The Project Forest & Nutrien Partnership

The Project Forest Nutrien Forest is a 17-hectare site located at Nutrien’s Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta nitrogen plant, about a half-hour drive north of Edmonton. In June 2023, Project Forest, a nonprofit that Trees for Life supports, in partnership with Nutrien Ltd., planted 26,100 Okanese Poplar on the site.  This unique forest sits atop a reclaimed gypstack, a huge pile of phosphogypsum that has been contoured, covered with soil, and seeded to a grass mixture, then planted with the poplar trees.

The Okanese was selected because it’s a fast-growing poplar hybrid that will sequester carbon at a high rate.  It’s projected the forest will remove up to 8,500 tonnes of CO2 over its lifetime. This afforestation effort has been underway for quite a few years with some impressive results.  Due to the site’s soil nutrient profile and its ability to retain moisture, seedling growth has proven to be exceptional on the site, and in some cases, trees over 13 metres tall are being observed at year 6.  See the video for the complete story, click here. 

This unique forest is made possible through the support of Nutrien Ltd, the land and funding partner, that supplied 50% of the cost of the project, with the matching funds coming from Trees for Life, through the Government of Canada’s 2 Billion Trees program.  Project Forest supplied the seedlings and tree planters to execute the project.

Together, our organizations are creating new and innovative solutions by harnessing the power of forests and all their associated benefits. We are removing carbon from the atmosphere, providing habitat for animals, improving water and soil quality, and building a roadmap for other companies to look to when trying to solve their own environmental challenges.

This afforestation project is a great example of how collaboration with the right tree-planting organizations and industrial land partners can make a lasting positive impact where we live, work, and play.