Planting the seeds of reconciliation with Project Forest and Siksika Nation
Published: Jun 25, 2024
Nutrien supports community initiatives that are aligned with our four focus areas: Sustainable Agriculture, Environmental Stewardship, Inclusive Industry and Resilient Communities. We aim to align our community investments to these focus areas to maximize the impact we can make.
Every so often, we are invited to join a project that addresses every single one of these focus areas. The Project Forest Siksika Nation Community Shelterbelt Program is the perfect example.
"Helping to provide trees, shrubs and traditional food and medicinal plants selected by Siksika Nation Elders is an honour and a privilege," says Trina Aburto, a Community Relations and Investment Manager with Nutrien. "But what makes this project extra special is the ripple effect it creates in the form of new relationships, environmental protection, biodiversity and increased opportunities to return to traditional land-use activities, including agriculture."
This multi-year partnership between Project Forest and Siksika Nation will bring urgently needed trees to the community. Nutrien is proud to be supporting this nature-based project through financial support and hands-on volunteering.
On June 18, employee volunteers helped to build and handout Seedling Bags, shared planting instructions with Siksika Nation members, and connected with the community and each other.
“With Nutrien volunteers’ help we built and gave away over 1,100 seedling bags that each contained five trees... that's more than 5,500 seedlings off to new homes on Siksika Nation,” states Bess Callard, Communications Specialist with Project Forest.
About the Project
For more than 100 years, the federal government gave trees to farmers across the prairies to plant shelterbelts, protecting them from the harsh elements and improving the growing conditions for their crops. Siksika Nation, and many other First Nations, were not offered access to these trees and the many benefits they provide.
Project Forest is planting shelterbelts around the homes, communities and agricultural fields on Siksika Nation, the second largest reserve in Canada. Shelterbelts, up to five rows wide with food-bearing and medicinal plants interspersed, will benefit the members of Siksika Nation by creating privacy from the road, mitigating extreme weather, reducing wind speeds, and trapping moisture. The shelterbelts, a nature-based solution designed to reduce the effects of climate change, will also provide increased opportunities for Nation members to participate in traditional land-use activities, like medicine- and berry-picking.
Phase One of the project will begin in 2023. We will plant more than 130,000 trees and shrubs, creating almost 50 kilometres of new shelterbelts on Siksika Nation.