Value-added wood products in Ontario
Since the Ontario forests are so plentiful the wood resource would be sustainable for some time. Most companies are doing their own part to help ensure that there is enough lumber within Ontario to support numerous generations to come. Tembec Industries has invested a large amount of time and money into planting trees. Tembec recently celebrated their 250 millionth tree planted in Ontario. The Ontario Government’s land use strategy helps protect and sustain all of Ontario’s natural resources, including wood products. The Ontario Forest Accord provides security by forcing the forest industry and the environmental community to establish protected areas, while at the same time meeting the needs of the forestry industry.
Geography of Ontario
Ontario, owing to its size, has diverse geology that varies in structure, age, and lithology. About 61% of the province is covered by the Canadian Shield, mostly with Precambrian rock. These rocks contain large mineral deposits that are vital to the economy of northern Ontario. The shield can further be divided into three sections. The northwestern parts of the Shield, located roughly north and west of Sudbury, are known as the Superior Province; this is the largest of the three sections, covering about 70% of the Shield portion in Ontario. This region is more than 2.5 billion years old and is composed of felsic intrusive rocks. In the northernmost parts of the Superior Province, the geology of the region is dominated by granite and gneiss rocks. The central region of the Shield, known as the Grenville Province and located south of Sudbury, is 1.0 to 1.6 billion years old and is dominated by sedimentary rocks showing evidence of being subjected to metamorphism. It makes up about 20% of the Canadian Shield in Ontario. These rocks were metamorphosed between 990 million years ago and 1.08 billion years ago. The third region, known as the Southern province which is a narrow region from Sault Ste. Marie to Kirkland Lake, is made of rocks dating 1.8 to 2.4 billion years ago. The Hudson Bay lowlands, located north of the Canadian Shield, are mainly made of sedimentary rocks from the Silurian Period, although some parts date from the Ordovician and Devonian periods. This area covers 25% of the province. Most of the bedrock in the Hudson Bay lowlands is composed of limestone and carbonate-dominated sedimentary rock.