Canada

British Columbia is characterized by abundant forests, rugged Pacific coastline, mountains, plateaus, and pristine lakes and rivers. Forests cover two-thirds of the province – an area of almost 60 million hectares. However, visitors will have noticed a marked difference in B.C.’s trees in recent years. Insect pests and diseases have decimated enormous areas of forest. These dead trees become fuel for wildfires, and in summer 2017 B.C. experienced its worst wildfire in history, with over 1.2 million hectares burned.