Reforestation Efforts in Canada

Approximately forty percent of Canada is covered by forests. With that in mind, it’s easy to state trees are very important to Canada. But trees are more than just a geographical statistic for all Canadians.

The Canadian federal government reports the forest sector’s contribution to the Canadian gross domestic production was 2.4 % or Can $28.8 billion in 2006.

At over 15 percent of world trade, Canada is the world’s largest exporter of forest products, such as lumber, newsprint and wood pulp.

Approximately two-thirds of the exports go to the United States.

Over 275,000 people were employed in the forest sector in 2006, which is about two percent of the total Canadian employment. The majority of the jobs are located in British Columbia, Quebec and Ontario. Those people earned over Can$12 billion performing a wide range of functions. Maintaining those forests as healthy, sustainable ecosystems is vitally important to Canada’s well-being. To that end, federal and provincial governments are required by law to participate in the care of the public forests. In addition, these governments have also developed strict guidelines for the use of these public lands by anyone regardless of their affiliation.

The federal government owns about 16 percent of Canada’s forest, most of which is not available for tree harvesting operations, while the provincial and territorial governments own 77 percent of the forests. Maintaining a sustainable forest is a key role throughout any forest operations in Canada.

A sustainable forest has environmental merit, it plays a great role in ensuring a strong timber industry & the impact it has on the Canadian economy.

According to the Canadian National Forestry Database, the 2006 Canadian revenue generated from the sale of timber exceeded Can$1.5 billion dollars. Yet the timber industry would not last if the harvested areas were not reforested. That same database indicated 641,105,000 tree seedlings were planted over 449,696 hectares in 2006 as well. Most of that treeplanting is carried out by private reforestation companies.

In general, there is high priority set in Canada on managing forests to provide more than just supplies for a timber industry, including scenery, watershed and wildlife habitat protection and over all healthy biodiversity. That dedication is a commitment to all types of treeplanting and reforestation career opportunities.