Softwood Forests:
- coniferous trees (cone-bearing: fir, pine, spruce)
- make up 66% of Canada’s forests
Hardwood Forests:
- deciduous trees (lose leaves every year: birch, maple)
- make up 12% of Canada’s forests
- Commercial Forests
- Trees are harvested to make a profit
- exists in warmer, wetter areas where trees grow quickly
- British Columbia, Alberta
Non-commercial Forests
- Not profitable for harvesting due to location
- temperature and precipitation levels are too low for trees to grow quickly and large enough
- Methods of Harvesting Forests
- Logging
- Clear-cutting:
- every tree is removed leaving a barren landscape
- used with pine, spruce, fir, aspen, poplar
- land may be damaged due to erosion
Shelterwood Logging:
- Northern Quebec and Labrador
- clear-cutting only part of a forest leaving seed-bearing trees to regenerate logged areas
- used with white pine and/or where trees are all same size and age:
Selective Cutting:
- harvesting only mature trees that are same size/age/type
- hardwoods are cut this way
- less disruptive to a forest yet very costly
- Forestry Products
- Pulp and Paper
- Canada is the largest exporter and second
- largest producer in the world
- Plants are located in Quebec, Ontario, B.C.
- timber, plywood, cedar, particleboard, chipboard
