The story of North American forests is one of resilience, adaptation, renewal and hope.

January 2024

If you hike or stroll through one of Canada’s northern forests, you might experience a world of towering trees, cool shade filled with the scent of pines and spruces — home to many different plants and animals of all shapes and sizes. But Ellen Whitman, a wildfire research scientist at the Canadian Forest Service, sees things through a different lens. What she notices is a landscape quietly and gradually transforming.

Keeping track of growing conditions affecting Canada’s agricultural crops is essential for planning purposes. Scientists rely on satellites to tackle this crucial task with precision. The advanced computer programs that make all this happen are created with intricate coding, the latest technology and plain hard work.

November 2023

Innovative 3D models and virtual reality (VR) tools are helping define how future geoscientists and geological engineers will visualize — and interact with — the geology and groundwater resources of one of the country’s most populous regions.

With scientists predicting major water shortages in less than 10 years, we need to make smart choices today about how to use and protect our water resources.

In 2023, Canada is facing a formidable challenge: record-breaking wildfires. These fires are fueled by record high temperatures and widespread drought conditions across the country. To what extent can climate change be linked to these events? Scientists from around the world did a rapid turn-around study to find answers.

In Canada’s Arctic, where communities are experiencing the effects of a changing climate, there’s a rising sense of urgency. So — as fluctuating water levels start to impact daily life in the Mackenzie Delta region — a unique partnership was created to investigate further.

The Indigenous Seed Collection Program, part of the Canadian Forest Service, is helping plant the forests of the future by sowing traditional knowledge, one seed at a time. Find out how a program that started with Mi’kmaq communities in Atlantic Canada has quickly developed into a popular and diverse Indigenous-led network of knowledge sharing.

June 2023

By Gillian Aylward

What, exactly, would happen if an earthquake occurred in your area? A team at Natural Resources Canada have some answers. They’ve crunched the data for a new, online planning tool — RiskProfiler — that provides a risk analysis of the damages, injuries and financial costs that might result from an earthquake. The consequences could be quite staggering.

Imagine trying to measure something that’s invisible when conditions are changing every day. Yet keeping track of greenhouse gas emissions is increasingly important in our rapidly changing world. Discover how Natural Resources Canada’s highly skilled carbon accounting team calculates these complex estimates for all of Canada’s forests.

From 1952 to 1993, one of the world's largest aerial pesticide application programs occurred in New Brunswick. During this time, 97 percent of the province's 6.2 million hectares of forested land was treated with at least one pesticide. A team of researchers and scientists have now compiled and published historical records of pesticide use. The goal is to make the data available to help future studies on the environmental fate — which is what happens to a pesticide once it enters the environment — as well as ecosystem recovery and the legacy effects of this historical program.