Region Archives: Canada East

Port Colborne council has approved an agreement with the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority (NPCA) to support tree planting on private land through the Trees For All Initiative. The city will provide $55,000 from its 2025 tree planting operating budget for the program, with additional annual funding of up to $35,000 available until 2031, contingent on landowner participation.  The initiative was launched in 2023 in line with the federal government’s 2 Billion Trees Program, which aims to restore and expand Canada’s forests to improve air and water quality. The expansion plan is part of the NPCA’s key priorities in protecting and improving biodiversity in its watershed.

Five efforts in Northern Ontario are receiving a total of $2.7 million in federal funding to work on climate change adaptation projects. Four of these projects are based in Sudbury and one is in Mattawa, and they include such things as creating educational programming and climate change adaptation plans. Wednesday’s funding comes from a greater pool of $39.5 million the federal government announced last year to “help improve long-term resilience and reduce costs associated with the increasing frequency of extreme weather events in Canada… The Canadian Institute of Forestry is getting $190,687 to develop a climate change adaptation multi-module course for the development of a national climate adaptation and resilience professional development program for forest professionals.

Barrie, Ontario – Diverse, resilient, thriving forests are critical today and for future generations. As Canadians face the growing threat of extreme weather events, high-intensity forest fires, and biodiversity loss, it’s more important than ever that experts from different fields get together to talk about how we can conserve, restore, and grow forests – and that is exactly what will happen at The Forest Conference on February 20 in Mississauga, Ontario. “This is our first conference since Forests Ontario became Forests Canada,” Jess Kaknevicius, CEO, Forests Canada, says. “I’m particularly excited about the tree planting panel that kicks off our conference. We will hear from professionals who know the highs, lows, and transformative power of reforestation work.” …“The event will also feature an Indigenous-led strategies session for economic and environmental resilience featuring Percy Guichon, Executive Director of Central Chilcotin Rehabilitation and Carole Smith, Administrative Team Lead with Kayanase Greenhouse,” Kaknevicius says.

MONTREAL – With wildfires increasing in frequency and severity across Canada — impacting our health, economies, communities and wildlife — the Governments of Canada and Quebec are supporting Canadians and residents of Quebec whose lives and livelihoods are at stake.  Natural Resources Canada announced a joint investment of $64 million over three years through the Government of Canada’s Fighting and Managing Wildfires in a Changing Climate Program – Equipment Fund. This joint investment is supporting Quebec’s efforts to purchase wildfire firefighting equipment, such as vehicles, drones and telecommunications equipment. By buying and upgrading equipment and hiring and training more personnel, Quebec will be better prepared to respond to wildfires and provide support when other regions in Canada experience high fire activity.

The City of Thunder Bay is currently working at hiring a new urban forester, according to the city’s manager of parks and open spaces. “We’re still working through the recruitment on that, so it’s vacant at this time,” said parks manager Cory Halvorsen. Aside from drafting up a new management plan, Halvorsen said that other top priorities for urban forestry include continuing to manage the emerald ash borer (both by removing infected ash trees and replacing them with other species, as well as treating a set number of existing ones with an insecticide), and following through on proactive maintenance and increasing the number of planted trees. “Every year we do have — whether it’s through impacts from EAB or just the natural cycle of the trees — we have a certain amount of loss each year that we offset through the annual tree plant,” Halvorsen said.

A lumber producer in Thessalon, Ont. that has been active for more than seven decades quietly shuttered its operations late last month — resulting in the layoff of roughly 40 employees in the weeks leading up to its impending closure. Midway Lumber Mills Ltd. first notified employees of plans to shut down the mill and lay off its workforce in October of last year, the soon-to-be former chair of USW Local 8748 told SooToday on Monday. “We got nine weeks advance notice that it was going to happen,” said Derrick Bookman, who has worked in a number of roles at the mill over the years. “They went above and beyond.”

Recently, images of air tankers releasing bright red and pink powder over Los Angeles suburbs have taken the internet by storm. The dramatic, almost surreal sight has a practical purpose as the Forest Service uses fire retardants to help fight the raging wildfires. These substances coat vegetation and surfaces to starve the fire of oxygen, slow the burn and give ground crews a fighting chance. …While these chemical suppressants might help fight fires, they’re not without their downsides. Recent research suggests they can be harmful to both human health and the environment. The chemicals in fire retardants pose risks to fish, wildlife and sensitive ecosystems. …If we take a moment to listen to the lessons these disasters are teaching us, we can shift toward a more balanced, sustainable approach to forest management here in Ontario.

