More than half of Canada’s tree seedlings are grown in B.C. — an anchor to an industry poised to grow amid a violent spike in wildfire activity, according to a new report from the Canadian Tree Nursery Association.
Released Friday in Victoria, the report sketched out the economic footprint of an industry that has largely supplied seedlings to logging companies so they can replant cut forests. As of late 2024, B.C. tree nurseries generated nearly $130 million, accounting for about half of the $256 million generated throughout the country.
The numbers come a month after BIV published forecasts from the B.C. government showing the province would likely see 50 million fewer trees planted in 2025 — a 17-per-cent drop from the 2024 planting season at a time when the province has seen a major spike in wildfire activity.
The projections came from presentation slides obtained by BIV and shown to the industry in September, less than 10 days before the B.C. 2024 provincial election campaign kicked off. During the campaign, the BC NDP promised to plant 300 million trees annually across the province to “help increase forest resilience.”
Erik Piikkila, a forest technician and watershed ecologist in Ladysmith, B.C., said that while B.C.’s forecast decline in tree planting next year is likely due to a number of factors — including the possibility of U.S. tariffs on Canadian lumber that could lead to a decline in logging — the rise in wildfire intensity is making large swaths of ground more difficult to plant on.
“These wildfires are burning so hard they’re baking the ground hard,” Piikkila said at the time. “All these factors are adding up. It’s another perfect storm.”
Critics of the seedling industry say it drives a cycle of unsustainable harvesting in which the forestry industry has yet to meaningfully pivot away from mono-crop tree farms and plant fire-resistant tree species.
The national nursery association forecasts wildfires will drive an increased demand in seed production over the coming years. Government investment in the industry, it said, would help Canada bolster rural communities, forest ecosystems and a “climate-resilient future.”
“As the importance of this sector is set to grow in the coming decade, driven by factors such as climate change and wildfire risks, continued investment is essential,” the report concludes.
The Canadian Tree Nursery Association estimates it will take 5.3 billion seedlings to plant only 15 per cent of Canadian forests burned by the 2023 and 2024 wildfires. Growing that many seeds, it claims, would create nearly 31,000 jobs and add $3.9 billion to Canada’s GDP.
