Reforestation in Manitoba
Restoring the Interlake boreal forest around Devils Lake, burned in the 2021 wildfire, with the First Nations whose land it is.
Manitoba's Interlake, the belt of boreal forest between Lake Winnipeg and Lake Manitoba, lost a large part of its canopy twice over: a jack pine budworm infestation weakened the stands from 2016, and in 2021 an out-of-control wildfire burned through what was left around Devils Lake, roughly 300 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg.
The restoration under way there is an eight-year programme to put 20 million trees back in the ground, led with Nekété LP, the Indigenous-owned corporation representing seven Swampy Cree First Nations in northern and central Manitoba, alongside federal funding and local partners. Three million jack pine and black spruce seedlings went in during a single spring season.
Jack pine and black spruce are the species that belong on this ground: both are adapted to fire and to the thin, sandy soils of the Interlake, and both regenerate the habitat that moose, woodland caribou and migratory birds depend on. Beyond the canopy, the work is paid employment for planters from the local First Nations, with training and mentoring for young people entering forestry.
Cover photograph: "Along the Hunt Lake Hiking Trail in Whiteshell Provincial Park in Manitoba, Canada." by Rob Swystun, licensed CC BY 2.0.
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