Key facts

Canada’s forests by the numbers

Canada has 397.3 million hectares of forest, other wooded land and other land with tree cover.
About 67% of Canada’s forests are coniferous, 16% are mixedwood and 11% are broadleaf.

Canada’s forests account for:

Society

Most of Canada’s forest land (93%) is publicly owned (that is, “Crown land”): 77% is under provincial or territorial jurisdiction and 16% is under federal jurisdiction.
The remaining 7% of forest land is on private property belonging to more than 450 000 private landowners.
The provinces and territories have legislative authority over the conservation and management of the forest resources on the Crown land in their jurisdictions.
The federal government has legislative authority over forest resources where those resources affect, or are affected by, matters related to: the national economy, trade and international relations; federal lands and parks; and the government’s constitutional, treaty, political and legal responsibilities for Aboriginal peoples.
In 2011, direct employment in the Canadian forest industry fell slightly (by 1.8%) compared with the 2010 employment level.
For about 200 communities across Canada, the forest sector makes up at least 50% of the economic base.
About 80% of all Aboriginal communities in Canada are in forested areas.
Public participation is an important aspect of forest management planning in Canada.
There were 12.5 million person-visits to Canada’s national parks in 2011.

Economy

By value, Canada is the world’s leading exporter of softwood lumber, newsprint and wood pulp; and the fifth largest exporter of wood panels and printing and writing papers.
The forest industry contributes about 1.9% to Canada’s gross domestic product.
The U.S. is by far the largest buyer of Canadian forest products.

Environment

Canada has 397.3 million hectares of forest, other wooded land and other land with tree cover. This represents 10% of the world’s forest cover and 30% of the world’s boreal forest.
Less than 0.2% of Canada’s forests are harvested annually.
By law, all forests harvested on Canada’s public land must be successfully regenerated.
As of December 2011, Canada had 150.6 million hectares of forests certified as being sustainably managed under one or more of three globally recognized certification systems.
Bioenergy accounts for 58% of the total energy used by the forest industry, with the pulp and paper sector meeting some 63% of its energy needs from forest biomass.