Red Maple–acer rubrum

photo of Red Maple trees.

Red or Red Maple is less common than Sugar Maple, and is found in the Great Lakes–St. Lawrence and Deciduous forest regions. It is often found on wetter sites than Sugar Maple, and is known for its brilliant red leaves in autumn. Red Maple is often planted as an ornamental tree, and is an important source of food for wildlife.

Red Maple represents about 2% of Ontario’s total growing stock volume.

Map of Red Maple relative occurrence

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

Enlarge map of Red Maple relative occurrence

Area and proportion of Red Maple in the AOU (area in hectares)

Statistic Crown Parks and protected areas Other Total
Total Area Containing Red Maple 2,099,452 354,823 1,318,201 3,772,477
1-25% of stand 1,873,011 309,885 1,075,882 3,258,778
26-50% of stand 215,140 42,049 215,521 472,710
51-75% of stand 9,307 2,148 15,893 27,349
76-100% of stand 1,994 741 10,905 13,640
Average Proportion in All Forest (%) 1.2 5.9 2.3 1.8
Area of Red Maple Working Group 152,211 30,037 181,591 363,839

Growing stock volume of Red Maple in the AOU (volume in thousands of cubic metres)

Statistic Crown Parks and protected areas Other Total
Gross Total Volume 47,837 8,894 43,054 99,785
Net Merchantable Volume 34,737 6,626 31,782 73,144
Current Annual Increment 487 81 449 1,017

Red Maple working group area by age class

vertical bar graph of the Red Maple working group area by age class including brown for Crown, green for park and grey for other.