Region Archives: Canada East

EASTERN UPPER PENINSULA — A new Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians law aims to protect culturally significant white cedar trees. Earlier this month, the Sault Tribe announced an update to the Tribal Code that will ensure the sustainable harvest of northern white cedar trees, otherwise called Giizhik trees. Giizhik trees are a type of tree that grows in many areas in the Eastern Upper Peninsula (EUP), including places of great significance to local tribes. The oldest of the trees can live up to a thousand years, and some of the trees in the area are 400 years old or older. Tribal officials said Giizhik trees have been an important part of Anishinaabe culture since long before colonization. The cedar trees are important both culturally as well as practically, as they have provided materials for building tools, boats and other materials. …There are hundreds of northern white cedar trees throughout the EUP, and the new tribe law will protect them from unsustainable harvesting.

Noah Freedman

THUNDER BAY — The union representing forest firefighters in Ontario says the province’s aviation, forest fires and emergency services branch is inadequately prepared for the 2024 fire season. The Ontario Public Service Employees Union alleges that Aviation Forest Fires and Emergency Services has “a retention crisis” in which there are almost no experienced staff left in the program. “Ontario was short roughly 12 per cent of its crews in 2022, and 26 per cent in 2023,” said Noah Freedman, vice-president of OPSEU local 703, and fire crew leader. “It’s getting worse because, though we have no problem hiring 18 and 19-year-olds, the lack of experience means we have no one to lead those crews. The AFFES certainly doesn’t want to acknowledge this.” …He said the difficulty in retaining firefighters arises from a combination of factors, primarily that the job is demanding and requires a lot of time away from family. But compensation is also a big issue.

It’s business as usual at the Aviation, Forest Fire and Emergency Services (AFFES) as spring and wildfire season approach. Despite the 2023 drought in the region and minimal snow pack, officials aren’t waving any red flags just yet. But recruitment, planning and equipment procurement are underway. Chris Marchand, a fire information officer with the Ontario ministry of natural resources and forestry’s AFFES agency, said that the fire season begins on April 1 and AFFES is preparing to respond should the fire hazard occur before then. …Ontario ministries, including the AFFES, must follow processes designed to make the procurement process fair, open and transparent. …For now, the main focus at the AFFES is on recruiting, hiring and training staff for the upcoming season. The application deadline to become an Ontario Fire Ranger (wildland firefighter) remains open until April 15.

Stephen Moore

Stephen Moore, one-year-in executive director of Forest Nova Scotia, wants to see the sector at the decision table when it comes to the future of forests in the province. Moore’s political and polling background is driving some wins for the association, which has a mammoth task of helping the industry navigate a period of transition. How do you view the shift in Nova Scotia’s forest industry following some pretty significant changes? In the last five years, with the Northern Pulp situation, we’ve seen the number of buyers for wood products in Nova Scotia decline 20 per cent. We’ve seen the contractor capacity in the province reduce by 40 per cent. …The Lahey Report has added to the uncertainty. …Your take on Social License in NS? I say we have social license. We need to stop worrying about playing nice with everybody. We need to focus instead on what we need to do to move the sector forward. 

With six weeks until wildfire season, the Ford government is on a campaign to silence its wildland firefighters’ dire warning about the catastrophic state of the province’s fire program. Make no mistake, winter is almost over and the fire bans are coming. Fire bans are used by the province when the threat of wildfire is extreme and though the government cannot readily influence the severity of the hazard, it can, and does, control the limitation of firefighting resources. …According to an internal report from 2015, Ontario’s wildfire program is comprised primarily of students trying to pay for college, which has resulted in constant turnover and “inexperienced staff making poor decisions on the fireline.” Natural Resources and Forestry Minister Graydon Smith has reassured Ontarians that the province has a “great number of crews.” In reality, ongoing retention issues mean Ontario is actually losing fire crews, and experience, at an exponential rate every year.

The federal government committed to planting two billion trees across the country to restore natural habitats and fight climate change, and now Quebec wants to harvest some of them. The provincial government is asking Ottawa to allow the local forestry industry to chop down trees in areas of the province hardest hit by last year’s forest fires. Ottawa has committed more than $3 billion to helping provinces, territories and organizations plant two billion trees by the end of 2031 as part of a national effort to reduce greenhouse gases. However, the 2 Billion Trees program does not fund trees designated for commercial use. Quebec Natural Resources and Forests Minister Maïté Blanchette Vézina says the record-setting 2023 fire season has had tremendous economic impacts in rural regions that depend on the forestry industry.

WENDAKE, Quebec – A consultation meeting is scheduled this morning between First Nations and the Ministère des Ressources naturelles et des Forêts (MRNF) as part of the Round Tables on the Future of the Forest. This process was announced in November 2023 by Minister Maïté Blanchette Vézina. This new initiative by the Quebec government must translate into concrete actions and measures that respect the rights and interests of First Nations. …”It’s clear that the Quebec government is not doing enough to respect the rights of First Nations on the territory, especially when it comes to logging. The consultations carried out by the MRNF are superficial. Decisions are made unilaterally. Things have to change,” says Lance Haymond, Chief of the Kebaowek First Nation. …”It’s time the government stopped seeing the forest only as an economic engine for the forest industry,” declares Martin Dufour, Chief of the Essipit Innu First Nation.

