The forest industries have always been an important part of
the Canadian economy, and (along with mining) were the impetus for
the settlement of large parts of Canada. Today, the forest industries
remain the basis of the economy for much of Canada outside of the
larger cities. Sawmilling is perhaps the most significant forest
industry: not only is it a major employer, it is also significant
in employing people at a large number of locations. Sawmills large
and small are found across Canada.
Figure 1 shows that production is dominated by British Columbia
and Quebec - together, they produced 70% of Canada's lumber in 2002.
Ontario and Alberta each produced about 10% of the total, and the
combined production of the four Atlantic provinces was also about
10% of the total.
[D] Click for larger version, 10 KB Figure 1. Canadian Lumber Production by Region, 2002
Nearly all of Canada's lumber production in 2002 was softwood:
of the 73.0 million cubic metres of lumber produced, 98.6% was softwood,
and only 1.4% was hardwood (1.0 million cubic metres). The major
types of softwood trees used were spruce, pine, fir, hemlock, and
various types of cedar.
This map contains two types of data: area data to show the extent
of various forest types, and point data to show the locations of
individual sawmills. The relationship of the extent of forest to
sawmills is complex; simply stated, sawmills are usually found in
the southern part of the coniferous forest region.
There are two widely-separated concentrations of sawmills (and,
thus of lumber production). Slightly over half of total production
comes from the far West (British Columbia and Alberta), and most
of the rest is from a zone stretching from North-eastern Ontario
to Nova Scotia.
Technical Note
This note gives definitions of concepts and the procedures for
handling data. The topics are:
1. Defining, Selecting and Measuring
Sawmills
2. Sawmill Operator Names
3. Types of Lumber Produced
4. Positioning of Sawmills
on Maps
5. Data Quality
1. Defining, Selecting and Measuring Sawmills
This map defines a sawmill as a manufacturing facility that converts
logs into lumber. Therefore, mills that remanufacture lumber into
other products are not considered to be sawmills.
Canada has over a thousand sawmills. In order to provide a good
visual distribution without overwhelming the map user, it was determined
that a threshold of production capacity of 10 000 cubic metres of
lumber per year would work well. This threshold size ensures some
mills are shown for each of the provinces, yet also ensures the
total number of mills shown is not excessive.
The following table shows the number of mills in each size category
by province. There are 548 mills shown on the map. Each of British
Columbia and Quebec has about one-third of this total, and there
are between 30 and 60 mills in each of Ontario, Alberta, New Brunswick
and Nova Scotia. Most of the mills in the largest size class (300
000 cubic metres of lumber per year or more) are found in British
Columbia. There are at least two mills shown for each province,
but no mills are shown for the Territories. There are few mills
in both Yukon and Northwest Territories, but none of these meet
the size threshold.
Table 1. Distribution of Sawmills by Size, 2002
Size of Mill (cubic metres of lumber produced annually)
British
Columbia |
49 |
34 |
42 |
60 |
185 |
Alberta |
12 |
9 |
11 |
8 |
40 |
Saskatchewan |
|
3 |
2 |
1 |
6 |
Manitoba |
|
2 |
1 |
|
3 |
Ontario |
13 |
20 |
11 |
16 |
60 |
Quebec |
81 |
53 |
33 |
8 |
175 |
New Brunswick |
9 |
14 |
7 |
4 |
34 |
Nova Scotia |
21 |
3 |
7 |
1 |
32 |
Prince
Edward Island |
9 |
1 |
1 |
|
11 |
Newfoundland
& Labrador |
9 |
1 |
1 |
|
11 |
Canada
total |
195 |
139 |
116 |
98 |
548 |
|
Source: Natural Resources Canada, Earth Sciences
Sector, Atlas of Canada, 2003.
The size measure used is "annual production of lumber or annual
output capacity of lumber". This fairly complex definition of size
is necessary because data were either provided as annual production
or as a measure of production capacity. The "Data Quality" statement
below gives more details on size concepts for sawmills.
The map uses metric units as the basis for size measure. However,
non-metric units (board feet) are very widely used in the industry.
The size classes given in both units are as follows:
Table 2. Mill Size Categories Based on Output Capacity of Lumber
Per Year
Mill Size Categories
10 000
to 29 999 |
4.24
to 12.69 |
30 000
to 99 999 |
12.70
to 42.37 |
100 000
to 299 999 |
42.38
to 126.9 |
more than
300 000 |
more
than 127.0 |
|
The conversion formulas are:
1 cubic metre = 424 board feet
1000 board feet = 2.36 cubic metres
2. Sawmill Operator Names
The "Get Statistics" on the map cites the name of the
company as the main identifier for any particular mill. Often there
are two or more possible company names because there might be a
local operating company for a mill, and also a larger company which
owns the local firm. The data suppliers indicated which company
should be used (usually the larger company).
Many mills also have a name. However, these are only listed when
a company has more than one mill in a single locality. This frequently
happens in British Columbia, notably at Prince George.
3. Type of Lumber Produced
Mills were classified as specializing in any of three types of
lumber: softwood, hardwood, or as producing a mix of softwood and
hardwood. These terms are defined as follows:
- Softwood lumber: comes from trees that have
needle leaves, and are commonly referred to as coniferous.
- Hardwood lumber: comes from trees that have
broad leaves, and are commonly referred to as deciduous (or broadleaf).
- A mixed: mill produces relatively large amounts
of both hardwood and softwood lumber. Mills were termed as mixed
when they met one of the two following criteria:
- Data suppliers specified that a mill produced both types of
lumber.
- In other cases, if data were available showing the proportion
of each tree species used, and if each of hardwood and softwood
made up 10% or more of the total volume of input, the mill was
classed as mixed.
4. Positioning of Sawmills on the Maps
Mills are normally assigned to a town (or equivalent), and are
placed at the geometric centroid for the town. When there are several
mills in one town, the mapping software has stacked all of the symbols
either at or near the town centroid, with some care being used to
prevent symbols from concealing one another. The rules followed
were as follows:
- The smallest symbols were stacked on top.
- When there are two or more symbols in one size group, these
symbols are offset slightly so that they do not to completely
overlap one another.
This procedure results in a more realistic portrayal for places
with many mills, and also assists the user in identifying any one
of the symbols used at a particular town.
5. Data Quality
- Selection of mills: The original data sets
were provided by provincial forest agencies, and were then reviewed
by provincial or regional associations and grading bodies. The
data were also compared to data in Madison's Canadian Lumber Directory.
- Size of mills: A considerable amount of effort
was needed to ensure all size data fitted a common set of classes.
Size data was provided in many formats: there are different concepts
of output (production or capacity), various ways of specifying
output (production on an annual basis or production per shift),
and various ways of specifying total production (either as a single
figure or as a data range). As well, many mills specified data
in board feet, while others used cubic metres. The map authors
checked as many sources as necessary and feel they have assigned
every mill to the correct size class used on the map.
- Year of data: Data are based on the period
1999 to 2002.
- Mill status: Mills recorded on this map were
those in operation in 2002.
- Municipal status: The location names are municipalities,
which are almost always towns (or their equivalent). If a well-known
location is found within a town having a different name, both
names are included. Thus, a mill in Upper Musquodoboit, Nova Scotia,
is listed as being at Halifax (Upper Musquodoboit). Municipal
status is as of December 2002.
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