The tremendous growth of the United States economy in the first quarter of the 20th century provided both markets and incentives for investment in Ontario’s forest, particularly by the pulp and paper industry. This was the beginning of the initial exploitation of the Boreal forest, and led to the earliest attempts to manage the province’s forests to provide a sustained source of timber. Our knowledge of forest management has evolved since then, leading to the current system of sustainable forest management, managing the forest as a complete ecosystem to provide a number of values beyond just timber. Sustainable forest management seeks to achieve the appropriate balance between environmental, economic, and society’s needs and expectations, both now and for the future.
The purpose of this article is to look at what Ontario has done in recent years to promote sustainable forest management and how it continues to apply this role today. The fact that Ontario’s forests go back 15,000 years doesn’t necessarily mean they will be here for another 15,000 years. Unless they are managed sustainably, they could cease to be a vital part of the province’s landscape and of people’s experience and livelihood in Ontario.
As noted in the article "Ontario's Forest Heritage", a conservation movement helped change public attitudes to the forest, and recent years have seen Ontario shift its forest policy to a more balanced ecological approach.
During the past two decades, Ontario has worked hard to become a world leader in sustainable forest management. Beginning in 1988, the management of timber on Crown forests was subjected to a thorough and in-depth environmental assessment that lasted four years, the first such comprehensive assessment of a province’s management of public forests in Canada. The decision of the Environmental Assessment Board, released in 1994, approved the “undertaking” for timber management (now referred to as forest management) but placed a number of legally binding terms and conditions with timelines for implementation. Board hearings covered concerns raised by Aboriginal peoples, forest interest groups and the public. Issues such as clearcutting, the use of pesticides, and managing for water, wildlife, aesthetic and cultural values were addressed in the board’s decision.
While initially focused on timber and long-term wood supply, many of the approval’s terms and conditions dealt with how forest management affected other non-timber resources and values, biological diversity and the environment. The environmental approval of 1994 was extended and amended in 2003, and includes a number of legal conditions MNR must adhere to in undertaking forest management. Learn more about the environmental process »
Managing our Crown forests
Eighty-seven percent of forested lands in Ontario are provincially owned and known as Crown lands. All forest policies and management practices on these lands must conform to the Policy Framework for Sustainable Forests, which covers such matters as harvesting and regeneration, the management of old-growth forests and the protection and conservation of non-timber values.
The goal of forest sustainability is described in Ontario's Crown Forest Sustainability Act (1994) and includes providing for the sustainability of Crown forests while managing them to meet social, economic and environmental needs of present and future generations. This legislation covers all aspects of forest management, including planning, operations and silviculture, timber measurement and forest information systems.
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Block cuts in the province's northwest quarter of the boreal forest indicate a more intensively managed forest |
Most of Ontario’s Crown forests are divided into management units. Before any forestry activities can take place, a forest management plan must be prepared. The plan is developed by a Registered Professional Forester with the help from a multidisciplinary planning team and input from a Local Citizens Committee, as well as input from Aboriginal communities, stakeholders and interested members of the public, and must follow the requirements of the Forest Management Planning Manual. This includes determining the available harvest areas (the maximum amount of forest land that can be harvested each year) and assessing criteria and indicators of sustainability (a series of measurements that indicate whether the forest is being managed sustainably) that meet Canadian and International systems (known as the Montréal Process) which was developed during the United Nation’s 1992 Earth Summit conference held in Montréal.
Learn more about forest management planning »
Forest companies manage Crown forests under Sustainable Forest Licences. These cover a period of twenty years and are subject to renewal every five years following a satisfactory report by an independent third party audit. Companies are responsible for preparing and implementing the forest management plan, and monitoring compliance with the plans within their licence area; they also pay a stumpage charge fee to the province for the right to harvest timber.
Parks and protected areas
Ontario’s balanced ecological approach to the forest has been reflected in a major focus on setting aside significant areas of productive forest land as parks and protected areas. In these areas, logging, mining and hydro-electric development are, for the most part, excluded.
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Hooker Lake near Sioux Lookout, is reserved from harvesting because it lies within Ontario's expanded park system |
Finding the appropriate balance between the area set aside for parks and the area available for commercial forest management is challenging. In 1999, representatives of the forest industry, the environmental community (Partnership for Public Lands) and the government met to address this issue, resulting in the signing of the Ontario Forest Accord, a ground-breaking agreement that created a process for setting aside more parks and protected areas in the future and that promoted studies on ways to increase forest productivity.
