"It is easier to put a person on the moon than it is to manage one acre of forest. Putting a person on the moon is a process in black and white; you either hit it or miss it. But managing a forest acre is all gray."

Ancient Forest is forest that has never been managed, or signifigantly changed by humans, and it is increasingly rare and precious. But quite apart from its beauty or spiritual value, untouched forest gives us insights into how natural forests work. When we manage forests we can never fully understand, or anticipate, the outcome unless we can compare it to natural forest. Natural forests also give us insight into how global changes in climate, air pollution, diseases, and other wide-ranging changes are affecting our forests. Ancient forests are a valuable asset that have often recieved surprisingly little study, and are fast being lost.

The most studied kind of ancient forest is called "old-growth forest". Old-growth forests differ from younger forests in three main ways. First, they have trees that are much older than the average age for the tree species. Second, they generally have greater numbers of snags, or dead standing trees, than younger forests. And third, they have a large number of logs on the forest floor compared to younger forests. In some old-growth forest ecosystems, there are numerous logs across streams which tend to form debris dams that are less common in younger forests.

Old-growth forests are valuable for many reasons. They keep soil from eroding away; help to keep water clean; hold on to nutrients which are very important for plant growth; provide large, natural areas which are required to maintain healthy animal populations; and by building up dead wood (snags and logs) instead of converting wood to carbon dioxide gas, they help to mitigate the problem of global warming (increased carbon dioxide leading to increased temperature at the earth's surface). The study of old-growth forests has also helped us to better understand the field of ecology.

The best known old-growth forests in central Ontario are the old-growth white and red pine forests. Sadly, however, less than one percent of the world's original old-growth white and red pine forests remain, which makes them "endangered ecosystems". If the few remaining old-growth forests are to be saved we must develop a better understanding of what they are and what makes them work.

You will find the answers to many questions you didn't even know you had in our publications. You may wish to take a virtual walk on the Blueberry Ecology Trails to get a feel for old growth forests and forest ecology, or read An Overview of Ancient Forest Ecology in the Lake Temagami Site Region, or a report on Sustainability and the Value of Ancient Forest Landscapes, which includes frightening facts about what we're doing to the biodiversity of the planet.