The volume of wood within a tree can be calculated manually if it has been harvested using conventional methods, but calculating the volume of standing trees is more complicated.

The Forest Resources of Ontario series has been using yield tables for over fifty years. The tables calculate several volume metrics based on the tree species, age and site index or productivity ranking. The tables also include number of trees per hectare, average heights and tree diameters.

This chapter includes charts and tables of these historical volumes for comparative purposes.

Growing stock volume

Volumes have traditionally been calculated in Forest Resources of Ontario series using Plonski’s normal yield tables, first published in 1956. The tables were developed in the 1950s using field sampling across the province, primarily in the Boreal forest with plots in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence forest outside North Bay. The data for these tables was developed from fully stocked mature stands of Black Spruce, Jack Pine, Poplar and White Birch tables. Over the next few decades, more plots and other species were added, including White Pine, Red Pine, Red Pine plantations and tolerant Hardwoods. The MNRF Growth and Yield Program continues to refine and research forest yields to this day, most recently adding new merchantable coefficients and detailed biomass calculations.

Volume summaries

The three main volume calculations summarized in this report include:

  • Gross total volume (GTV): Volume of the main stem, including stump and top as well as defective and decayed wood, of trees or stands.
  • Net merchantable volume (NMV): Volume of the main stem, excluding stump and top but including defective and decayed wood, of trees or stands.
  • Current annual increment (CAI): Volume of growth observed in a tree in a specific one year period.

Growing stock volume–Inventoried AOU (volume in cubic metres) footnote **

Statistic Crown Parks and protected areas Other Total
Gross Total Volume 3,770,635,118 734,493,972 419,777,660 4,924,906,749
Net Merchantable Volume 2,227,555,218 255,961,006 460,151,005 2,943,667,229
Current Annual Increment 33,025,495 2,610,293 5,881,649 41,517,438

Historical growing stock comparisons are limited to the AOU as that has traditionally been the only inventoried area, and the data contributing to previous versions is not available. The following tables include the Whitefeather Forest, but the bar charts showing change over time do not.

Gross total volume by species–AOU (cubic metres)

Species Crown Parks and protected areas Other Total
White Pine 115,582,391 35,846,124 26,847,919 178,276,433
Red Pine 30,903,436 9,800,394 6,312,930 47,016,761
Jack Pine 501,941,705 16,068,694 52,638,809 570,649,209
Black Spruce 1,312,286,260 73,937,362 121,561,324 1,507,784,946
White Spruce 85,699,049 24,306,912 10,650,046 120,656,008
Balsam Fir 167,191,112 53,184,811 20,553,958 240,929,880
Cedar 88,980,239 37,428,578 10,352,471 136,761,289
Larch 58,351,365 9,918,632 4,912,485 73,182,482
Hemlock 21,059,119 15,214,184 6,021,514 42,294,817
Other Conifers 32,781 548,460 3,661 584,903
Poplar 822,900,537 189,030,959 79,977,134 1,091,908,630
White Birch 315,485,228 48,195,906 42,501,264 406,182,398
Hard Maple 124,975,068 107,321,145 16,078,848 248,375,062
Soft Maple 47,836,779 43,054,232 8,894,004 99,785,015
Yellow Birch 38,334,889 17,846,101 5,293,218 61,474,208
Ash 7,057,216 14,142,774 1,415,612 22,615,602
Oak 20,834,585 21,584,613 4,731,820 47,151,018
Basswood 2,849,274 6,595,565 221,881 9,666,720
Beech 7,965,485 10,018,645 778,646 18,762,775
Other Hardwoods 368,599 449,880 30,115 848,594
Total: 3,770,635,118 734,493,972 419,777,660 4,924,906,749

Growing stock totals have increased only slightly since the 2011 report, up approximately 1% since 2011 and Ontario’s forests continue to get older. Volume remained relatively constant over the past thirty years, ranging from 4.2 to 4.8 billion cubic metres within the AOU (not including Whitefeather). The most visible changes are the steady increase in Poplar compared to the steady decline in spruce.

Gross total volume by species

pie chart of the gross total volume by species including lime green for softwoods, dark brown for tolerant Hardwoods, and light brown for intolerant Hardwoods.

Gross total volume by year

horizontal bar chart of the gross total volume by year including beige for 1986, light brown for 1996, brown for 2006 and dark brown for 2016.

