Canada's forests and forestry

Many people in Canada live close to a forest. More than a third of Canadians live in or near forested areas, according to Natural Resources Canada. Below, you can read who owns that land, how companies plan their cutting and how the forest grows back.

How much forest Canada has

Natural Resources Canada counts 369 million hectares of forest in the country. That is about 9% of the world's forest. It is also about 24% of the world's boreal forest, the forest of the far north.

Canada's forest scientists count land as forest when its trees are taller than 5 metres. The trees must also cover more than 10% of the ground, over at least half a hectare. A cleared patch stays forest on their count unless people turn the land to another use, such as farms or towns.

Source: Natural Resources Canada, The State of Canada's Forests: Annual Report 2025, published 5 February 2026.

Who owns the forests

Most of Canada's forest belongs to the public. The provinces and territories own about 90% of it. The federal government owns about 4%, mainly in national parks, defence land and land held for Indigenous Peoples. Private owners hold the remaining 6%.

Each province and territory writes and enforces the forest laws for its own public land. Private woodlots and company forests supply about one-tenth of the timber that people harvest in Canada.

Source: Natural Resources Canada, Forest land ownership, page updated 28 November 2025.

How harvesting is planned

Private forestry companies do most of the cutting in public forests. They work under a licence or timber supply agreement with the province or territory. Before any cutting starts, a company must write a forest management plan and have the government approve it.

These plans usually look several decades ahead. Provincial and territorial governments check that companies follow them. They review each plan every 5 or 10 years. A company that breaks its plan can face a warning, a fine, or the loss of its right to harvest.

Source: Natural Resources Canada, Forest management planning, page updated 28 November 2025.

Cutting and regrowth

Forestry crews harvested nearly 670,000 hectares in 2023. They cut 114.9 million cubic metres of industrial roundwood that year. Officials estimated the sustainable supply for that year at 209.5 million cubic metres.

Provincial laws require harvested public land to be replanted or left to regrow to set standards. In 2023, planters put 563 million seedlings into the ground. They covered about 400,000 hectares of provincial and territorial land.

Source: Natural Resources Canada, The State of Canada's Forests: Annual Report 2025, and Boreal forest, page updated 3 November 2025.

Fire and insects

Fire management agencies reported 5.3 million hectares burned in 2024. That is almost double the 25-year average of 2.9 million hectares. The agencies counted 5,844 fires that year, which is below the 25-year average of 6,554.

Insects damage forests on a large scale too. Forest scientists recorded 11.6 million hectares affected by insects in 2023. Spruce budworm and mountain pine beetle are among the species they track.

Source: Natural Resources Canada, The State of Canada's Forests: Annual Report 2025.

Work in the woods

Canada's forest sector employed 194,040 people in 2024. Their jobs run from planting and firefighting to sawmills and paper mills. In about 300 communities, forestry is a main source of work and income. Roughly 620,000 people live in those places.

Source: Natural Resources Canada, The State of Canada's Forests: Annual Report 2025.

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