South of a small mill town called Kapuskasing, a stretch of northern Ontario wilderness bigger than Toronto itself is now permanently off-limits to logging and development.

  • 81,400+ hectares of taiga forest and peatland newly protected
  • 230,000+ hectares the Nature Conservancy of Canada now safeguards across northern Ontario in total
  • 1.3x the land area of the City of Toronto
  • $2 million Ontario government investment backing the deal

The Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) announced the Taiga Forests and Peatlands project on October 13, 2026, with federal, provincial and private partners all contributing to what officials are calling one of the largest private-land conservation deals in Ontario's history.

Why this particular patch of forest

The newly protected land sits within boreal forest — a biome Canada holds more than a quarter of globally, and one scientists increasingly point to as a frontline climate asset. Its deep soils, dense tree cover and waterlogged peatlands store carbon that would otherwise end up in the atmosphere, while also filtering fresh water for communities downstream.

Peatlands in particular punch above their weight: despite covering a small fraction of the Earth's surface, they hold an outsized share of the planet's soil carbon, built up over thousands of years of slow decay in oxygen-poor, waterlogged ground. Protecting them from drainage or clearing keeps that carbon locked in place.

The project area lies within Treaty No. 9 territory, also known as the James Bay Treaty, and on the traditional lands of Ojibwe (Anishinaabe), Cree (Omushkegowuk) and Algonquin peoples. The NCC says it is working directly with neighboring First Nations, including Brunswick House First Nation, on collaborative stewardship of the land going forward.

Who paid for it, and why

Funding came from a mix of federal climate programs, the Ontario government, and private philanthropy, including the Weston Family Foundation, the Horizon Foundation, and Yardi Canada. The carbon stored on the property also lets the NCC register it as a formal carbon project, opening the door to carbon-market financing that can help fund conservation elsewhere in Canada.

"Protecting these forests and peatlands strengthens Canada's resilience to climate change, preserves habitat for species at risk, and helps communities better withstand droughts, wildfires and floods," said the Honourable Julie Dabrusin, federal Minister of Environment, Climate Change and Nature.

Ontario's environment minister, Todd McCarthy, called the province's $2 million contribution support for "one of the most significant private-land conservation initiatives in Ontario's history."

What it means long-term

With this addition, the NCC now conserves more than 230,000 hectares of boreal forest in northern Ontario alone — over three times the footprint of Toronto. The organization says the goal is to keep scaling that number as Canada and Ontario weigh new northern economic development against the value of leaving large, intact ecosystems standing.

Full details of the announcement are available from the Nature Conservancy of Canada and in the Government of Canada's official release.

For the species that depend on intact boreal habitat — and the downstream communities that depend on the water and climate stability it provides — 81,400 hectares staying wild is the kind of math that compounds for generations.