Since 1999, about 2,459,400 hectares have been added to Ontario’s system of parks and protected areas. The system now protects 8,987,300 hectares, and forests make up 5,964,400 hectares of that total. Learn more about Ontario's parks and protected areas »
Forest Certification
Ontario’s stringent legislative and policy framework to safeguard forest sustainability means that forest companies operating in the province are well-placed to meet the standards set by any third party forest certification system. In fact, virtually all of Ontario’s Sustainable Forest Licence holders are certified by one of three third party, internationally recognized certification systems, namely the Canadian Standards Association (CSA-SFM), the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) or the Sustainable Forest Initiative (SFI). More about forest certification »
Conserving Biodiversity: Transferring Science to Policy and Operations
Ontario is committed to being a world leader in sustainable forest management.
This commitment is strongly supported by forestry science and innovation. MNR scientists work closely with the Canadian Forest Service, universities, forest industry and other organizations to help forest managers take a lead role in developing new approaches and practices in their forests. Ontario’s forest policies, and the resulting forest management practices, are based on our understanding of the most recent scientific knowledge of sustainable forest management.
New technologies are used to gain better information about both timber and non-timber values and to adapt practices to conserve those values at both local and landscape levels. Recently, MNR released two new forest management guides that outline the rules for the forest industry to follow when managing their licensed areas, one from a landscape perspective and the other from the local, or forest stand and site, perspective.
The Landscape Guide, as it is known, directs forest planners to think about how their forest management unit complements the forests (age, different tree species, size of harvested and un-harvested patches) in the surrounding units; it views the forest as you might see it from a jet flying across the province, covering hundreds of thousands of hectares at one glance. The second guide, known as the Stand & Site Guide, focuses on maintaining and protecting various forest values at much smaller scales ranging from a specific site covering a few square metres to a forest stand or combination of stands that may total a few hundred hectares. In both cases, the overall goal of each guide is to conserve the natural biodiversity that exists in our forests when conducting forest management operations. Learn more about conserving biodiversity »
Silvicultural systems
Harvesting a forest is not the end of the mature forest, but the beginning of the new forest that will replace it. How a forest is harvested, and the various silviculture practices that follow it, determine what kind of forest will grow in the future. There are three different methods, or systems, used to manage Ontario’s forests. The choice of which system to use is based on the kind of forest that is being managed, and each one emulates how that type of forest would regenerate and grow in the absence of humans.
Clearcutting system
The clearcutting system is used mainly in the boreal forest and is designed to mimic many of the effects that would occur from wildfire, the primary method that nature uses to renew the boreal forest. Trees that grow in the boreal forest have evolved to adapt to, and now require, these periodic disturbances to survive. As required by the Landscape Guide and the Stand and Site Guide, harvested areas must vary in shape and size, and trees are left behind to provide wildlife habitat and other ecosystem processes, just as a fire would leave unburned trees and patches of trees. Some mature trees may also be left unharvested to serve as a source of seeds to regenerate the new forest; alternatively, regrowth may also be promoted by humans spreading seeds and planting young seedlings. In such cases, mechanical site preparation may be used and some form of tending applied during the early development of the young stands of trees to ensure their survival.
Shelterwood system
The shelterwood system is used mainly in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence forest with eastern white pine and sometimes hardwoods such as yellow birch. This system retains the older trees to provide the shade necessary for the regenerating trees, that can not grow in direct sunlight, to become established. Once the young forest is able to live without shade, the older forest is removed in one or two separate cuts, similar to how the older trees would naturally die to release the next generation.
Selection system
The selection system is also used in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence forest region, as well as in the deciduous region, in hardwood forests. With both the shelterwood and the selection systems, the main focus is on natural regeneration. The main difference between the two, however, is that the young trees growing in a selection system require light to become established. With this system, individual trees or small groups of trees are harvested, leaving a small opening in the forest that allows sunlight to reach the forest floor, providing the very young trees with the proper growing conditions to flourish. These gaps in the forest are similar to the gaps that would occur naturally when a tree dies from old age and falls down, or a group of trees are killed by a naturally occurring forest disease.
Another document in the forest management guide series, the Silviculture Guide, outlines the various silvicultural treatments that are recommended for use in Ontario, depending on the current forest species and the future forest conditions that are desired. Learn more about renewing the forest »
Private landowners
While the vast majority of Ontario’s forests are Crown forest, private forests do make up about 9.1% of Ontario’s forested lands. They contribute a substantial proportion of Ontario’s timber harvest and also provide other products such as maple syrup.
