The Department of Natural Resources and Energy Development completes a highly detailed inventory of the forest to determine what the forest looks like across the province’s landscape. Tree species, size, quality, and quantity (volume); and broad forest types are included in the inventory. The provincial forest inventory is done on a 10-year cycle. Harvest, silvicultural and natural disturbance updates are added to the inventory annually to ensure the most current information is available. The forest inventory is the foundation of all sustainable forest management, land use planning and policy decision making.