Winter Wetland Planting

The wetlands of Alberta’s boreal forest are important for water quality and animal habitat. However, they are difficult to access for planting seedlings during the spring, summer and fall due to the nature of thawed muskeg. If planted during these seasons, many seedlings do not survive because surface water patterns are often altered on disturbed wetlands.

Black spruce seedlings were successfully planted in these wetlands during the dead of winter, which holds great promise for revegetating bogs and muskeg areas disturbed by oil sands and other human activities.

About 90 per cent of the 900 black spruce seedlings survived the winter wetland planting trial. Ninety per cent is considered a good survival rate under any planting condition so it was considered exceptional for a wetland planting carried out in February 2011 as temperatures hovered between -17°C and -25°C, before dropping below -30°C.

To date, little experimental work has been carried out on re-vegetating wetlands. However, OSLI used expertise provided by Alberta Sustainable Resource Development, and the project was designed by the Grande Prairie Regional College. The planting trial took place at the Evergreen Centre for Resource Excellence & Innovation in Evergreen Park, near Grande Prairie, Alberta.

Black spruce, a slow-growing tree indigenous to Alberta’s muskeg areas, has roots close to the surface so the species has evolved to the point where it can withstand low temperatures. Other species will be used in larger plantings planned for winter 2012.