Abstract
This paper explains that Canada has abundant forests that are poorly managed and exploited since they are regarded as a renewable resource. The paper relates that the most intensive exploitation of forests has emerged out of the demand for high exports. The paper shows that the proposal to export in quantity, therefore, would be an extremely destructive strategy, if not fatal approach. The paper asserts that an ecological approach has to be maintained because it is not only forests but forest ecosystems that are at stake.

From the Paper
"Almost one-half of Canada's surface area is comprised of forests, which provide one-fifth of the global demand for timber (Mitchell 267). While forest resources are abundant, they also are regarded as a renewable resource and have been exploited. Renewable was interpreted as inexhaustible so that forests were exploited intensively without concern for renewal potential. Abundance is a relative term, and forest resources cannot be available indefinitely unless the methods used to harvest them are radically altered. Currently, the attitude to forestry is to consider human needs in the short-term with no concern for the natural balance. Today, all aspects of the environment need to be considered in terms of ecology, and only an ecosystems approach is adequate for arriving at solutions to the issue of forest resource depletion. While it is true that Canada has abundant forests that are poorly managed, exporting in quantity is a contradiction."

Tags:exploitation, ecosystems, clearcutting, harversting, wood, timber, species