Forestry is the art and science of protecting, conserving and managing forests, tree plantations and natural resources. Since forest ecosystems are incredibly important to the planet, the field of Forestry is just as crucial for the environment as it is for our communities and economy.

Forestry is a multi-disciplinary and complex profession that involves the management of many values in addition to timber, including: biodiversity, wildlife habitat, water quality, recreation, employment, and community stability.

Forestry can involve a more holistic study of the systems that provide us with natural resources or it can involve wide-ranging specializations. Such specializations range from genetics to forest ecology, from wildfire science to climate change, from watershed management to fish and aquatic ecosystem management, from forest pathology to entomology, from plant biology to conservation and forest policy, from geographic information systems software to business modelling, and more.

To learn more about the discipline of Forestry, you can explore the following websites:

Alberta Sustainable Resource Development
British Columbia Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations
Canadian Forests Website
Canadian Institute of Forestry
Center for International Forestry Research
Go Forestry
Manitoba Conservation – Forestry Branch
Ministère des Ressources naturelles et faune du Québec
Natural Resources Canada
New Brunswick Department of Natural Resources
Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources
Ontario Forestry Association
Ontario Forestry Industries Association
Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources
Ontario Ministry of Northern Development, Mines and Forestry
Parks Canada
Prince Edward Island Department of Environment, Energy and Forestry
Sustainable Forest Management Network
Trees Ontario

The following is a video from the Go Forestry website (www.goforestry.ca):