The Right Tree in the Right Place for the Right Reason: Maximizing the benefits of forest restoration for the climate, nature, and people

By Matthew R. Brown 

At The Forest Conference in February, Elizabeth Jarrett, Forests Canada’s Chief Operating Officer, welcomed Ronnie Drever, Senior Conservation Scientist with Nature United, for a conversation based on a recently published research paper Ronnie led and Forests Canada contributed to.

The research paper, “Restoring Forest Cover at Diverse Sites Across Canada Can Balance Synergies and Trade-offs,” discussed how to maximize the benefits of tree planting for the climate, nature, and people. Along with Elizabeth and Ronnie, its co-authors include Val Deziel, Director of Restoration Programs at Forests Canada, and Steve Hounsell, a biologist and former chair of what is now Forests Canada.  

Published in the February 2025 edition of One Earth magazine, the authors theorized that while tree planting is a cost-effective strategy to mitigate climate change and biodiversity loss, many initiatives do not fully achieve their potential. Poorly planned plantings can lead to reduced biodiversity, lost local livelihoods, or short-lived success from inadequate maintenance, drought, or subsequent land clearing. 

“Canada has approximately 19.1 million hectares available for planting, so with so much space, significant forethought must be given to select sites that achieve multiple objectives,” Elizabeth says.  

“For example, we need to balance synergies between at-risk species’ habitat needs and high-tree-growth areas while managing trade-offs like high land costs or limited overlap with areas supporting freshwater provision or nature-based recreation,” Ronnie adds. 

The research paper mapped restoration scenarios that prioritize different objectives to amplify synergies and minimize trade-offs. Planting programs with diverse goals need tailored and site-targeted investments to simultaneously and rapidly meet different outcomes. 

“The value of this research is that it can help guide us on the priority areas to focus on,” Jess Kaknevicius, Chief Executive Officer, Forests Canada, says. “Because Canada is so vast with some of the Earth’s most diverse natural landscapes, there are many opportunities to restore forests, but understanding where our investments are going to provide the greatest ecological value is crucial.” 

In fact, Forests Canada’s planting projects have already produced positive impacts in high-value areas such as those with biodiversity or watershed value. 

“When we assessed what was recommended against where we actually planted over the past 20 years, there was an overlay of millions of trees in identified priority areas that we’ve contributed to, in particular in southern Ontario,” Jess says. 

Many of Forests Canada’s tree-planting projects have been located near communities, where these new forests provide social and economic benefits in addition to the environmental gains. 

“Forests are a critical habitat for various species but are also critical for people. We don’t always remember that healthy forests help clean our air and water and support pollination services, while also providing places for us to enjoy, sustain employment and materials for building homes, and so much more,” Jess says.