Timiskaming First Nation is sharing the bounty from its territory through a community initiative that’s both creating a revenue stream and strengthening cultural ties between generations. Through The Wild Basket, community members harvest and cultivate foods in their territory that are then used to produce and sell value-added products like flavoured carbonated water, fresh mushrooms, forest teas, and mushroom soup. “It began in 2013 as a response to how we can better utilize non-timber forest products,” explained Annaleigh Males, the program’s coordinator, during the 2024 Northern Ontario Ag Conference in Sudbury. “We started with the forestry industry and we still work closely with the forestry industry.” The program is an initiative of Ni Dakinan, the natural resources department for the community, whose traditional territory stretches along the northeast side of Lake Timiskaming, extending into both Ontario and Quebec.

DRYDEN — The lack of snow in the bush this winter “is certainly on our radar, for sure,” said Chris Marchand, a fire information officer at the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry’s regional forest fire management headquarters in Dryden. Northwestern Ontario has received much less snow than normal by this time of year. “There’s some discussion of how this could affect things, but at the same time, looking more than 10 days into the future and betting on the weather is a bit of a dangerous game,” Marchand said. He noted the forest fire season doesn’t officially begin until April 1. …According to the Lakehead Region Conservation Authority, the snow depth at various monitoring stations around the city was just over 20 cm at the beginning of February, or roughly half the long-term average.

Barrie, Ontario – Canada’s forests are facing extraordinary challenges, including climate change, increased fires, biodiversity loss, and invasive species. As the largest conference in the province about the importance of healthy, resilient forests, Forests Ontario’s 2024 Annual Conference will provide opportunities to meet, learn from, and be inspired by those most passionate about our forests. “Our natural world is facing some of its greatest challenges, including the unprecedented wildfires that raged through Canada’s forests last summer. We know there are smart, sustainable, nature-based solutions that support healthy communities and healthy economies. We want people who come to our conference to feel energized and excited by what they can all accomplish together,” Jess Kaknevicius, CEO of Forests Ontario and Forest Recovery Canada, says. The in-person event takes place on February 28, 2024, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at Universal Eventspace in Vaughan, Ontario. 

TORONTO – WWF-Canada and Aviva Canada released a new Action Plan available for Canadian businesses for how they can act to help halt and reverse biodiversity loss, better protect nature, and contribute to a more sustainable global economy. …Developed as a free resource with the practical needs of businesses in mind, it features a phased approach to action with steps that business leaders in all industries can take now, next quarter, and next year, in four key areas of action: Assess and Understand; Minimize and Transform; Invest in Nature; and Collaborate and Influence. The Action Plan is available online. …In tandem with urgent decarbonization, it is time for all businesses to act to protect nature. Yet many lack the necessary expertise and resources to develop an actionable path forward.

Calvin Township is trying to sparking a wildfire movement. Council has voted to pressure the federal government to get better prepared for forest fires. Councillors recently passed a motion to encourage the feds to give more money to help offset the costs of firefighting to municipalities. They are also calling for the development of a national strategy for firefighting. Also, councillors urge the government to investigate what it would take to create a national fleet of Canadian-made water bombers, which could be strategically placed to best serve rural communities. “Before Calvin Township became a township, it was burned by numerous forest fires,” Calvin’s Mayor, Richard Gould, said. “This was before the time of fire towers, water bombers, and municipal fire departments,” he added.

Forests of giant, scaly-stemmed club mosses rose from ancient swamps in Atlantic Canada 350 million years ago. But below the canopy sprouted even stranger trees, whose fossils were recently discovered in a quarry in Norton, N.B. “What it really does look like is one of those truffula trees from The Lorax,” said Olivia King, one of the researchers that discovered the fossil. …Like the truffula, the new fossil species, Sanfordiacaulis densifolia, was a little taller than a human, but not extremely tall (about three metres), and had a spindly stem poking into a dense mop of long leaves. That mop was more extreme than the truffula’s in size — over five metres, or about the diameter of an above-ground pool. …Sanfordiacaulis lived at a time called the Mississippian, an early part of the Carboniferous period.

The Forestry Commission has presented government with a discussion paper about a plan for developing forest policy to carry Prince Edward Island into the future. The discussion paper, Towards A New Forest Policy, contains 13 key topics related to forestry, including the future of a legislative framework, sustainability of biomass supply, and increasing readiness for extreme weather. “The paper is the commission’s first step in a public engagement process. It kicks off a timely public dialogue on our forest and I look forward to receiving this feedback from the public, industry and the commission,” said Environment, Energy and Climate Action Minister Steven Myers. A public survey will be available soon and community engagement meetings will take place across PEI this summer.

Going against the age-old forest sustainability principle of “harvesting only the interest without disturbing the capital,” Ontario’s Biomass Initiative is reversing the trend. “Forest Biomass,” in this context refers to combining mill wood-waste with younger trees harvested from crown and private woodlots to make simulated logs and pellets to be burned for energy. Canada is following the eastern US lead in converting emerging forests into wood chips and sawdust. The wood pellets are marketed in Europe replacing coal to produce electricity. …biomass burning results in higher emissions than coal. The industry initiative is capitalizing on the climate crisis… Unlike solar, wind, and nuclear, burning wood increases the release of carbon dioxide while removing the carbon sink provided by a mature forest. It involves prematurely cutting millions of acres of forest in the Ottawa Valley, which deprives them from reaching their full rotation age to produce valuable sawlogs.