Wildfires destroy trees faster than we replace them

[00:00:02]Marley Moose has spent the last three summers in Manitoba's Interlake region, about 300 km northwest of Winnipeg, planting trees in the traditional land of her First Nation.

[00:00:14]>> Everywhere around me is burnt, but it's where life used to be.

[00:00:19]So, we're back here giving life back to these dead areas.

[00:00:24]Our nations are trying to take more control and have more say with in the land that which we occupy and the where we come from. We want to take care of it, cuz when we take care of the earth, the earth also takes care of us.

[00:00:40]>> One decade ago, this forest was devastated by a jack pine budworm infestation. It was starting to regenerate, an out-of-control wildfire ravaged the area in 2021.

[00:00:52]There's not much left.

[00:00:54]>> Every tree that goes into the ground is like a gift back to Mother Earth.

[00:01:00]>> Faron Sharp is working with a group of seven Swampy Cree First Nations to help plant 20 million trees by 2030.

[00:01:08]>> It's really important that we have funding that gives back to what is devastated by the decisions that we've made and how that's impacted global warming and caused these types of wildfire events.

[00:01:22]>> But last fall, Ottawa canceled the 2 billion trees program, part of the federal government budget aimed at cutting spending and instead investing in defense and infrastructure. Existing contracts are expected to fill just half the original goal. This summer is expected to be one of the hottest on record. Forests are already burning, but despite efforts like this, we're not planting fast enough to replace them.

[00:01:48]Industry groups say we'd need more than 7 billion seedlings to replace just 15% of the forest destroyed by wildfires since 2023.

[00:01:58]>> We started to see repetitive wildfires, so seed sources were lost and people were starting to realize that some of these megafires are preventing natural regeneration.

[00:02:08]>> More than 100 tree planters live in this camp.

[00:02:12]Elder Andy Daniels is teaching them indigenous traditions.

[00:02:17]>> That's the end. Yeah.

[00:02:20]>> What does that mean?

[00:02:21]>> It means that you're planting something for regrowth.

[00:02:25]>> He says the forest is more than the sum of its tree trunks.

[00:02:29]>> It's a supplies with our food, our shelter, our clothing.

[00:02:36]That's the importance of the survival of our people.

[00:02:42]>> Being part of an indigenous crew, Moose feels a special responsibility for giving back to Mother Earth.

[00:02:48]>> So that future generations, not my children, but maybe my grandchildren, they'll be able to run through these forests.

[00:02:56]>> There's a lot at stake. Karen Pauls, CBC News near Devils Lake, Manitoba.