Canada vs. US Forests

During 2016, there were 65,575 wildfires in the US, according to the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC).  That year 5.4 million acres were burned.

During 2017, there were 71,499 US wildfires and about 10 million acres were burned. The number of acres burned in 2017 was higher than the 10-year average.

During 2018 there were 58,083 US wildfires according to the NIFC. About 8.8 million acres were burned in 2018.

During 2019, from January 1 to November 22, 2019 there were 46,706 US wildfires compared with 52,080 wildfires in the same period in 2018, according to the  (NIFC). About 4.6 million acres were burned in the 2019 period, compared with 8.5 million acres in 2018.

Currently, forests cover about 749 million acres in the US. Wildfires in the United States burn an average of 7 million acres of land each year.

Our Canadian neighbors to the north boast 981 acres (396.9-million hectares) of forests, or nine percent of all of the forest area in the entire world, according to Natural Resources Canada. Less than 1 percent is logged annually. Currently, US forests cover about 749 million acres of the U.S.

During a typical year there are over 9,000 forest fires in Canada, burning an average of 6 million acres or 25,000 square kilometers.