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Crystal Creek near Sault Ste. Marie, is managed as a ski area, with periodic tree removal |
Private landowners are supported by the Ontario Stewardship Program, funded by the government, which provides help in finding information and expertise to better manage their forests. The program is delivered through a network of 40 Stewardship Councils comprising volunteer groups of landowners working with the Ministry of Natural Resources. Landowners who are actively managing their woodlots are also eligible for reduced property taxes through the Managed Forest Tax Incentive Program.
While the standards and direction that the forest industry must follow when managing Crown forests do no apply to privately owned forests, private landowners are encouraged to be aware of, and where possible, follow the same rules. Sustainable forest management practices that apply to Crown land will work just as well on private land. Learn more about private land stewardship »
Keeping our forests healthy
Human efforts to maintain healthy and sustainable forests must also address fire, insects and disease – all natural components of forest ecosystems. This often means intervention to protect young forests or those with significant values.
In Ontario's Far North, forest fires and insect depredations have been major factors of disturbance.
Forest Fire
To help detect and suppress forest fires in Ontario, a provincial air service was set up in 1924 – the longest flying non-military government air service in the world. Over time, the Aviation and Forest Fire Management program has evolved and now takes a broader approach, not only providing protection for the health, safety and property of people living in and near forests but also allowing forest fires to burn and fulfill their ecological role in certain forests. Ontario’s fire management program has been innovative in adapting new technology to detect and suppress forest fires and in working with federal and other provincial forest fire agencies through the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre.
Insect and Disease Outbreaks
Forest insects and diseases can readily change forest conditions, often over large areas. A number of the major pest insects, such as the spruce budworm, tend to be cyclical. This insect causes severe defoliation and tree mortality over large areas. The most recent outbreak ran from 1967 to 1999, with a peak year in 1980 when 18.85 million hectares of Ontario’s forests were severely defoliated. Trees killed by insects are a ready source of fuel for a forest fire, so areas of such outbreaks are of special concern. The Ministry of Natural Resources works in partnership with the Canadian Forest Service to monitor forest health, particularly with regard to insects and disease.
A Vision for Canada's Forests: 2008 and Beyond
This document supports the work of the MNR and its partners in advancing sustainable forest management. It focuses on two priorities: transforming the forest sector, and climate change
View document
Ontario's Far North
Human interference with the northern boreal forest has been minimal, and with very little commercial logging allowed. Other activities, such as fly-in-tourism, have also been limited. This forest is home to a number of First Nations communities who, for generations, have depended on the forest for their existence.
Recognizing the ecological importance of this large forest and its indigenous peoples, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources has established the Northern Boreal Initiative. The goal of the initiative is to work towards having Aboriginal people assume responsibility for the management of the forest lands on a community-by-community basis.
Climate Change
As Ontario’s climate changes, so too will our forests. Since it is impossible to predict exactly how the climate will be different in the future, it is difficult to know how, and to what extent, the forests will adapt and what we can do to assist with their adaptation. This will be an ongoing challenge for scientists and forest managers, and will likely require us to continue to modify, learn, and update our methods of sustainable forest management, just as our practices have evolved over the last 100 years. The goal of managing a sustainable healthy forest, however, will remain unchanged. Learn more about climate change »
Ontario's forests are vital
Ontario’s forests continue to be shaped and altered by human and natural forces. The early exploitation of pine forests provided the province with direct revenues – as much as 35% of the total – that were used for such infrastructure as roads and schools primarily in southern Ontario. Today, those direct revenues make up less than a quarter of one percent. However, the forest industry continues to be a key economic support of many northern communities.
During the past few decades, the forest has also gone from being a source of a few renewable resources, such as timber, furs and game, to being treasured for a host of values and resources of importance to a largely urban population and seasonal recreational users. Traditional uses of trees for lumber, pulp, and paper have expanded to include medicines (taxol, a cancer-fighting drug), fuel (wood pellets), and chemicals (various compounds that can replace petroleum-based products).
Too often, the conflicts that have arisen over forestry have resulted from a lack of understanding of the dynamic nature of forests and the timeframes over which they develop. This ongoing challenge must be met in many ways. One way that Ontario has addressed this challenge is to ensure public involvement in forest management planning and make the primary goal in every plan the achievement of a healthy sustainable forest ecosystem.
Ontario is committed to being a world leader in sustainable forest management because it recognizes that a sustainable forest is vital to both forest-based and urban communities. By balancing the social, economic and environmental benefits derived from its forests, the province ensures that its forest resources continue to provide people with jobs and a healthy living environment now and in the future.
