About Ontario's Forests

Introduction

A glance at any map showing the natural features of Ontario reveals a vast swath of forest that covers two-thirds of the province.

 

Ontario’s forests are relative newcomers, sitting on lands that were shaped by continental glaciers, water and wind just 15,000 years ago. The trees became established on what was then a barren landscape as the ice retreated and waters receded south.

 

Human settlement also happened in waves: first the Aboriginals, then Europeans and more recently people from all over the world. Humans have had a significant effect on the forests, leading to increasing concern in the past century.

 

However, the nature of the forest and trees it contains is largely determined by overriding climatic conditions. For example, the boreal forest in northern Ontario still has remnants of eastern white and red pines, species characteristic of the Great-Lakes-St. Lawrence forests to the south. Their presence reflects a period some three to four thousand years ago when a major warming of the climate allowed such species to move north.

 

Ontario's Forest Regions

 

Ontario’s landscape is characterized by its forests. They range from the deciduous forest of Southern Ontario, through the mixed forest of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence region in central and northwestern Ontario, to the conifer-dominated boreal forests of the North.

 

There are four main kinds of forests in Ontario, each with unique characteristics and species.

 

The Hudson Bay Lowlands

The most northerly part of the province, the Hudson Bay Lowlands, is an area of subarctic

Hudson Bay Lowlands

barrens with black and white spruce and willow trees. This forest has a large lowrelief expanse of wetlad, one of the largest in the world. With an area of 26 million hectares, (one quarter of the province), is dominated by both treed and open muskeg (over two-thirds of its area) and is dotted with thousands of small lakes and pond.

 

Productive forest cover is less than 25 per cent, and is generally made up of stunted tamarack and black spruce growing along river banks and other well-drained areas. The Hudson Bay Lowlands are greatly affected by the cold northern climate, and contain all of Ontario’s tundra (284,000ha).

The Hudson Bay Lowlands contains 20 percent of Ontario's forests. This region is home to woodland caribou, polar bear, arctic fox, and arctic hare. During the summer, millions of migratory birds nest here, such as Canada geese, snow geese, willow ptarmigan and various species of sea ducks.

Boreal Forest

 

Below the Hudson Bay Lowlands is Ontario’s boreal forest, the largest forest region in Ontario and Canada. With an area of 50 million hectares, the boreal forest is Ontario’s largest forest

Boreal Forest

region and contains two thirds of Ontario’s forest. It extends from the northern limits of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence forest to the Hudson Bay Lowlands. Here the main conifer species are black and white spruce, jack pine, balsam fir, tamarack and eastern white cedar; the predominant deciduous species are poplars and white birch. These forests are very similar to those in northern Minnesota and parts of upper Michigan.

 

The terrain of the boreal forest ranges from lowland peat bogs to deep fertile upland soils to bedrock covered by thin layers of soil and moss.

 

A major ecological force in Ontario’s boreal forest is forest fires. Most tree species in the boreal forest naturally regenerate new young forests after forest fires, floods, wind storms and insect damage. These natural forces often destroy all the trees in a large area and leave behind complex patches of various sizes. This creates conditions favourable to tree seedling establishment and growth, thus creating the natural pattern of even-aged, single species forests.

 

Globally, the boreal forest accounts for about 25 percent of the world’s closed canopy forests. In geological terms, the boreal forest is quite new. Until about 13,000 years ago, glaciers covered much of Canada. It wasn’t until about 5,000 years ago that the boreal forest became firmly established in northern Canada.

 

The boreal forest contains 59 percent of Ontario's forests.

The boreal forest is home to a wide variety of wildlife which include predators such as black bears, wolves and lynx; large ungulates like moose and caribou; a myriad of birds ranging from the great owl to the tiny winter wren, and many small mammals such as the pine marten, varying hare, red fox and porcupine. In addition, the forest contains hundreds of species of plants, such as ferns, mosses, fungi, shrubs and herbs.

Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Forest

 

Next is the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence forest, the second largest in Ontario, which contains a wide range of tree and shrub species. This forest extends along the St. Lawrence River across

Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Forest

central Ontario to Lake Huron and west of Lake Superior along the border with Minnesota. This region covers approximately 20 million hectares of Ontario, two-thirds of which is productive forest. This area contains a mixture of landscapes and plant and animal species. This is a transitional zone between the southern deciduous forest of eastern North America and the predominantly coniferous boreal forest.

In this region, coniferous trees such as eastern white pine, red pine, eastern hemlock and white cedar, commonly mix with deciduous broad-leaved species, such as yellow birch, sugar and red maples basswood and red oak. Species more common in the boreal forest, such as white and black spruce, jack pine, aspen and white birch also exist here. This forest contains many species of fungi, ferns, mosses and shrubs.

The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence region contains 20 percent of Ontario's forests. The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence forest is home to a wide variety of wildlife, including white-tailed deer, moose, black bear, wolves, pileated woodpecker, various migratory birds, beaver, muskrat, otter and many other mammals, birds, fish and insects.

The Deciduous Forest

 

The deciduous forest is the most southerly and is situated north of Lake Erie. While it has most of the tree and shrub species found in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence forest, it also contains black walnut, butternut, tulip, magnolia, black gum, many types of oaks, hickories,

The Deciduous Forest

sassafras and red bud–species commonly found in Ohio, Pennsylvania and the Carolinas. Although it covers less than 1 percent of Canada’s land mass, the region is now home to more than 25% of Canada’s population.

The early European settlers cleared much of the original deciduous forest because the rich soil and moderate climate of the area were ideal for agriculture. Today, more than 90 per cent of Ontario’s 10 million residents live in the south. As a result, this region has largely been cleared with scattered woodlots remaining on sites too poor for agriculture. Efforts to maintain and enhance forest cover in this area have occurred for over 100 years. Tree planting efforts under various programs have converted over 130,000 hectares of abandoned agricultural lands into forest, and an equivalent amount of new forest has been established on private lands through agreements with landowners.

In this region, the forest life is the most diverse in Ontario. A number of nationally rare species of mammals, birds, plants and insects can be found here. Some examples are the sassafras and tulip tree, the southern flying squirrel and red-bellied woodpecker. Many species of reptiles and amphibians can also be found in the region, such as the black rat snake, milk snake and gray tree frog.