The area of public forest controlled by Canada’s largest forestry companies has grown by up to 10% in the past three years, a new report highlights.
According to the Global Forest Watch Canada study, just five firms – Tembec, Abitibi-Consolidated, Slocan/Canfor, Louisiana-Pacific and Tolko – have licences for more than 100 million ha of public forest, an area larger than either British Columbia or Ontario.
The group also says logging levels on public land have risen 50% since 1975, with most of the growth occurring in the boreal forest region.
Provinces with the greatest overall increases in annual area logged between 1975 and 2001 were Québec (167,000ha rise), British Columbia (47,000ha) and Alberta (46,000ha). The largest volume of timber cut annually is in British Columbia, followed by Québec and Ontario.
