Faster Forests

Seedling trees and shrubs are being planted in areas disturbed by oil and gas exploration activity as part of OSLI’s Faster Forests program, which is designed to restore ecological integrity and ecosystem functions to northern Alberta forests.

Between 2009 and the end of 2011, OSLI companies collectively planted approximately one million trees and shrubs. Planting shrubs is as important as planting trees because shrubs allow trees to grow healthier, faster and with less competition for nutrients and water from fast-growing grasses.

The trees and shrubs are being planted on exploratory well sites and seismic lines to put the industry’s disturbances back on a healthy forest trajectory. Learnings from three years of field implementation will be shared with other interested companies operating in the area.