Planting for the future

Dan Sidloski knows all about shelterbelts.

He has more than 20 miles of them - rows of trees and shrubs planted around his farmland and his home. He planted them for the same reason most people plant shelterbelts: for protection from the unforgiving prairie winds, and to add some variety to the look of his backyard.

"We face large open areas of land on the Prairies that have nothing to stop the wind," Sidloski said. "Trees provide so many benefits. Not only do they act as wind breaks, but they also trap moisture, serve as wildlife habitat and beautify the surroundings."

With very few trees on his own property, Sidloski decided to contact the Shelterbelt Centre in Indian Head, SK. Operated by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), the Centre provides trees, shrubs and technical advice to eligible landowners in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and the Peace River region of British Columbia. The Centre is administered by the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration (PFRA).

Sidloski planted his shelterbelts between 1987-88. "We started to see benefits after a couple of years," he said. "Those benefits range from stopping snow to preventing the loss of moisture in our fields. Now that they're between 10 and 14 feet high, they've been doing a lot as far as wind control and snow accumulation."

Because trees protect the farmstead from winter winds, landowners with shelterbelts will enjoy a reduced heating bill of as much as 18-25 per cent. Soil erosion is decreased as well, and the accumulated moisture helps crops thrive.

Shelterbelts work on a larger scale as well, affecting more than just the land of those who plant them. Their benefits have a global impact by trapping carbon emissions - in effect, acting as a filter to clean our air.

Recently, the Shelterbelt Centre was allocated additional funds through the federal government's Action Plan 2000. The $500-million initiative funds practical, concrete measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere.

With the added resources, the Centre has recently launched its Shelterbelt Enhancement Program (SEP). The SEP provides clients with plastic mulch and the use of mulch application equipment. These services are provided on top of the Centre's regular activities of tree and shrub seedling distribution and technical advice. The SEP will receive $4 million from Action Plan 2000 over its five-year duration.

It was the Shelterbelt Centre's work in promoting shelterbelts that garnered them the extra funds for the new program. "We have been actively promoting the role of shelterbelts as a response to climate change for the last six years," said Bob Turnock, manager of the SEP. "When Action Plan 2000 was created, shelterbelts were seen as a positive thing, a national response to the climate change issue."

The additional funds are welcomed by Turnock. Providing plastic mulch to clients is an important step to ensure their shelterbelts survive, as the mulch gives the trees an advantage during their early growing years. "We have done extensive research on plastic mulch and its effect on shelterbelts," he explained. "Trees can grow up to 40 per cent faster when weeds are controlled with plastic mulch."

The Shelterbelt program distributes roughly six million trees each year - trees that Turnock says will sequester a total of 1.7 megatonnes of carbon dioxide between 2008-2012. With the SEP providing more services to the Centre's clients, thousands more trees will be planted each year, removing even more tonnes of carbon from the atmosphere.

Sidloski will be taking advantage of the Shelterbelt Centre's services again in the near future. He plans to plant his very own forest on his property.

"We're going to take a 15-acre piece of land and plant 11 different species of trees on it," Sidloski explained. "These trees are going to be spaced far apart, so we're trying to use larger trees to create a forest canopy. This might sound crazy, but I don't see why we can't make it successful! In the spring, we'll sow them in a row and use plastic mulch."

The trees will be transplanted near a creek on Sidloski's land. They will not only beautify the landscape, but also act as a filter to help keep the water, and the air, clean.

"It will be a thing of beauty," Sidloski went on to say, "and if we can get them to be large spreading trees, it should be a unique environment in this area."


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