Trees and Shelterbelt
The Agriculture Department is a delivery point for trees from the PFRA Shelterbelt program. The trees are free to any landowner with a minimum of 5 acres of land. Order forms and information are available at the County Office or online. Deadline for ordering trees is March 15 of every year and trees are generally delivered to the Agriculture Shop in Foremost the last week of April or first week of May. Many residents receive order forms in the mail from the Alberta Shelterbelt Program out of Bowden, this is a reputable private company but is not affiliated with the County.
Mature Trees can be purchased locally from Dendron Services in Bow Island, and bare root and potted trees are available for purchase at Bow Island Greenhouse. For our area we recommend Ash, Elm, and Poplar trees for establishing shelterbelts when water is available. Green Ash are long lived and show good drought tolerance and relatively fast growth with irrigation, there are few pests established in this area. Elm trees are long lived and fast growing with irrigation but are not drought tolerant, the major pest threat is Dutch Elm Disease which is not present in Alberta, a strict pruning ban from April 1 to October 31 prevents introduction of this disease. Poplar trees are fast growing but not long lived, stick with newer varieties such as Prairie Sky and Assiniboine as they have the best disease resistance. Some specialty poplars are very susceptible to schlerotinia in the irrigated areas of the County.