Canadian reforestation company plants its billionth tree

Vancouver – Brinkman & Associates, a Canadian silviculture and forest ecosystem renewal company, marked an international milestone on June 14 as it planted its billionth tree.

Planting crews in Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia, Costa Rica and Panama all participated in a celebratory planting of the company’s billionth tree. Specifically, a tree was planted in Toronto’s Centennial Park and a mature tree went into the ground at Eagleridge Bluff on the Sea-to-Sky Highway in BC.

“We are very proud of the work our crews have done and the positive effects we have had on local economies, local ecosystems and slowing global climate change,” said the organization’s President Dirk Brinkman. “Since 1970 we have watched the trees we planted grow, our crews mature and our company evolve to reach this significant milestone with a global message.”

Brinkman views the planting of its 1,000,000,000 tree as symbolic of a new phase for the company. “Just as tree planting has been a coming of age event for many of our crews, planting our billionth tree is a coming of age for our company,” Brinkman said. “Now, we can expand our focus to forest ecosystem renewal in the US, Central and South America and to tropical silviculture, and we are ready to take steps into Southeast Asia and Africa.”

Brinkman & Associate’s has been developing projects for private and institutional investors, using carbon accounting along with traditional forest investment values to avoid carbon emissions from deforestation, called REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation plus restoring and managing forests, especially in developing countries in exchange for emission reduction credits in industrial countries).

“We have initiated partnerships with organizations to manage forests for the benefit of local economies, and indigenous people and we are entering the carbon and water markets,” said Brinkman. “The billionth tree is a very significant time for our company, and it is a significant time for the world which needs forest ecosystem conservation, restoration and sustainable management. So we wanted to share it with the people who made it possible.”

Brinkman works with, and makes connections between, private landowners, governments, forest investment firms, ecologically-focused investors and other groups to create innovative investment opportunities in afforestation, reforestation and the carbon emissions trading market.

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