Net merchantable volume by species–AOU (cubic metres)

Species Crown Parks and protected areas Other Total
White Pine 78,152,208 24,086,456 18,591,915 120,830,579
Red Pine 22,563,885 7,272,230 4,793,349 34,629,465
Jack Pine 336,065,292 11,923,330 36,731,557 384,720,180
Black Spruce 759,513,495 41,941,463 73,416,745 874,871,704
White Spruce 52,891,623 15,052,997 6,984,263 74,928,883
Balsam Fir 62,171,481 22,870,681 7,958,702 93,000,864
Cedar 28,707,810 13,417,531 3,398,544 45,523,885
Larch 19,249,289 3,658,976 1,652,394 24,560,659
Hemlock 14,455,767 10,826,539 4,134,205 29,416,511
Other Conifers 10,888 163,057 1,435 175,380
Poplar 494,562,816 123,213,557 46,771,833 664,548,206
White Birch 186,442,540 29,770,606 25,415,557 241,628,702
Hard Maple 79,840,380 70,663,468 10,149,621 160,653,469
Soft Maple 34,736,543 31,781,677 6,626,156 73,144,376
Yellow Birch 28,624,092 13,624,004 3,913,192 46,161,288
Ash 5,270,757 10,328,363 1,060,211 16,659,331
Oak 15,913,266 16,441,305 3,599,995 35,954,566
Basswood 2,178,059 5,050,024 169,714 7,397,797
Beech 5,939,580 7,740,797 569,798 14,250,176
Other Hardwoods 265,447 323,942 21,821 611,210
Total: 2,227,555,218 460,151,005 255,961,006 2,943,667,229

Net merchantable volume changed little during the past 15 years as younger stands fill in the gaps left by older forest. The trends in NMV take a long term to change significantly, and 15 years is a very short time in the life of a forest. NMV is approximately 6% higher than 2011 in total, with only slight changes by individual species.

Net merchantable volume (NMV) by species

pie chart of the net merchantable volume by species including lime green for softwoods, dark brown for tolerant Hardwoods, and light brown for intolerant Hardwoods.

Net merchantable volume by year

horizontal bar chart of the net merchantable volume by year including beige for 2001, light brown for 2006, brown for 2011, and dark brown for 2016.

Current annual increment volume by species–AOU (cubic metres annually)

Species Crown Parks and protected areas Other Total
White Pine 859,190 277,137 160,355 1,296,682
Red Pine 285,443 113,548 22,708 421,699
Jack Pine 5,231,469 104,221 413,904 5,749,594
Black Spruce 11,554,229 638,641 818,423 13,011,293
White Spruce 1,007,470 266,033 86,643 1,360,146
Balsam Fir 2,179,753 574,222 207,532 2,961,507
Cedar 566,457 284,740 62,277 913,474
Larch 468,573 81,643 28,594 578,810
Hemlock 96,202 107,124 26,789 230,115
Other Conifers 472 12,281 34 12,786
Poplar 7,119,114 1,240,322 381,125 8,740,560
White Birch 1,833,734 186,555 154,722 2,175,010
Hard Maple 803,208 925,560 82,622 1,811,390
Soft Maple 487,126 449,045 81,223 1,017,393
Yellow Birch 218,861 126,958 24,221 370,040
Ash 66,690 155,324 13,240 235,255
Oak 178,254 194,692 40,559 413,504
Basswood 23,810 60,704 1,843 86,356
Beech 42,339 77,651 3,222 123,211
Other Hardwoods 3,104 5,248 260 8,611
Total: 33,025,495 5,881,649 2,610,293 41,517,438

Overall forest growth has dropped by about 5% since the 2011 report, which is indicative of the older state of Ontario’s forests. The largest amount of annual growth occurs in younger trees, and nearly two thirds of the provinces forests are in the mature or late successional stages of growth. Annual growth dropped from 42.4 million cubic metres in 2011 to 40.5 million cubic metres in 2016. Only Jack Pine experienced a significant increase in growth, as over two-thirds of Jack Pine is in the younger sapling and immature seral stages.

Total growth (CAI) by species

pie chart of the total growth by species including lime green for softwoods, dark brown for tolerant Hardwoods, and light brown for intolerant Hardwoods.

Growth volume by year

horizontal bar chart of growth volume by year including beige for 2001, light brown for 2006, brown for 2011, and dark brown for 2016.

