Climate change mitigation through responsible land management and ecosystem enhancement

Canada is fortunate to be the world’s third most forested nation. The boreal forest comprises the vast majority of Canada’s forestland and is the most carbon-dense ecosystem on earth.

But all is not well for Canada’s forestlands.

Forests are being converted to agricultural and residential land and silviculture practices that fail to consider biodiversity and decrease landscape-level carbon storage continue to occur at an alarming rate.

Our foremost goal is to play a role in avoiding and reversing forest degradation in Canada. Through our direct actions, we aim to enhance our forest ecosystems’ ability to mitigate climate change and achieve positive biodiversity outcomes.

To achieve our goal, we acquire industrial timberlands and implement science-based approaches that document our progress in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and enhancing carbon storage.

The way we currently value forests – by the timber they produce – ignores the critical role our forests play in sustaining biodiversity and storing carbon.

Our approach allows for carbon and nature to be measured and credited. By putting a value on these non-timber resources, we can finance nature and climate-positive actions on our forestlands. This is made possible by the financial support of our purchasers. In other words, our clients directly create the incentive needed to make change happen.

Our forest land management and silviculture treatments

Our silviculture treatments are based on the specific environmental features of the site and underpinned by the benefit these actions have for the forest community and the trees themselves.

This approach enhances the health of our forests and promotes community-wide biodiversity. At the same time, it reduces the risk of large-scale forest disturbances that often result when forestry practices consider only timber extraction values.

Our forest management prescriptions vary depending on the state of the land at the time we acquire it and can include the following:

  • Direct long-term protection of intact and healthy timber stands and old-growth habitats
  • Timber stand improvement cuts that reverse the effects of harvest activities that occurred before our tenure – such as high-grading and removal of important forest tree and understory species
  • Site restoration and replanting of co-adapted species