Forestry and insects

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.

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.

Having a clear picture of how much forested area is consumed by wildfires in any given year is becoming increasingly important. That’s why researchers looking for the most advanced wildfire maps turn to an expert team from Natural Resources Canada.

When scientists from the Canadian Forest Service (CFS) and student researchers from the University of Guelph were collecting data to create an inventory of hemlock trees in Ontario, they found more than just trees — they discovered a large insect infestation that could pose a risk to landowners.

October 2022