TORONTO — We are proud to announce the launch of a major reforestation project to plant 3 million trees in the Ogoki Forest, a region 400 km northeast of Thunder Bay, Ontario devastated by catastrophic wildfires of 2023. This initiative marks a pivotal step in restoring a landscape critical to both ecological health and the cultural heritage of local First Nations communities. In 2023, two massive wildfires ravaged 40,188 hectares of the Ogoki Forest, leaving behind widespread ecological damage. The Ogoki Wildfire Reforestation Project aims to heal these scars by focusing reforestation efforts on the most severely affected areas. …A cornerstone of this initiative is the restoration of critical caribou habitat. The Ogoki Forest is home to two vital caribou ranges, the Nipigon and the Ozhiski, that were heavily impacted by the wildfires. …This project is driven by the support of Forests Canada, Tree Canada, and the Arbor Day Foundation, Chilly Moose Ltd., and Orca Intelligence Inc. 

OTTAWA, ON – Today, the Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, Canada’s Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, announced an investment of more than $900,000 to Integrity Reforestation for a major reforestation project that will help to restore wildfire-impacted land and caribou habitat in Ontario’s Ogoki Forest. With this funding, Integrity Reforestation will: plant 800,000 trees, covering 450 hectares of the Ogoki Forest; rehabilitate ecosystems destroyed by wildfires using native species to restore the habitats of woodland caribou, moose and black bears; and create over 40 tree-planting jobs in the region. With this agreement, Canada and Integrity Reforestation are leveraging their shared commitment to habitat restoration and climate action. Canada will continue to work with provinces, territories, local communities, organizations and Indigenous Peoples to create a greener, healthier and more resilient Canada while reinforcing our country’s ability to respond to wildfires, especially in the face of changing climate.

New Brunswick — Dr. John Kershaw didn’t plan a career in forestry when, as a young man, he left the family farm in southern Indiana to study at Purdue University. He wanted to be a veterinarian. However, a summer experience in Colorado during his first year at Purdue sparked his forestry interest, leading him to switch majors and embark on a journey that would take him around the world. …After over three decades of research, teaching and pursuing international partnerships, Kershaw has been recognized with a prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award from his alma mater, which will be presented in April. Kershaw, a professor at the University of New Brunswick (UNB) since 1991, was caught off guard when he received the news of the award. …Kershaw is deeply engaged as the assistant vice president for partnerships at UNB … he has worked to diversify the university’s international pathways and build strong partnerships with other universities worldwide.

A new $30 million province-wide fire grant is going to help Timmins firefighters stay protected from hazardous carcinogens when fighting wildland fires, their deputy chief says. Timmins will be receiving $49,382 from the province through the office of Solicitor General Michael Kerzner, who oversees the office of the fire marshal. Local Deputy Fire Chief Scott Atkinson told the Daily Press those funds will be used to purchase 156 wildland fire jumpsuits. “The cancer-preventative measure we’ve put forward for that would be coveralls for almost every firefighter in the city,” Atkinson said. The grant applies to municipal firefighters, but the Timmins Fire Department is often called upon to fight grass fires and other wildland fires within the Municipal Protection Area of the city. “We’re in partnership with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry. They’re the experts on forest fires, but we often work together,” said Atkinson.

Kevin Holland, MPP for Thunder Bay-Atikokan, and associate minister of forestry in Doug Ford’s Conservative government, says healthy communities make a stronger economy and one can’t exist without the other. …“Forestry has been the cornerstone of our economy for generations,” he said. “While we see mining ramping up — and we’re going to see investments coming into Thunder Bay, particularly around processing — we have to continue to make sure that we’re not losing track of forestry.” In the role of associate forestry minister, Holland says it’s a “real priority for him. “We’re developing new strategies to help the forestry industry when the pulp market starts dropping off so it’s not volatile for the forestry sector,” he said. “We can do that by bringing on new value-added businesses associated with forestry to use up our biomass and our forest and mill residuals so that we don’t experience these dips in the system.”

Prince Edward Island is becoming greener once more. Recently, the provincial government launched the P.E.I. 2 Billion Trees program to help restore nature, create healthy forest ecosystems and increase carbon capture across the Island. Across the country, the federal government has set the goal of planting two billion trees in the next 10 years. Heather Laiskonis, executive director of the P.E.I. Watershed Alliance, which administers small landowner applicants of the provincial tree planting initiative, explained how it works in an interview with The Guardian. She said the watershed alliance group administers 2.5 acres or smaller sites. “The province recognizes the benefit of having the watershed groups and having those relationships with landowners,” Laiskonis said. For the next seven years, P.E.I. Watershed Alliance will plant approximately more than 100,000 trees each year. …red maple, white pine, yellow birch, white spruce, white birch, and eastern hemlock the tree-planting program, Laiskonis said.

