Forestry Industry in Canada

Vocabulary

• Coniferous trees• Deciduous trees• Pulp and paper• Directly• Indirectly• Stump • Underbrush• Efficient

• Replant• Repopulate • Checkerboard• Reseed• Alternating• Chainsaw• Perpendicular

Forest Facts

• Forests cover close to half of Canada’s total land area– 10% of all the world’s forests are in Canada

• Only Russia and Brazil have more forests than Canada

• 63% of our forest is coniferous• 22% of our forest is deciduous• 15% of our forest is a mix of both coniferous and

deciduous

Value of Forestry in Canada

• One out of every 16 jobs in Canada depends on forestry

• The forestry industry produces lumber, pulp and paper, and other forest products worth about $80 billion per year

• 360,000 Canadian jobs are directly from forestry operations

• 500,000 more jobs are indirectly from forestry operations

Value of Forests

• Trees and other plants absorb and use the carbon dioxide in the air in the same way we use oxygen.

• They also give off oxygen in the same way we give off carbon dioxide.

• Plants and animals should balance each other to keep our environment stable.

Value of Forests

• When we pollute our atmosphere, we rely on trees and other plants to clean the air.

• If we cut down too many trees, they cannot handle all the carbon dioxide we put into the air.

• The air becomes more and more polluted, and people’s health becomes threatened.

HARVESTING METHODS

Clear Cutting• What happens? ALL

the trees in an area are cut down.

• This is the method used most often.

• The stumps and underbrush that is left behind is burned so that new trees will have a chance to grow.

Tree stump

Tree

Advantages of Clear Cutting

• Cheap

• Efficient (easiest, fastest method)

Disadvantages of Clear Cutting

• Has to be replanted by hand (takes time and is expensive)

• If left unplanted, the soil will erode

• If we take more trees than we need, we will have more problems with pollution

Selective Cutting

• What happens? – Only a few trees in an

area are cut down– All other trees are left

alone– Several men are needed:

one man cuts the tree while several men hold ropes so they can slowly lower the tree to the ground.

Tree stump

Tree

Advantage of Selective Cutting

• When the larger trees are taken away, the smaller trees have a better chance to grow.

• By only taking the trees that are needed, the forest is protected and can help clean the air.

Disadvantages of Selective Cutting

• Takes a lot of time• Other trees get in the

way and make the job harder

• More expensive

Seed Tree Cutting

• What happens?–Almost all the

trees in an area are cut down. Only a few are – The few trees

provide seeds to repopulate the area

Tree stump

Tree

Seed Tree Cutting

Advantages• Cheap and efficient• The company does not need

to plant new trees by hand

Disadvantages • It takes a long time for trees

to grow from seeds• If only a few trees are

providing the seeds, the genetic diversity of the forest becomes smaller.– This means that if the forest

gets a disease, all the trees will die because they are all from the same genetic family

Patch Logging

• What happens? Trees are cut down in a checkerboard pattern.• The parts that are

cut down are clear cut Tree stump

Tree

Advantages of Patch Logging

• Because so many trees are left behind, the forest reseeds itself naturally• It is cheaper than selective cutting

Disadvantages of Patch Logging

• New roads have to be built to get to each section of the “checkerboard”• This is expensive and takes a lot of

time• After the logging is finished, the

roads are no longer used, but they are cut right through the forest (ugly)

Strip Logging• What happens? A cutter

uses a chainsaw to cut strips of trees in alternating rows

• Allows the cutter to choose to only cut the trees he wants, or to cut the whole strip

• The strips should be cut perpendicular to the wind to prevent erosion

Tree stump

Tree

Advantages of Strip Logging

• The forest naturally reseeds itself• It is cheaper and easier than patch

logging• Not as many roads need to be built

Disadvantages of Strip Logging

• Really bad erosion can happen in the strips that are cut down