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Ontario’s Forest Regions

Ontario has 4 kinds of forests, each with unique characteristics and species:

Hudson Bay Lowlands

Boreal Forest

Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Forest

Deciduous Forest Region

The Hudson Bay Lowlands:

The Hudson Bay Lowlands are a large low relief expanse of wetland, one of the largest in the world. With an area of 25.7 million hectares, they comprise both treed and open muskeg (74%), dotted with thousands of small lakes and ponds.

Forest covers less than 17%, and is generally made up of stunted tamarack and black spruce growing along river banks and other well-drained areas. The Hudson Bay Lowlands are greatly affected by the cold northern climate, and contain all of Ontario’s tundra.

The Hudson Bay Lowlands contains 20% of Ontario’s forests. This region is home to woodland caribou, polar bear, arctic fox, and arctic hare. During the summer, millions of migratory birds nest here, such as Canada geese, snow geese and other waterfowl.

The Boreal Forest:

Ontario’s boreal forest is part of a worldwide network of conifer-dominated forests that stretch across northern Europe, Russia, Alaska and northern Canada. In Ontario, the boreal forest region extends from the northern limits of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence forest to the Hudson Bay Lowlands.

With an area of 49.8 million hectares, the boreal forest is Ontario’s largest forest region. It features various forest types consisting of coniferous and deciduous trees, including white and black spruce, tamarack, balsam fir, jack pine, white birch and poplar.

The terrain of the boreal forest ranges from lowland peat bogs to deep fertile upland soils to bedrock covered by thin layers of soil and moss.

A major ecological force in Ontario’s boreal forest is forest fires. Most tree species in the boreal forest naturally regenerate new young forests after forest fires, floods, wind storms and insect damage. These natural forces often destroy all the trees in a large area and leave behind complex growth, thus creating the natural pattern of even-aged, single species forests.

Globally, the boreal forest accounts for about 25% of the world’s closed canopy forests. In geological terms, the boreal forest is quite new. Until about 13,000 years ago, glaciers covered much of Canada. It wasn’t until about 5,000 years ago that the boreal forest became firmly established in northern Canada.

The boreal forest contains 59% of Ontario’s forests. The boreal forest is home to a variety of wildlife, including moose, black bear, jays and song birds, wolves, otter, beaver and marten. In addition, the forest contains hundreds of species of plants, such as ferns, mosses, fungi, shrubs and herbs.

The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Forest: 

The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence forest extends along the St. Lawrence River across central Ontario to Lake Huron and west of Lake Superior along the border with Minnesota. This area contains a mixture of landscapes and plant and animal species. This is a transitional zone between the southern deciduous forest of eastern North America and the predominantly coniferous boreal forest.

In this region, coniferous trees such as eastern white pine, red pine, eastern hemlock and white cedar, commonly mix with deciduous broad-leaved species, such as yellow birch, sugar and red maples, basswood and red oak. Species more common in the boreal forest, such as white and black spruce, jack pine, aspen and white birch also exist here. This forest contains many species of fungi, ferns, mosses and shrubs.

The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence region contains 20% of Ontario’s forests. The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence forest is home to a wide variety of wildlife, including white-tailed deer, moose, black bear, wolves, pileated woodpecker, various migratory birds, beaver, muskrat, otter and many other mammals, birds, fish and insects.

The Deciduous Forest Region:

Ontario’s deciduous forest lies along the northern shores of lakes Erie and Ontario and the southeastern shore of Lake Huron. It is the northern extension of the large deciduous forest of the northeastern United States. Many of the trees found here are at the northern limit of their range. Most of Ontario’s black walnut, sycamore and white oak grow in this forest.

The early European settlers cleared much of the original deciduous forest because the rich soil and moderate climate of the area were ideal for agriculture. Today, more than 90% of Ontario’s 12 million residents live in the south. As a result, this region has largely been cleared with scattered woodlots remaining on sites too poor for agriculture. Efforts to maintain and enhance forest cover in this area have occurred for over 100 years. Tree planting efforts under various programs have converted over 130,000 hectares of abandoned agricultural lands into forest, and an equivalent amount of new forest has been established on private lands through agreements with landowners.

The deciduous forest region contains 1% of Ontario’s forests. In this region, the forest life is the most diverse in Ontario. A number of nationally rare species of mammals, birds, plants and insects can be found here. Some examples are the sassafras and tulip tree and the southern flying squirrel.

© Queen’s Printer for Ontario, 2003

Reprinted from the Government of Ontario, MNR, Ontario Forests website, for non-commercial purposes only.