Thousands of  Hectares burned

Manitoba

1963

28.521

Fire expertise in Manitoba DNR supported the contention that the 'productive' forest hectares burned would better model the boreal - predominately forest area. Total hectares were used to maintain consistency across provinces.

1964

338.430

1965

6.779

1966

2.49

1967

130.348

1968

19.418

1969

24.782

1970

37.106

Source: National Forestry Database; for data before 1970, the source is The Forests of Manitoba.

1971

8.511

1972

18.661

1973

23.385

1974

161.161

1975

23.344

1976

128.100

1977

231.550

1978

24.610

1979

82.424

1980

514.292

1981

376.221

1982

15.444

1983

99.153

1984

130.189

1985

11.823

1986

10.342

1987

169.520

1988

485.654

1989

3567.948

1990

16.365

1991

127.287

1992

457.455

1993

67.275

1994

1428.754

1995

889.248

Thousands of  Hectares burned

Saskatchewan

1970

531.825

This is 'total forest land' burned; much of this area can sometimes be outside the 'boreal - predominately forest' area; in particular, fire management often will allow areas of little commercial value, where other important values are not at risk, to burn, particularly in the 'boreal - forest and barren' areas and the northern parts of the 'boreal - predominately forest'. I was going to use the number of productive ha burned as the best index to fires in the boreal forest, but chose not to do so because of missing internal data in the Saskatchewan database (when large areas burned in those years). Should still be good as an index to change.

1971

86.21

1972

206.825

1973

238.616

1974

26.042

1975

95.048

1976

90.988

1977

130.128

1978

92.665

1979

229.669

1980

1348.792

1981

1647.971

1982

64.586

1983

52.172

1984

321.235

Prior to 1977, the area of fires were not measured but approximated (J. Benson, pers. commun.); figures will be somewhat inaccurate, perhaps significantly.

1985

110.128

1986

13.159

1987

226.494

1988

81.109

Source: National Forestry Database

1989

470.51

1990

187.349

1991

239.374

1992

96.998

1993

660.565

1994

994.892

1995

1386.929

Thousands of  Hectares burned

Alberta

1970

52.432

Used total hectares to maintain consistency across provinces.

1971

63.06

1972

49.292

1973

10.691

Source: National Forestry Database

1974

18.394

1975

5.79

1976

22.474

1977

15.738

1978

7.791

1979

194.604

1980

627.174

1981

1365.581

1982

688.374

1983

2.849

1984

78.963

1985

12.854

1986

2.677

1987

36.112

1988

14.538

1989

6.413

1990

30.534

1991

6.172

1992

3.329

1993

25.633

1994

2.7

1995

342.61

Thousands of  Hectares burned

Ontario

1970

22.728

This is 'total forest land' burned. Not broken down by forest region. Therefore, cannot break down between boreal and Great lakes - St. Lawrence forest regions.

1971

41.975

1972

32.03

1973

3.607

1974

523.936

1975

16.857

1976

544.126

Source: 1996 Compendium of Canadian Forestry Statistics (National Forestry Database).

1977

416.317

1978

7.524

1979

63.718

1980

560.325

1981

179.473

1982

3.892

1983

443.655

1984

120.424

1985

1.007

1986

145.551

1987

75.582

1988

390.706

1989

403.886

1990

183.693

1991

318.883

1992

175.994

1993

104.705

1994

83.477

1995

612.437

Thousands of  Hectares burned

Quebec

1970

31.151

Source: 1996 Compendium of Canadian Forestry Statistics (National Forestry Database)

1971

262.103

1972

105.336

1973

3.032

1974

3.035

1975

17.111

1976

56.947

1977

31.934

1978

6.503

1979

3.199

1980

31.573

1981

2.48

1982

7.97

1983

238.903

1984

3.082

1985

2.697

1986

197.226

1987

36.835

1988

275.722

1989

2109.51

1990

16.065

1991

379.893

1992

9.439

1993

984

1994

2.179

1995

195.576