Our Forest Resources

Forest Facts

Canada’s most abundant renewable resource

Canada owns 10% of the global forest Continuous band of forest stretches

between British Columbia and Newfoundland

Forests cover 42% or 4 187 820 square km of Canada’s total area

Forests

Provides lumber, pulp and paper Also: • Produce Oxygen• Store carbon • Prevent soil erosion• Collect snow and purify groundwater• Provide habitat for many species of

animals

Types of Trees in Canada

Coniferous Trees: cone bearing with needle leaves (pine, spruce, etc.)

Deciduous Trees: lose their leaves every year in fall (poplar, white birch trees)

Coniferous63%

Decidious22%

Mixed15%

Types of Trees in Canada

Economic Standpoint

• Forests are classified as COMMERCIAL or NON-COMMERCIAL (about 50% each)

• Commercial Forests: Trees are large enough and close enough to markets to harvest profitably– Warmer, wetter areas of Canada

• Non-commercial Forests: Poor soils and a short growing season in northern Canada make trees that are generally too small to harvest

Canada’s Commercial Forests

There are 5 regions of Canada’s commercial forests that vary greatly

The diversity provides a wide range of environments to be used in different ways

Also provides the forest industry with the raw materials (primary) from which a wide range of goods (secondary) can be produced

Forest Regions of Canada

Boreal Forest Region

• HUGE! It is the largest region by far• Mainly coniferous trees (black spruce, white spruce,

balsam fir, jack pine, cedar)– Some deciduous such as white birch are also

common• Long winters and low precipitation make tree

growth slow• Smaller trees = pulp and paper production more important than lumber production

Taiga Forest Region

• Very thin soils, cool temperatures, short growing season and areas of permafrost define this region

• Stunted trees as a result• Coniferous trees (black and white spruce, jack pine)

Deciduous trees (poplar, aspen)• Mostly inaccessible and far from markets• Picture: stunted black and white spruce interspersed with open bogs and rocky barrens

West Coast Forest Region

• Most productive forest in Canada• Western slopes of the coastal mountains• Abundant precipitation, moderate

temperatures, long growing season • Produces trees to grow larger than any other in

the country• Large amount of trees spaced tightly together • Douglas fir, sitka spruce, western red cedar, western hemlock

Montane Forest Region

Lower precipitation and shorter growing season than the West Coast Region

Smaller coniferous trees are a result (spruce, lodgepole, ponderosa pine)

You still get a large amount of trees spaced tightly together but not quite as dense as the West Coast Region

Therefore, it is still a very viable commercial forest

Mixed Forest Region

Longer growing season and more precipitation than the boreal forest region

Forest blends from coniferous (fir, spruce) to mixed to purely deciduous forest

Warmer temperatures, longer growing season and lots of precipitation

The raw materials provide a large mix of goods Both hardwood lumber and sugar maple trees Growth of birch, walnut, cherry trees used in furniture

Large population centres and busy commercial use has left very little left

Computer Lab to fill in blanks

http://www.fpac.ca/index.php/en/ Forest products association of Canada

Hit enter on English side Click on “Explore Forest Regions of

Canada”