Choosing a species for re-foresting Rocky Mountain foothills acreage

Ardent

My wife and I own an acreage in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, at an elevation of 4,200ft, which is cleared and was formerly used for livestock grazing. We wish to reforest one field, down a slope in front of the house, landscaping it with lobes of trees off the fencelines to create a mix of meadow and treed sections. The area we hope to reforest is about 10 acres in size.

The acreage is located near Millarville, Alberta Canada, if that is of assistance, which is southwest of Calgary about 40 miles. We have experienced some flooding issue, though the terrain has a mild grade, with perhaps a 15 foot elevation difference from the top of the square 10 acre field we wish to tree to the bottom. The soil, is a moist clay-rock-silt soil, though very fertile. The low point is wet enough for willows, though they'd like not survive the winters, with the water table only just below the surface. Drainage is limited by the fairly clay laden soil, so water tends to surface flow moderately.

Our big challenge is determining what species to plant, I'm a helicopter pilot and work around forestry and tree planting, however I work 300 miles north of where I live, and the terrain and species are quite different up here at work. I'd like to plant a species tolerant of water, one that perhaps even moderates out occasional surface flood issues from runoff further up the hillside above us. Our summers are relatively dry and warm.

Here's the technical data:

-Frost free averages 80 days in a range of 43 to 99 days.
-Annual precipitation averages 13.73 inches, of which 9.03 occur during the growing season.
-Annual heat units: 1800-1900

Cheers and thanks so much for any help of direction, we hope to plant ourselves and need some direction.

Angus

boreality

You should get in touch with Bow Point Nursery. They are just west of Calgary. Close and same conditions as you. Good selection of native plants, and great advice. One of the best nurserymen I've met.

Ardent

Appreciate the heads up, will try them,

Angus