Established in 1918 after military authorities urged the Forestry Branch of the federal Department of the Interior to protect and oversee the forest of the Petawawa Military Reserve.
The Petawawa Research Forest is a 10,000-hectare forest important to Canadian forest ecology research. The forest has more than 75 years of published research from the Petawawa National Forestry Institute of the woods, where the institute has conducted 2000 experiments. Experiments such as tree breeding, genetics, fire research and much more. The experiments from the Petawawa National Institute stopped in 1966, but recently, some small experiments have been happening within the forest, especially regarding climate change. However, the forest’s main focus today is on maintaining, protecting and preserving the legacy and outstanding scientific research this forest has provided, which has been highly recognized all over Canada and abroad.
Today the magnificent research forest is open to anyone in public to walk in during opening times. The Friends of the Petawawa Research Forest, an organization created and dedicated to preserving the forest, offers tours, events and workshops to help you understand the forest’s important research, past and present.