Huang, M., Barbour, S. L., Elshorbagy, A., Zettl, J. D. and Si, B. C. 2011. Water availability and forest growth in coarse-textured soils. Can. J. Soil Sci. 91: 199-210. A method of evaluating the influence of soil layering and climatic variability on plant available water for forest growth is presented. This method enables species-specific levels of maximum sustainable plant transpiration to be evaluated. A calibrated HYDRUS-1D model was used with a 60-yr meteorological record to simulate actual evapotransipration (ET_a) of dominant tree species with different values of leaf area index (LAI) for three sites in northern Alberta. A probability distribution of ET_a was developed for each case. The relationships between LAI, plant above-ground primary production (ANPP), and ET_a were used to estimate the minimum water demand to support plant growth at specific sites. The developed frequency curves of ET_a and the minimum water demand can be used to determine the maximum sustainable LAI and the risk associated with revegetating a particular site with a dominant tree species. The effect of different tree species on the minimum water demand and the maximum sustainable LAI was also illustrated. The results indicated that layering of coarse-textured soils can provide more plant available water and support a higher maximum sustainable LAI than homogeneous soils of a similar texture.