This thesis examines the extent to which sugar bush management in Eastern Ontario might contribute to biodiversity maintenance and conservation and therefore be promoted as a form of rural sustainable development. Ontario government policy seeks to actively promote actions that strengthen the province’s rural communities and protect biodiversity. Therefore sustainable development is an important concept to encourage in rural areas. The production of maple syrup on sugar bushes has already been demonstrated to be economically, socially, and in some aspects ecologically sustainable. This study seeks to determine how the operation of sugar bushes might also contribute to ecological sustainability through the maintenance and conservation of forest biodiversity.

Model forest, Maple sugar bush