Ontario's landscape is characterized by its forests.
They range from the deciduous forest
of Southern Ontario through the mixed forest in central and northwestern
Ontario to the conifer-dominated boreal forests of the North. 66%
percent of Ontario or about 70.4 million hectares is forested, of
which over 90% is owned by the Province of Ontario also known as
Crown Land. 31% of the province owned forests are managed as production
forest, managed for a full range of benefits including timber production.
Almost 7 million hectares of Ontario's forests are privately owned.
On Crown lands, the Crown Forest Sustainability Act
(CFSA) provides for the regulation of forest planning, public involvement,
operations and mills, licensing and trust funds for reforestation
and mills. The legislation also has sanctions and penalties for
non-compliance. Forestry activities on Crown lands (lands owned
by the Province) are also subject to the Environmental Assessment
Act. Forestry activities on private lands are subject to By-laws
enacted under the Municipal Act.
Most of Ontario's Crown Land forests are divided into forest management
units. Before any forestry activities can take place in a management
unit, there must be an approved forest management plan in place.
All plans are prepared by a Registered Professional Forester with
the assistance of multi-disciplinary planning team, local citizens
committee and input from interested members of the public.
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This page last modified June 27, 2009 |
