Forestry Overview
Ontario has four main forest cover types:
- Deciduous forest – mostly north of Lake Erie – which adds many species commonly found in the states of Ohio, Pennsylvania and the Carolinas.
- Great Lakes-St. Lawrence forest – the second largest forest region – with a wide range of coniferous and deciduous tree and shrub species
- Boreal forest – the largest forest region in Ontario, which consists predominantly of black and white spruce, jack pine, balsam fir, tamarack and eastern white cedar, as well as poplars and white birch
- Hudson Bay Lowlands – subarctic barrens with black and white spruce and willow trees
The forests fill many roles (see Environment and Markets.) They are a valuable resource and deserve careful management.
‘Careful Management’ doesn’t mean just leaving all of the forests in their current state, though. It means undertaking detailed planning studies, including those required under Ontario’s Crown Forest Sustainability Act, and then following the resulting recommendations for proactive silviculture, protected areas, operations and management.
Silviculture is the art and science used to grow healthy trees in stands, forests and landscapes. It is built on knowledge of how forests have been shaped by the environment over thousands of years, in both nurturing and destructive ways. It examines the natural cycles of growth, aging and rebirth of forests, the influence of climate, pests, and fire, and the impacts of different methods of harvesting and management.
Modern forest management combines the best silvicultural practices to protect trees from many threats, to maintain diverse uses, respect ecological concerns such as biodiversity, wildlife habitat and water quality, and to allow access to and harvesting of trees for a variety of wood products.
To today’s foresters, who study the constant cycles in the forest ecosystem, appropriate harvesting of trees within a properly managed forest is not the end of the forest, but an important part of its renewal.
