Efforts aimed at mitigating global climate change recognize land use and forestry activities as relatively low cost options that enhance terrestrial carbon storage and help reduce greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Forests store large amounts of carbon in living and dead biomass and in soils through the processes of photosynthesis, respiration, and decomposition. Besides afforestation, other forest mitigation opportunities exist that can both avoid forest degradation and loss and improve the condition of existing forests through sustainable management. These opportunities can be realized through a range of actions, including forest conservation, enhancement of forest diversity, and improvement of forest structure and composition (IPCC 2007, Ryan et al. 2010).

As Ontario develops a cap-and-trade system and a complementary offsets program involving forestry projects, forest conservation and enhanced forest management activities may become more attractive to private landowners and conservation groups as a potential new land-management revenue stream. The nearly 1.2 million hectares of forests in southern Ontario is divided into forest fragments and woodlots with different sizes and landowners. Considering the ecological, geographic, and ownership