Black Spruce–picea mariana

image of a Black Spruce forest.

Black Spruce is the most common tree in Ontario and is primarily found in the Boreal forest. Although found on dry and sandy areas, it is often associated with wet or organic sites and can be a slow growing, long lived tree. Black Spruce often occurs in large, relatively pure stands.

It is used primarily for pulp and paper due to its long fibres, but is also used for dimensional lumber and other solid wood products. Spruce in general represents over 40% of Ontario’s harvest over the past decade, and is 30% of the growing stock volume in the province.

Map of Black Spruce relative occurrence

map of Jack Pine distribution in Ontario indicating low (light brown), moderate and high (dark green-brown) levels of relative occurrence.

Enlarge map of Black Spruce relative occurrence

Area and proportion of Black Spruce in the AOU (area in hectares)

Statistic Crown Parks and protected areas Other Total
total area containing Black Spruce 20,725,521 1,668,746 1,328,033 23,722,300
1-25% of stand 6,824,107 628,144 575,972 8,028,223
26-50% of stand 4,379,107 363,743 220,474 4,963,324
51-75% of stand 2,809,794 208,268 152,481 3,170,543
76-100% of stand 6,712,512 468,592 379,105 7,560,210
average proportion in all forest (%) 39.5 15.0 31.2 35.9
area of Black Spruce working group 11,666,593 834,114 657,401 13,158,109

Growing stock volume of Black Spruce in the AOU (volume in thousands of cubic metres)

Statistic Crown Parks and protected areas Other Total
gross total volume 1,312,286 121,561 73,937 1,507,785
net merchantable volume 759,513 73,417 41,941 874,872
current annual increment 11,554 818 639 13,011

Black Spruce working group area by age class

vertical bar graph of Jack Pine forest area by age class including brown for Crown, green for park and grey for other.