Forestry in Canada

Spruce forests in British Columbia

The Canadian forestry industry is a major contributor to the Canadian economy. With 42 percent of the land acreage of Canada covered by forests, the country contains 10 percent of the world's forested land, made up mostly of spruce, poplar and pine. Forests and forestry in Canada are managed by Natural Resources Canada and the Canadian Forest Service, in cooperation with several organizations which represent government officials, policy experts and numerous other stakeholders. Extensive deforestation by European settlers during the 18th and 19th centuries has been halted by more modern policies, and today less than 1 percent of Canada's forests are affected by logging each year. Despite the low amount of land that is logged, Canada is the world's second-largest exporter of forestry goods, and the industry contributes significantly to Canada's surplus global balance of trade. Economic concerns related to forestry include greenhouse gas emissions, biotechnology, biological diversity and infestations of pests, such as the mountain pine beetle.

Forests

Canada contains 10% of all the world's forests, with over 50% of the land space (representing almost 400,000,000 hectares (990,000,000 acres)) having tree cover of variable density. Over half of the trees are spruce, while poplar and pine make up over 20 percent of the remainder. Although the country is one of the top producers of forestry products, and the annual forested acreage is greater than that of the province of Prince Edward Island, less than one percent of Canada's forests are logged each year. Government legislation protects about 8 percent of the forested area, of which less than 1 percent is logged annually; this latter portion is required to be reforested after being harvested.[1] It is one of the five countries with the largest amount of forest, along with Russia, Brazil, China and the US; together, these countries control more than half of the world's forested land area.[2]

Forests and forestry in Canada are managed by Natural Resources Canada, which controls natural resources issues, and the Canadian Forest Service, which conducts research and coordinates forestry policy at the national level. These organizations are assisted by the National Advisory Board on Forest Research, established in 1997 and focusing on strategic issues, and the Forest Sector Advisory Council, which represents the interests of the multitude of private, non-profit and academic stakeholders in Canadian forestry. The Canadian Council of Forest Ministers, composed of 14 ministers representing the federal government and the various provinces and territories, is the main tool for dissemination of national and international policy throughout the country.[3]

History of forestry

European forestry in Canada is thought to date back to the 11th century, when Leif Ericson first landed off the coast of what is believed to be Newfoundland.[4] Large scale forestry did not begin until European settlers landed several centuries later. The area that is now Canada experienced significant deforestation during the 18th and 19th centuries, as a booming population of settlers cleared the land; this pattern was also seen elsewhere in North America. Changes in management strategies in the 20th and 21st centuries have been able to halt the trend toward deforestation.[5]

Forestry today

Forestry is a major industry in Canada, contributing over $23 billion to the economy in 2010. In the same year, over 190,000 people were directly employed by the forestry industry, contributing 1.3 percent of total employment and $8.8 billion in wages in 2009. The majority of forestry employees are found in Quebec, British Columbia and Ontario.[1] As of 2011, Canada contributed 10 percent of the world's sawnwood, 10 percent of the pulp for paper, 9 percent of the industrial roundwood, 4 percent of the wood-based panels and 3 percent of the paper and paperboard.[6] In 2010, Canada enjoyed a significant surplus in their balance of trade, mainly due to being the second-largest exporter of forestry products globally.[1] Much of this is exported, with Canada exporting 20 percent of the world's sawnwood, 18 percent of the pulp for paper, 8 percent of the paper and paperboard, 5 percent of the industrial roundwood and 5 percent of the wood-based panels.[7]

Environmental concerns

Mountain slopes in Kootenay National Park, British Columbia, showing extensive fire damage to forested area

Canada's ecosystems depend on large forested areas, making much of massive resource unusable without ecological collapse.[8] Canada is a participant in several international protocols and conferences in areas that affect its forested land. As a signatory to the Kyoto Protocol, reductions in greenhouse gas emissions are required, although there is some concern about the scientific reasoning behind some of the specific targets that Canada has chosen. Biotechnology and its effect on forested land is a concern, and the conservation of the forest's biological diversity is a major priority. The latter was the subject of the country's first Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity report.[3]

Much of the valuable western lodgepole pine stock has been destroyed in recent years by the mountain pine beetle, which has thrived due to a combination of large stands of mature pine and successive warm winters. As of 2009, it was estimated that over 16,000,000 hectares (40,000,000 acres) of pine had been infested in British Columbia alone. While extensive logging, prescribed burning and pest reduction techniques have been used to attempt to contain the beetle, large stands of dead trees remain, posing a significant threat of wildfire.[9] Annually, Canada sees around 8,000 wildfires, burning a total of 2,500,000 hectares (6,200,000 acres) on average. Over half of these are caused by humans, but nature-caused fires (generally started by lightning strikes) cover over 80 percent of the total burn area, as they are often in remote areas of the country.[10]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Forests". Government of Canada. 2013-11-21. Retrieved 2013-12-10.
  2. ↑ "Forest Cover". Food and Agriculture Organization. Retrieved 2013-12-10.
  3. 1 2 "Forestry policies, institutions and programmes - Canada". Food and Agriculture Organization. Retrieved 2013-12-10.
  4. ↑ Ingstad, Helge; Ingstad, Anne Stine (2001). The Viking Discovery of America: The Excavation of a Norse Settlement in L'Anse Aux Meadows, Newfoundland. Checkmark Books. ISBN 0-8160-4716-2.
  5. ↑ "Chapter 2: Forests and the Evolution of the Modern World". [http://www.fao.org/docrep/016/i3010e/i3010e00.htm State of the World's Forests] (PDF). Food and Agriculture Organization. 2012. p. 14. External link in |title= (help)
  6. ↑ "Forest product consumption and production". Food and Agriculture Organization. Retrieved 2013-12-10.
  7. ↑ "Forest products trade". Food and Agriculture Organization. Retrieved 2013-12-10.
  8. ↑ Michael Fitzsimmons. "Effects of deforestation and reforestation on landscape spatial structure in boreal Saskatchewan, Canada". Forest Ecology and Management 174: 577–592. doi:10.1016/S0378-1127(02)00067-1. Retrieved 2013-08-10.
  9. ↑ "Mountain Pine Beetle". Province of British Columbia. Retrieved 2013-08-10.
  10. ↑ "Wildfires". Government of Canada. Retrieved 2013-12-10.
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