Quebec’s boreal forest — twice the size of France — is a vast expanse of wilderness rich in biodiversity that can lock up huge amounts of climate-warming carbon dioxide. It is also an economic driver for dozens of small communities. …But Indigenous leaders and environmental groups worry Quebec’s planned reforms would give logging companies too much power over what areas are allowed to be cut. …”Quebec has to be transparent about what their real intentions are,” Ghislain Picard, the chief of the Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador, told Quebec AM. …Last week, the environmental group SNAP Quebec called for an independent investigation into the ties between the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forests and the industry….Earlier this year, a study examining nearly a half-century of logging in Quebec and Ontario warned that logging practices have left forests in the two provinces severely depleted, putting caribou at risk.

Up until a month ago, Cat Lake First Nation’s brush with the forestry industry in northwestern Ontario had been nothing more than some seasonal tree planting jobs, said Chief Russell Wesley. When Domtar ran the Dryden pulp mill, Wesley said locals did find employment through independent planting contractors, but nothing that created long-lasting sustainable jobs for its members. Cat Lake’s location, 180 kilometres northwest of Sioux Lookout, has had something to do with it. With only a seasonal access road, the fly-in community is too far north to be involved in the extraction of fibre. The community leadership now pins its hopes that a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed last month with PRT Growing Services is their entry point into the region’s forestry industry. …Down the road, Cat Lake would like to duplicate the nursery operation that the B.C. company runs in Dryden by having one established in their own community at some point. 

Lanying Wang

…To determine a forest’s capacity for carbon sequestration, it is important to inventory and monitor forested areas regularly. Tree species classification is a vital component of forest management and can assist with calculating carbon sequestration potential.  In-person monitoring of forests can be difficult, especially in remote locations or large areas. Remote sensing techniques have been proven effective at assisting with forest management, notably LiDAR. …When LiDAR data is collected over a large area with an aircraft operating at a high elevation, the density of the point cloud can be sparse. These datasets can be difficult to conduct accurate individual tree-level species classification. Lanying Wang, a PhD candidate in the Department of Geography and Environmental Management, is combining remotely sensed data and deep learning (DL) models to improve data accuracy and applicability.   

Two years after post-tropical storm Fiona demolished thousands of trees on Prince Edward Island, residents on the North Shore worry that the tattered debris still sitting in the forests could be a massive fire hazard. On Thursday afternoon, about 35 people gathered to discuss wildfire prevention, preparedness and mitigation. Mike Montigny, the manager of field services for the provincial Department of Environment, Energy and Climate Action and officials with other groups including Parks Canada, the Emergency Measures Organization and local fire departments were at the meeting to give residents a chance to voice their concerns and ask about the Island’s wildfire plan. People wanted to know how long it would take a crew to respond to a fire. They wondered if fire departments on the Island have the proper training to fight a wildfire. What will crews use as a water source? Will more forest debris be cleaned up?

WENDAKE, Quebec  – The Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador (AFNQL) must once again denounce the irreverent attitude of the ministère des Ressources naturelles et des Forêts (MRNF) towards First Nations in its approach to “modernizing” Quebec’s forestry regime. The meeting between the MRNF and First Nations on November 29 was completely disconcerting and it is an affront to First Nations and their rights. The haste with which the MRNF presented its priorities and orientations—despite their importance and direct impact on First Nations rights and ways of life—is unacceptable.  …The MRNF’s general approach to this reform seems based on satisfying the needs of the forest industry. …Faced with this situation, if the Minister does not make a major shift in the changes to be made to the forestry regime, First Nations will mobilize and put in place the necessary means to defend them and impose the respect they deserve.

Westwind Forest Stewardship Inc. won a prestigious North America-wide Leadership Award from the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) for its commitment to responsible forest management, advocacy and conservation leadership in the French-Severn Forest, near Parry Sound, Ontario, Canada. “In 2002, we were the first forest company in Ontario with publicly managed Crown lands to earn FSC certification. Since then, our dedication to environmental stewardship, responsible management, and building strong relationships with our entire community including Indigenous groups is unwavering,” shared Westwind Board Chair Rob Keen (RFP). At almost 1.3 million acres, the French-Severn forest rests on the Canadian Shield stretching from Algonquin Park to Georgian Bay, and from the Severn River north to the French River. Sugar maple and white wine dominate the landscape which is also home to the greatest number of turtle and snake species in the Ontario, each with habitat protection requirements found in the FSC standard.

