This data publication contains a collection of raster maps of mature forests (m3/ha) in Canada and post-harvest forest residues for the bioenergy/bioproducts sector (ODT/yr) over the next 20 years. The maps were produced from remote sensing products at a spatial resolution of 250 m on the MODIS pixel grid and 30 m on the Landsat pixel grid. More specifically, we used forest attribute data at the 250 m pixel for the years 2001 and 2011 (Beaudoin et al 2014 and 2018) combined with forest cover changes for the years 1985 to 2015 at 30 m (Guindon et al. 2018). Results of available biomass (in the form of forest residues) were reported at the 10 km x 10 km scale, while the map of mature forests in Canada was prepared at the management unit level.

Briefly, our methodology consisted of three steps: 1- create a map of mature forests for the year 2011, based on 2001 cut volumes; 2- develop an annual cut rate from the cuts made from 1985 to 2015 and; 3- define the amount of biomass in the form of forest residues available for the bioenergy sector. The biomass of branches and leaves of forest attribute data at 250 m pixel was used as a proxy to define the biomass of forest residues available.

Nationally, the average biomass of forest residues available after harvest is 26 ± 16 ODT/ha, while the total annual availability for all managed forests in Canada was 21 million ODT/yr.

A scientific article is under revision, the reference will be provided later.

Reference for this dataset: Barrette J, Paré D, Manka F, Guindon L, Bernier P, Titus B. 2018. Forecasting the spatial distribution of logging residues in Canada’s managed forests. Natural Resources Canada, Canadian Forest Service, Laurentian Forestry Centre, Quebec, Canada.