Region Archives: Canada East

The log drive is an integral part of Québec culture. Specifically, log driving refers to the use of waterways to float and transport logs from harvesting sites to sawmills or ports where they are exported. The intensive exploitation of forests in Québec since the time of colonization has resulted in major changes in their structure and dynamics. Few virgin forests remain accessible today, which limits our ability to study pre-industrial forest conditions. Yet this knowledge is essential in order for us to be able to manage forests in a sustainable manner. The logs that sank to the bottom of lakes during the log driving period contain information on the history of Québec’s forests. …Our research project will provide new knowledge about pre-industrial forests and how they have responded to climate change in the past, which will help guide practices for sustainable forest management.

Michael Mantha

Michael Mantha, the MPP for Algoma-Manitoulin, pressed Graydon Smith the Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry on staffing issues in his ministry during Question Period this week. He says conservation officers and wildland forest firefighters have raised alarms about staff leaving their positions in search of better pay. Mantha states if employees are not paid a fair wage, they will end up looking for work elsewhere adding despite the demands placed on them, they are being grossly underpaid by this government. For example, he adds, In Chapleau, there are four fire crews set to operate this season, down from 10 last season. Mantha called on the Minister to immediately address the wage concerns raised by both the conservation officers and the wildland fire fighters. [END]

A new pilot program will let forestry contractors borrow working capital to help their businesses succeed. “The Timber Loan Board provides flexible lending solutions to meet the unique needs of Nova Scotia’s forestry businesses,” said Agriculture Minister Greg Morrow. “I’m pleased that the board found a solution to help forestry contractors who need to bridge the gap between harvesting timber and getting it to the sawmill.” The shutdown of Northern Pulp and the significant amount of wood that is being salvaged after Hurricane Fiona have highlighted a need for a working capital loan program for forestry contractors. Through the Timber Loan Board, contractors can borrow up to $50,000 at a competitive interest rate. Loans are repayable within one year.

Haliburton Forest & Wild Life Reserve Ltd., the parent company of Huntsville Forest Products and Almaguin Forest Products, has moved to conserve an old-growth forest in Ontario, with trees more than 150 years old. On April 27, The Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) along with owner Haliburton Forest & Wild Life Reserve (Haliburton Forest), announced the first recognized other effective area-based conservation measure (OECM) within a privately owned commercial forest in Canada. It is also the country’s first OECM led by the forestry industry. The South Freezy Lake old-growth forest has been recognized by both the Governments of Ontario and Canada as conserved and entered into Canada’s Protected and Conserved Areas Database. The database monitors progress toward Canada’s target of protecting 30 per cent of its lands and waters by 2030.

HALIFAX: A team of forestry researchers led by Dalhousie University is receiving $1.57 million to undertake research on Nova Scotia’s forests and the industries and communities who depend upon them. The new project forms the cornerstone of a Research Nova Scotia forestry program that will support Nova Scotia’s transition to an ecological forestry model. Operated in partnership with the Forestry Innovation Transition Trust, the program includes economic, ecological, and social components of forestry, to develop a holistic understanding of where the sector is going, and how to help get there in a sustainable and equitable way. …The five-year project will measure how changing forestry practices impact biodiversity and landscape connectivity, evaluate recreation opportunities arising from changing forestry practices, value carbon as part of forest lands in the province, investigate and undertake effective knowledge exchange with woodlot stewards and operators and registered professional foresters, and support Mi’kmaq-led forestry. 

Sault Ste. Marie — Meakin Contracting Ltd., a local company that provides logging and road construction services to the Sault area forestry sector, has been given $769,000 in Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation funding. The money is earmarked for the company to expand business operations, increase employment, and create a stable wood supply for local mills. …Sault MPP Ross Romano announced the funding late Friday morning. Romano called the forestry sector “an important pillar of the northern economy.” Minister of Northern Development Greg Rickford called the province’s investments into the forestry sector “targeted investments that make real improvements to operations.” Rickford added that the Meakin Contracting Ltd. funding will help “increase the capacity for log shipments to local mills that depend on stable and predictable wood supplies.”

Adam Sheparski

The head of one of New Brunswick’s largest logging companies says he is puzzled at deep and retroactive discounts the province is proposing to make in its timber royalty charges to mill owners, eight months after raising them… said Adam Sheparski. …Sheparski is president of Edmundston-based Acadian Timber, New Brunswick’s second-largest private landowner and a major supplier of wood to New Brunswick lumber and pulp mills. He was asked whether plans New Brunswick has to lower what it charges mill owners to supply themselves with publicly owned trees would undermine prices Acadian will be able to charge for its trees. …He cited access to out-of-province markets and some contractual price protections on in-province sales as two reasons Acadian might be able to weather price cutting by the province, at least temporarily. New Brunswick posted a list of royalties it is proposing to charge forest companies for wood they cut on Crown land in 2023. 

