Jack Pine–pinus banksiana

image of a Jack Pine forest.

Jack Pine is a common tree found throughout Ontario, but is more common on sandy or rocky sites in the north. It has short needles (2 to 4 cm) that are sharp, slightly curved and grow in pairs. The cones are curved and will open after a forest fire.

Jack Pine is most commonly used for dimensional lumber, but can be used to make pulp and paper. Jack Pine represents 25% of Ontario’s annual harvest, and 11% of the province’s total growing stock volume.

Map of Jack Pine relative occurrence

map of Jack Pine distribution in Ontario indicating low (light brown), moderate and high (dark green-brown) levels of relative occurrence.

Enlarge map of Jack Pine relative occurrence

Area and proportion of Jack Pine in the AOU (area in hectares)

Statistic Crown Parks and protected areas Other Total
Total area containing Jack Pine 9,615,392 836,745 396,527 10,848,664
1-25% of stand 3,832,799 312,970 250,032 4,395,800
26-50% of stand 2,314,267 171,321 73,926 2,559,513
51-75% of stand 1,753,915 161,426 34,520 1,949,862
76-100% of stand 1,714,412 191,028 38,049 1,943,489
Average proportion in all forest (%) 15.0 2.9 14.7 13.5
Area of Jack Pine working group 4,677,377 440,575 118,563 5,236,515

Growing stock volume of Jack Pine in the AOU (volume in thousands of cubic metres)

Statistic Crown Parks and protected areas Other Total
Gross total volume 501,942 52,639 16,069 570,649
Net merchantable volume 336,065 36,732 11,923 384,720
Current annual increment 5,231 414 104 5,750

Jack Pine working group area by age class

vertical bar chart of Jack Pine forest area by age class including brown for Crown, green for park and grey for other.