OTTAWA — A new government report on the state of Canadian forests shows that the area burned last year by fires jumped nearly three-fold compared to the year before. In 2017, almost 3.4 million hectares of forest burned, up from the 1.4 million in 2016, said the latest analysis from Natural Resources Canada. The two threats to Canada’s forest may only grow over the coming years as climate change creates conditions for more and stronger fires, as well as the spread of pests. The report says the vastness of Canadian forests has remained relatively stable for the past three decades. Canada’s 347 million hectares of forest make up about nine per cent of the planet’s forest.

Source: National Post September 26, 2018 21:22 UTC