Wood is recognized for its natural warmth and aesthetic beauty. And today scientific research is confirming being exposed to natural materials, such as wood, can have measurable health benefits and is associated with a greater sense of physical well-being.

Active forest management includes ecosystem-based management that enhances forest resilience.

It is essential to keep healthy forests thriving. When forests, burn or decay, whether by old age, fire, insect attack or other disturbances, they release carbon into the atmosphere. Proactively managing forests with techniques like thinning stands helps to reduce the potential impacts of disturbances in the forest.

In the province of Quebec, where the provincial government has full responsibility for forest management, including reforestation, West Fraser maintains Sustainable Forestry Initiative^® (SFI) on behalf of the provincial government under a joint agreement of collaboration for approximately 2.6 million hectares.

West Fraser does not directly manage forestlands in the United States and Ontario, where we purchase the logs needed for our operations. In these regions, all of our timber procurement meets Sustainable Forestry Initiative^® (SFI) fiber sourcing requirements.

About 94% of Canada’s forest lands are publicly owned, and harvesting is only allowed through government-granted licences.  

• “The majority of Canada’s forest land, about 94%, is publicly owned and managed by provincial, territorial and federal governments.” 
  
  Reference: Forest Land Ownership webpage, Natural Resources Canada Website 

There are over 140 million hectares (350 million acres) of Sustainable Forestry Initiative^® (SFI) certified forests in North America and tens of millions of acres positively influenced by the SFI Fiber Sourcing Standard.

Think Wood. (2022). Basics of wood’s carbon footprint (Fact Sheet No. 422-TW-0033). Think Wood. thinkwood.com

Healthy forests act as carbon sinks, absorbing atmospheric carbon dioxide and helping mitigate climate change. However, their effectiveness is impacted by factors like deforestation, degradation, wildfires, and pests. Sustainable forest management is essential to optimally managing ecosystem carbon, and maintaining forest health and resilience for ongoing climate change mitigation.

• “A forest is considered to be a carbon sink if it absorbs more carbon from the atmosphere than it releases. Carbon is absorbed from the atmosphere through photosynthesis.

Sustainable forest management is crucial for climate change mitigation and requires ongoing adaptive management to reduce carbon depletion. While wood products extend carbon storage, responsible lifecycle management—including recycling, bioenergy and long-term sequestration in landfilled products—all contribute to maximizing their climate benefits. A combined approach of sustainable forest management and responsible product stewardship is needed to leverage wood's potential in mitigating climate change.

• Carbon Storage in Trees