(2) Canada: Canada has about 4,020,000 km of forest land, of which the Boreal forestcharacterized by its predominance of coniferous treesmakes up nearly three-quarters. More than ninety percent of forest land is publicly owned, and the provincial and territorial governments are responsible for fire-suppression activities. The Federal Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre (CIFFC) provides operational fire-control services and links to all provincial and territorial fire agencies. During a typical year there are over 9,000 forest fires in Canada, burning an average of 2. 5 million hectares (ha) or 25,000 square kilometres. The number of fires and area burned can vary dramatically from year to year. Average suppression costs are $300 million to $500 million annually. In Canada, two-thirds of all forest fires are caused by people, while lightning causes the remaining third. Despite this, lightning fires account for over 85% of the area burned in Canada, largely because many of the lightning-caused fires occur in remote, inaccessible areas. Currently about ninety percent of forest fires are fought. Generally fires near communities, industrial infrastructure, and forests with high commercial and recreation value are given high priority for suppression efforts. In remote areas and wilderness parks, fires may be left to burn as part of the natural ecological cycle