Ontario’s landbase

All of Ontario – land class and ownership

Ontario is over 107.6 million hectares, of which 66% is forest. To better understand this breakdown, the tables below highlights land classes and ownership groups for the province.

Ontario’s forests - Quick facts:

1.7% of the world’s forests

20.3% of Canada’s forests

70.4 million hectares of forest

56.3 million hectares of productive forest

6.5 billion cubic metres of growing stock

Visual display

Tables and supporting data are available on the Ontario Data Catalogue. To support representation of complex data, a variety of tables, charts and maps are available in a visualization format.

View data visualization - Managed Forest Zone

Managed Forest Zone (MFZ)

The Managed Forest Zone (see previous section on administrative zones) in Ontario covers the middle portion of the province and is 46.4 million hectares in size, of which nearly 80% is productive forest

Quick facts:

46.4 million hectares of land and water

27.8 million hectares of Crown forest

13.0% parks and protected areas

33.3% of Ontario’s managed forests are black spruce

3.0% of Ontario’s managed forests are sugar maple

The following summaries for forests within the Managed Forest Zone include area by land type, forest type, seral stage, age class, tree species and volume of growing stock.

Land class by ownership

Provincial forest types

The following provincial forest type summaries highlight forests within the Managed Forest Zone, and includes area by forest type, seral stage, age class, tree species and volume of growing stock.

Red and white pine forest type

The red and white pine forest type is dominated by pine. It is often a mixedwood with an overstory of white pine and an understory of other tree species including poplar, spruce and hardwoods. This forest type is most commonly found in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence forest region.

Jack pine forest type

The jack pine forest type is dominated by homogenous, even-aged stands, often on well drained sandy sites. It can be associated with poplar and spruce on some sites but is generally almost pure jack pine. It is most commonly found in the Boreal forest, especially in northwest.

Conifer upland forest type

The conifer upland forest type is dominated by black and white spruce, jack pine and balsam fir, often with a component of poplar and white birch. It occurs on upland or well drained to shallow sites and is most commonly found in the Boreal forest.

Conifer lowland forest type

The conifer lowland forest type is dominated by black spruce, often associated with cedar and larch. It is commonly found on moist to wet or organic soils on lowland sites. The lowland conifer forest type is found primarily in the Boreal forest, especially in the clay belt area in northeast Ontario.

Mixedwood forest type

The mixedwood forest type is composed of mostly spruce, poplar, jack pine, balsam fir, and white birch. Occurring on a wide variety of sites, mixedwood stands are commonly found throughout the Boreal forest.

Poplar forest type

The poplar forest type is dominated by trembling aspen (poplar), and is often associated with white birch, spruce, jack pine and balsam fir. It occurs primarily on deep, fresh upland sites in the Boreal forest.

White birch forest type

The white birch forest type is dominated by white birch, and is associated with poplar, spruce and fir. It is often found with spruce/fir in the understory. This forest type is typically found on fresh to moist sandy sites in the boreal forest.

Hardwood forest type

The hardwood forest type consists of a wide range of deciduous species, primarily sugar maple with a lesser component of yellow birch, oak, beech, basswood, ash and white pine. It is the dominant forest type in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence forest region.

Forest area infographic

Related

• View data visualization