Forest Success Stories

Securing one of the world's largest forest protection commitments

In June 2009, the province of Ontario, home to a large portion of Canada’s Boreal Forest introduced world-leading legislation to protect 50% of Ontario’s Northern Boreal Forest, and implement community-led land use planning in the rest of the region. The Far North Planning and Protection Act, if passed, would help Ontario fight climate change, protect critical ecosystems and species at risk and ensure that First Nations have control over land use decisions on their homelands. Moreover, it would legally protect 55 million acres (22 million hectares) in the northern Ontario Boreal Forest—an area half the size of California.

However, there is still work to be done. We're working with the Ontario government and others to ensure that the government’s commitment results in true protection for the northern Boreal Forest and the species and communities that live there. We're also pushing for protection in the southern Boreal Forest, where caribou are severely threatened by logging.
Learn more about our work to save the Boreal Forest >>


Developing the model for a new environmentalism

For almost ten years, our critics told us there was no way we could bring corporations, indigenous groups, logging companies and other environmental groups together to get the British Columbia government to protect the Great Bear Rainforest. But on March 31, 2009, ForestEthics and its allies succeeded in securing agreements that commit the British Columbia government to

  • Protect 6.5 million acres (2.5 million hectares) of the Great Bear Rainforest from logging;
  • For the remaining acreage, implement a new, lighter touch system of forest management called ecosystem-based management (EBM);
  • Comprehensively involve First Nations in the Great Bear Rainforest management in their entire traditional territory.

We also led an innovative initiative that commits $120 million to coastal First Nation communities in order to help them develop a new, conservation-based economy.
Learn more about the victory in the Great Bear Rainforest >>

Saving the endangered mountain caribou from extinction

The Inland Temperate Rainforest is a globally-unique old-growth forest that provides the habitat for the endangered mountain caribou. As logging has destroyed its habitat, the mountain caribou has become one of the most threatened large mammals in North America. The good news is that we have made incredible progress toward saving this remarkable species. Along with our allies, we achieved a significant victory in February 2009 as the government of British Columbia legally protected more than 5.4 million acres (2.2 million hectares) of endangered mountain caribou habitat in the Inland Temperate Rainforest from logging and associated road building. The government also prohibited motorized recreation across 2.4 million acres (one million hectares) of caribou habitat.
Help us protect more Canada's Endangered Forests in the Boreal >>


Protecting the world's oldest trees

The first major success in our Chile campaign came in 2003, when we successfully protected one million acres of Chile's Native Forests—which include trees that are 3,000 years old—from logging. In the past few years, we've continued to make significant strides:

  • We led the creation of new private protected areas in Chile’s Nahuelbuta region, home to the world’s oldest surviving tree species (araucaria araucana) and Darwin's fox, Chile's most endangered fox species. The new protected areas quadrupled the existing protection in Nahuelbuta;
  • We brought significant pressure to bear on the government of Chile to implement stronger standards for native forest protection.
Help us protect more of the world's oldest trees in California's Sierra Nevada >>

We need your support to protect the future of our forests

In less than a decade, we have secured the protection of more than 65 million acres (25 million hectares) of Endangered Forest—an area the size of Colorado. And we're just getting started. With your help, we can continue to protect Endangered Forests so that they can continue providing habitat for threatened species; livelihoods for local communities; and protection from climate change, clean air, clean water and boundless inspiration for us all.