Studies in the Central Research Forest
and other tree studies

Products from our forests have been major contributors to the prosperity of Canadians ever since Samuel de Champlain shipped out a load of squared timber from the Ottawa Valley in 1611. By the 1960s, most of Canada's exports were forest-related. So, as part of Canada's centennial programming of 1967, the government of Canada established a Central Research Forest (CRF) to aid us in maintaining our forest-based prosperity. 385 ha. of land east of the Mer Bleue bog was purchased by the Canadian Forestry Service from the National Capital Commission (NCC) in 1967. The plantations shown below were formally established; other planting was done throughout the area and I've numbered some of them, as well as new plantations, in sequence. However, the program was terminated in the spring of 1979; it had been decided that the future of Canadian forestry lay north. The area was returned to the NCC and the arboretum and plantation complexes abandoned. In 1991, Moe Anderson, a forester of the CRF who had transferred to the Petawawa National Forestry Institute, led a tour of the plantations to encourage people to continue his work. For the next decade I did that. Follow the links below to find out how. The nut tree trail The CRF brochure The Lavant shagbarks The Deschênes shagbarks A Hardy Heartnut Project New Lavant shagbarks sites The north lowland CRF The west Dolman Ridge CRF The east Dolman Ridge CRF The south lowland CRF The Borthwick Ridge CRF John Sankey

Dedication of the Mogens Leif Anderson Oak Plantations by the National Capital Commission 20 May 2000

Red marks the plantations I've studied in detail, green the others.