For millennia, Ontario’s forests have been shaped by major disturbances such as forest fires and climatic conditions such as drought, wind and ice storms. As a result, there are large areas with one or more species that are adapted to regenerate after such catastrophic events. In the boreal forest these include black spruce, jack pine and poplars, while Great Lakes-St. Lawrence forest has eastern white pine and red pine.
In these forests, indigenous pests like the spruce budworm and forest tent caterpillars have also affected the nature of forest development. While the size, location and extent of infestation have varied, these pests have affected a wide range of forested landscapes.
Forests have also continued to change due to human activities. In the deciduous forest and southern portions of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence forest, use of fire by Aboriginal peoples and cultivation of crops, such as corn, beans, squash and tobacco, was a major factor in determining the nature of the forests in the thousand or so years before European settlement.
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Algonquin Park is very popular with canoers and campers from both the U.S. and Canada. The area features a well-balanced mix of reserved areas and areas where harvesting is permitted. |
The lumber industry in Ontario first developed in response to Great Britain’s need for timber during the Napoleonic Wars and to an ever-expanding market in the United States since the mid 1800s. During this same period much of southern Ontario’s forest was cleared for agriculture, which also led to serious erosion by wind and water on areas of sandy soil.
When over-harvested pine forests that had been burned by settlers’ fires or wildfire failed to regrow, it raised serious concerns. As a result, a conservation movement that started in the 1800s gathered strength and resulted in the establishment of Algonquin Park in 1893.
Algonquin Park was set aside as a ... “public park and forest reservation, fish and game preserve, health resort and pleasure ground for the benefit, advantage and enjoyment of the people of the province"
Algonquin Park was then a major source of timber. Forest harvesting has continued in the park since 1975 under the careful management of the Algonquin Forestry Authority.
Increased interest in conservation also led to the establishment of a provincial forest fire protection service.
In southern agricultural areas, the reforestation of eroded and marginal farm lands was accomplished through municipal forests—some of the first in Canada.
Significantly, the movement also resulted in the establishment of Canada’s first faculty of forestry in 1907 at the University of Toronto.
Fifty years later, the Ontario Professional Foresters Association was formed to “…promote and increase the knowledge, skill and proficiency of its members…” In 2000, the association became a licensing body with authority and responsibility for the regulation of the practice of professional forestry by its members.