University of New Brunswick forestry professor Anthony Taylor began a research project to examine what was killing balsam fir trees favoured by many Canadians to decorate their homes at Christmas. …in a paper recently published in the journal “Frontiers in Forests and Global Change,” Taylor and his co-authors identify the cause of the die-off in western New Brunswick and eastern Maine as drought and high temperatures brought on by climate change. “Identifying the broad scale climate anomalies, such as a drought, associated with the reported sudden balsam fir mortality in 2018 could prove useful to determine the likelihood of future mortality in response to climate change,” the study says. Taylor said he was shocked by “that much” death of balsam firs. …Taylor said heat and drought have weakened balsam firs, making them more vulnerable to pests and diseases that they would otherwise be able to defend against. 

This weekend is one of the busiest of the year for Christmas tree farms all over the region as the holidays approach and people start looking for a fresh trees. At Johnston Brothers Tree Farm, located about 71 kilometres south of Ottawa, it’s no sweat for founder Pud Johnston. Johnston is 99-years-old and it’s his 72nd season selling Christmas trees. Johnston started the business in 1952 with his brother Eric and they worked alongside each other until he passed away in 2009. Johnston’s son Kerry is now the main operator of the farm but he is still engaged every day… “I think it’s a healthy activity,” Johnston said. “I think it’s provided lots of exercise and kept me fit and kept me young, and I wouldn’t be 99-years-old now if I hadn’t been Christmas tree farming.” …for Kerry, it’s all he’s known his whole life, cutting his first tree when he was about 8-years-old.

From carbon capture technology to forest fire mitigation, a new bill introduced by Muskoka-Parry Sound MPP and Minister of Natural Resources Graydon Smith covers a lot of ground. Smith recently introduced the Resource Management and Safety Act 2024, the fist new bill introduced by the Ministry of Natural Resources in nearly a decade. It also marks the first time a Muskoka Parry Sound MPP  has tabled a bill in the House of Commons as a sitting government in more than two decades. “It took a long time to put this all together but I feel like it’s had a very good reception so far, ” said Smith. “There are a lot of different components of this bill that are important to many different sectors in Ontario. I feel like it’s going to open up a lot of opportunities.” .

The scientific evidence behind glyphosate’s dangers is overwhelming—and infuriating. Glyphosate doesn’t stop at the plants it’s meant to kill. It contaminates everything in its path, infiltrating the food chain and leaving behind a legacy of harm… Even if Ontario banned glyphosate tomorrow, the chemical’s impact would linger for years. It persists in the soil, where it continues to harm microorganisms and plants. The forests we love may take decades to recover, and some ecosystems may never fully return to their original state. This isn’t just a fight for today; it’s a fight for the future. Quebec has already banned glyphosate in forestry. European countries like Austria and Germany are phasing it out. These regions recognize that short-term convenience isn’t worth long-term destruction. So why is Ontario still clinging to outdated, harmful practices?

They’re tall, they’re rich in colour, and they’re ready for you to put your presents under. Christmas tree farms around southern Ontario are reporting great harvests this year, according to Shirley Brennan, executive director of the Canadian Christmas Tree Association and Christmas Tree Farmers of Ontario. That’s largely due to a year without heat domes, extreme flooding, or early frosts, which have been known to ruin harvests in the past.  “This year for us has been a good growing season,” said Alison McCrindle, who runs Chickadee Christmas Trees in Puslinch with her husband Joe Wareham. “We had really good precipitation in the spring and the summer. ”It’s a nice change from recent years, which she said were “just terrible” with extreme heat and dry weather.

QUEBEC — The caribou are now the subject of an acrimonious dispute between the Canadian and Quebec governments over how to protect one of the country’s iconic animals. The woodland caribou — whose populations are native to Canada and are considered a barometer of the health of its boreal forests — are at risk of becoming extinct or endangered as logging, mining and other human activities have shrunk their natural habitats. The Canadian government threatened this summer to use emergency measures to protect the three herds in Quebec. It said that the Quebec government had been too slow to come up with a plan to save the herds. Quebec said that the federal government’s plans would devastate logging towns and leave thousands of people jobless by limiting logging. …The Innu of Pessamit are seeking to create a protected area where the remaining 200 caribou can continue to live freely — and eventually make a comeback.