Stopping wildfires with trees: How thousands of aspen seedlings could
help protect Whitehorse
NewAndrew Hynes
| CBC News | Posted: June 8, 2025 10:00 AM | Last Updated: Just
now
Tree planters are hard at work this spring in the Whitehorse
South fuel break
Image | Whitehorse south fuel break
Caption: The Yukon government began work on the Whitehorse
South fuel break in 2020, near the Mary Lake subdivision. It's
intended to protect the city from wildfire by creating a
natural barrier. (Gord Loverin/CBC)
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Crystal To walked through a barren, burnt landscape — over ash,
dirt and the soot-black remains of small charred stumps.
She slammed a small shovel into the ground, wiggled it back and
forth to create a hole, and placed a small aspen seedling into
the blackened earth.
"It's not easy," she said. "But it's kind of relaxing."
To is part of a small crew of tree planters who are slowly
filling the Whitehorse South fuel break with aspen. It's her
first time doing the job.
Image | Whitehorse fire break
Caption: Crystal To plants some aspen seedlings. She says she
won't think of herself as a true tree-planter until she gets
2,000 seedlings into the ground in a day. (Gord Loverin/CBC)
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The goal of the fuel break is to protect the capital city from
wildfires by creating a natural barrier, removing all the
highly flammable conifers in an 800-hectare area and replacing
them with more fire-resistant aspens.
The Yukon government began work on the fuel break in 2020, near
the Mary Lake subdivision. It's one of the first such projects
in Canada, and the goal is to have it finished by 2032.
The aspens are being planted by the thousands every summer.
This year, 232,000 seedlings will be planted.
Image | Aspen seedlings
Caption: This year, 232,000 seedlings will be planted. (Gord
Loverin/CBC)
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For tree-planters like To, each seedling that goes into the
ground translates into a paycheque.
"What's interesting about [tree-planting] is that you get paid
by the tree, so if you're faster, you get paid more," she said.
The most trees To has planted in an eight-hour shift is 1,620.
She says she won't think of herself as a true tree-planter
until she tops 2,000 seedlings in one day.
Under her current contract, To is making 16 cents per tree. The
pay rate can change, however, depending on how well the trees
are planted.
Planters try to plant as many trees as possible, but they also
have to pass a quality check — also known as pay plots.
Kate McDonald and Dakota Crawford, fuel management technicians
with Yukon Wildland Fire Management, are partly responsible for
pay plotting. Wearing high-visibility red vests, they walk
through parts of the burnt land that have already been planted.
Image | Whitehorse South fuel break
Caption: Kate McDonald and Dakota Crawford, technicians with
Yukon Wildland Fire Management, in the fuel break. (Andrew
Hynes/CBC)
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"We're checking that the density is correct and that the trees
have been planted well. We give them a score and then these
plots determine how much they're paid — so it's a pretty
important part of the plant," said McDonald.
Plots are measured using two-metre cord to trace a circle in
the land. All the trees in that circle are then counted and
checked for quality.
Crawford threw the plot cord into the air, watching where it
landed several metres away from him.
"That's how we pick the plot," he said, chuckling. "Sometimes
they'll use mapping software, but this is easier because you
don't have to find exact co-ordinates."
McDonald and Crawford traced the plot and counted 19 trees.
"We're aiming for 20 here, they got 19, and 19 to 21 is within
the acceptable range. So it looks great," said McDonald.
They check each tree individually, to make sure they're not
planted too deep, too shallow or on too much of an angle. They
also look for any air pockets in the soil around the seedling —
without soil contact, the roots won't be able to grow.
Another common problem is the "j-root," which happens when the
soil plug of a seedling is jammed into the ground and it bends
to make the roots look like the letter J. Those seedlings won't
survive.
Image | Whitehorse tree planting
Caption: A common problem when planting aspen seedlings: the
'j-root.' (Andrew Hynes/CBC)
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Out of the 19 trees in the plot, they found one j-root.
McDonald took a photo of it before they moved on to randomly
select another plot to check.
"That's the first j-root we've found so far. The checks we've
done in this block have been really good," McDonald said.
She inspected another plot of seedlings — plants that may one
day help protect Whitehorse from a major wildfire.
"I want them to do well," she said.
Image | Whitehorse tree planting
Caption: 'I want them to do well,' said McDonald. (Andrew
Hynes/CBC)
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