Along with calculations based on the current inventory, this report has traditionally also estimated total volume and growth for the entire province, using satellite imagery and average forest conditions to derive estimates of GTV and CAI. The following two tables are estimated volumes for the entire province.

Growing stock volume–gross total volume by species–Ontario totals (cubic metres)

Species Crown Parks and protected areas Other Total
White Pine 117,014,722 39,843,122 52,966,291 209,824,136
Red Pine 31,941,018 10,992,824 11,587,315 54,521,157
Jack Pine 862,567,580 95,654,390 63,405,750 1,021,627,720
Black Spruce 2,012,043,061 231,523,833 143,510,627 2,387,077,521
White Spruce 100,436,534 29,758,352 17,184,786 147,379,672
Balsam Fir 210,386,195 66,927,843 33,845,352 311,159,390
Cedar 97,252,340 43,404,262 24,809,831 165,466,433
Larch 83,367,220 16,171,322 6,748,111 106,286,652
Hemlock 21,342,878 16,098,746 12,536,050 49,977,675
Other Conifers 35,548 554,936 69,838 660,322
Poplar 1,049,061,903 262,063,757 130,210,149 1,441,335,809
White Birch 361,311,199 71,677,693 57,693,758 490,682,649
Hard Maple 126,632,245 114,240,870 62,757,793 303,630,908
Soft Maple 48,517,865 45,364,422 27,700,717 121,583,004
Yellow Birch 38,594,956 19,625,532 9,444,464 67,664,953
Ash 7,453,758 14,748,869 7,819,736 30,022,362
Oak 21,337,536 22,533,182 21,967,565 65,838,283
Basswood 2,968,898 6,770,687 4,667,950 14,407,535
Beech 8,139,516 10,472,758 6,611,549 25,223,823
Other Hardwoods 375,714 467,094 277,539 1,120,347
Total: 5,200,780,687 1,118,894,493 695,815,170 7,015,490,350

Gross total volume by zone

pie chart of gross total volume by zone including blue for south/great lakes, light green for Area of the Undertaking Crown managed, army green for Area of the Undertaking Parks, dark brown for Area of the Undertaking other, bright green for planning area parks, and light brown for northern boreal zones.

Ontario total gross total volume by species

pie chart of the Ontario total gross total volume by species including lime green for softwoods, dark brown for tolerant Hardwoods, and light brown for intolerant Hardwoods.

Growing stock volume–current annual increment by species–Ontario totals (cubic metres annually)

Species Crown Parks and protected areas Other Total
White Pine 869,901 310,971 391,681 1,572,553
Red Pine 288,399 122,530 83,719 494,647
Jack Pine 7,145,629 578,420 491,318 8,215,367
Black Spruce 18,870,891 2,166,995 1,044,562 22,082,447
White Spruce 1,235,001 352,139 161,684 1,748,824
Balsam Fir 3,079,179 829,100 374,402 4,282,682
Cedar 716,847 342,003 194,746 1,253,596
Larch 744,293 135,517 45,037 924,848
Hemlock 98,481 113,211 84,959 296,651
Other Conifers 562 12,483 1,937 14,983
Poplar 9,375,698 1,981,300 730,406 12,087,404
White Birch 2,183,286 354,539 232,334 2,770,159
Hard Maple 820,147 982,320 578,033 2,380,500
Soft Maple 496,160 477,948 328,968 1,303,076
Yellow Birch 220,959 139,611 58,198 418,768
Ash 75,332 163,318 99,172 337,822
Oak 183,760 204,902 226,212 614,873
Basswood 25,190 62,569 53,178 140,938
Beech 43,959 80,904 59,536 184,399
Other Hardwoods 3,197 5,430 3,664 12,291
Total: 46,476,870 9,416,209 5,243,748 61,136,827

Growth volume by zone

pie chart of the growth volume by zone including blue for south/great lakes, light green for Area of the Undertaking Crown managed, army green for Area of the Undertaking Parks, dark brown for Area of the Undertaking other, bright green for planning area parks, and light brown for northern boreal zones.

Ontario total growth volume by species

pie chart of the Ontario total growth volume by species including lime green for softwoods, dark brown for tolerant Hardwoods, and light brown for intolerant Hardwoods.

Footnotes

  • footnote[**] Back to paragraph Note: This table includes the Whitefeather Forest, but does not include uninventoried area within the AOU