenous Peoples, Canada continues to build a strong, healthy future for generations to come.
