Map FAQ

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1. What does this map depict?
2. How do I navigate the map?
3. What is forest tenure?
4. How are tenures for harvest volumes (instead of area) shown on the map?
5. How do I source certified forest products?
6. Other

Answers

1. What does this map depict?
   

   This interactive map shows certified forest lands across Canada. Canada has the most third-party certified forest land in the world. Forest operations on those lands are certified to one of three internationally recognized standards – Canadian Standards Association (CSA), Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), and Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI). Third-party certification provides assurance that the forests, from which wood and paper products are made, are well managed and adhere to strict social and environmental requirements.

   Understanding the Legend:
   The red outline on the map indicates the general extent of the managed forest in Canada. The solid coloured areas are forests in which forest management practices are certified. The Legend provides clarity on which Certification Type a forest area is certified under – Canadian Standards Association (CSA), Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), and Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI).

   Source: The data source for this map is the detailed Canadian Certification Status Report located on this website. The Status Report and this map are updated twice yearly. This map was created for the Forest Products Association of Canada by Dave Baldwin of Spatialworks (http://www.spatialworks.com).

2. How do I navigate the map?
   

   To navigate the map, simply click on a province of interest within the national map. A detailed provincial map will appear. Then click on any of the coloured blocks of “tenured forest lands” within that province for more details about that particular certification. A Certification Summary will appear in the right column providing detailed information on:

   1. Company name (this is the company holding the tenure certificate)
   2. Area (division) name
   3. Standard certified to (CSA, FSC, SFI)
   4. Certified area (in hectares)
   5. Link to the company’s website
   6. Link to the most recent certification audit report and/or SFM Plan for the area.

3. What is forest tenure?
   

   Tenure—socially defined agreement held by individuals or groups, recognized by legal statutes or customary practice, regarding the “bundle of rights and duties”” of ownership, holding, access, and/or use of a particular land unit or the associated resources (such as individual trees, plant species, water, and minerals). (source: National Forestry Database)

   In Canada, 93% of forests are publicly owned. This means that the provincial governments provide Tenure Licensing agreements to forest product companies. Forest management licences issued in Canada are either area-based tenure (a licence agreement based on a specified area of land under management) or volume-based tenure (a licence agreement based on a specified volume of wood to be harvested). The type of tenure a company is granted depends on the province (provincial government).

4. How are tenures for harvest volumes (instead of area) shown on the map?
   

   In most cases certification applies to an entire forest area held under an area-based tenure. However, there can also be several volume-based tenures held by multiple companies within a particular forest area. In that case the proportion to which the certification applies may be less than the entire forest area (see detailed tenure maps for proportions). The proportions allocated to companies within an area are shown in tables on the detailed tenure maps.

5. How do I source certified forest products?
   

   To source certified forest products of a particular forest products company, visit the statistics sections of the websites of the three internationally recognized certification standards:

   www.pefc.org (for CSA information)
   www.fsccanada.org or www.fsc.org
   www.sfiprogram.org

6. Other
   

   If you have questions that were not addressed in our FAQ area, please email: customercentre@fpac.ca