Conifer trees take a lot longer to establish naturally. It often takes a cycle of aspen or poplar trees, followed by a fire, for conifers to start growing and t

Conifer trees take a lot longer to establish naturally. It often takes a cycle of aspen or poplar trees, followed by a fire, for conifers to start growing and thriving. I don't know how long that typically takes, but I think it could easily be a human lifetime. Planting conifer seedlings can result in a young forest in as little as 20 years. Typically this is done to ensure a future harvest for the softwood lumber industry. Logging enterprises are the primary planters of trees in British Columbia, as they are required by law to reforest land that has been deforested. The trees that are planted are typically some mixture of pine and spruce in the interior dry regions, or a mixture of hemlock, spruce, and cedar in wet or coastal regions. This results in a somewhat synthetic forest that isn't really like a natural forest, but grows quickly. The trees that I planted when I was 23 are likely over 4 meters tall now. Source: I worked as a tree planter for 3 seasons, grew up in a pulp & paper town, have known a lot of forestry people.