A selective analysis of clearings in the Canadian forest reflects economic and cultural forces of production that include oil exploration, agriculture, conservation, forestry, leisure, transportation, and more. The 2012 project for the CCA Master’s Students Program analyzes human interventions in Canada’s forests and the landscape adaptations and patterns that have systematically or unconsciously shaped it.

Presented in the form of an annotated map, the project reiterates the government surveys that began organizing the landscape to suit an increasingly industrialized society. Instead of mapping a found natural environment with an eye toward identifying industrial or agricultural potential, this mapping describes the physical and cultural mutations where cumulative processes of natural change, calculated interventions, and strategic transformations have produced the forest.

Benoît-Simon Lagacé
Carleton University, Canada

Julia Smachylo
University of Toronto, Canada

Mark Woytiuk
University of British Columbia, Canada