Forests are habitat. Habitat means home; home to millions of species, from the charismatic Grizzly and Siberian Tiger to nitrogen fixing lichen and canopy dwelling insects. Forests are dynamic systems hosting plants that regenerate delicate soils and  birds that sing their spaces to life. They function as climate regulators, water purifiers, awe inspirers and repositories of genetic diversity. They live in a timeframe almost unimaginable for us. A forest spans millennia, with individual trees literally living for hundreds and thousands of years. 

There are few places in the world where the majesty of forests still holds. By good fortune Canada, Russia and Brazil hold 70% of the world’s remaining intact forests. While most of the earth’s forests exist in altered fragments, the northern boreal, coastal rainforests and the tropical forests in these three countries dominate landscapes, stretching seamlessly across continents. One quarter of the  intact forests are found in Canada.  With 80% of world’s original forests already logged, the measures we take now to protect these places will shape the world.

Every year enough forest is logged in Canada to fill logging trucks parked bumper to bumper around the equator 2.5 times. At risk is millions of years of evolutionary perfection. And for what?

The imperative to protect ancient forests has never been greater.