Ben Gwilliam

IVANHOE — What is in your woods? The Ontario Woodlot Association recently bought two drones, to help private woodlot owners gather information about their forests. Ben Gwilliam, private lands inventory analyst for the association, will tell local woodlot owners about the drones and other new forest tools at a gathering next month of the OWA Quinte Chapter. …“Particularly, the use of drones in aerial photography and photogrammetry has made it more accessible than ever for landowners to produce the high-resolution forest inventory and monitoring that was once only available to well-resourced industry on Crown land,” said Gwilliam. …Along with drones and LiDAR, the OWA has plans to help members with forest certification, climate change mitigation, an enhanced private lands forest inventory and forestry cooperatives.

Today, as part of the Montreal Climate Summit, the Honourable Steven Guilbeault, Canada’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change, announced over $40 million in federal funding under the 2 Billion Trees program for three tree-planting initiatives across Montreal and Vaudreuil-Dorion, which will collectively support the planting of over 275,000 trees. The first project, led by Société de verdissement du Montréal métropolitain (Soverdi) and Alliance forêt urbaine, aims to plant 200,000 trees by 2030 on private and institutional lands through thousands of projects in schoolyards, hospitals, parking lots and company grounds where citizens live and work. The Government of Canada is investing $19.9 million in this project, which is also receiving $40 million in funding from municipalities, including the City of Montreal, and $20 million in private funding.

While reforestation efforts are at the heart of the fight against climate change around the world, more than 11.5 million tree seedlings destined for Quebec forests were destroyed last year. Ironically, it was extreme weather conditions that forced plant nurseries to discard those that did not meet the government’s criteria. The significant losses, valued at $3.6 million, represent almost 9% of the trees that were poised to be planted. …The Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry said… 83% of the trees destroyed in 2022 were related to extreme weather events. Stéphane Boucher, president of Quebec’s forest plant producers, says that over the past 10 years, the weather has been the source of headaches. …Producers and experts believe that many wasted trees could have been planted in forests to sequester carbon. Professor Jean-François Boucher is calling on Quebec to rectify the situation, considering that many of the quality criteria for seedlings are not supported by science, he says.

Researchers have discovered six trees in Algonquin Provincial Park that are more than 400 years old — located in a logging zone they are now urging the government to protect from logging, the Star has learned. …The “very old, unprotected forest is about 1.7 square kilometres in size, roughly equivalent to Toronto’s Sunnybrook, Wilket Creek, Glendon and Serena Gundy Parks combined,” said Mike Henry, a senior ecologist and lead researcher of the Algonquin Park Old-Growth Forest Project. …“There are a number of large, roadless areas in Algonquin Park that are unprotected; some are at imminent risk of being logged,” he said, saying the current rules “are no longer viable.” Algonquin was Ontario’s first provincial park and is the oldest in the country, created in 1893. Logging has always been allowed, though it is the only such park in the province — and one of two in the country — where that is the case.

County of Simcoe warden, county councillors, and representatives from the county’s forestry department and Forests Ontario gathered to unveil the new #ItTakesAForest billboard located in the Simcoe County Forest’s North Barr Tract. It Takes a Forest, an awareness initiative led by Forests Ontario, began in 2016 as a grassroots billboard campaign, featuring fact-based messaging used to build awareness for sustainable forestry in Ontario and directly address misconceptions of forestry. The billboard network has now expanded across the province with more than 35 signs and support from over 45 organizations. “Our Simcoe County Forest is a real point of pride, as it plays a key role in our community’s environment, economy, as well as social and physical well-being,” said Warden Basil Clarke. …“Forests clean our air and water, protect biodiversity and contribute to healthy communities and economies,” said Rob Keen, registered professional forester and departing CEO of Forests Ontario. “

Ariel Tozman

ONTARIO — Two summers ago, I planted trees near Thunder Bay. This was an unprecedented decision for me: I am a vicious materialist and I wear a lot of pink. I had no experience in camping, nor engaging in demanding physical activity. Hold that image in your mind and place it in the backwoods of northern Ontario. Plus, during the height of the pandemic, I was spending most of my time inside, wallowing in the doom-and-gloom. I was addicted to social media and deeply unhappy. Suffice to say, when I told people, they laughed in my face. And yet, motivated by the fact that my family members had placed actual monetary bets on how long I would last, I did not back out. Not letting my fear get the best of me was the best decision I ever made. In the pine and spruce forests of Ontario and Alberta, I re-learnt myself. Alone for hours, through scorching heat and freezing rain, I was forced to.

MILLTOWN-HEAD OF BAY D’ESPOIR, N.L. — It’s going to take time, and money, to plant and grow new trees in the central Newfoundland area that was destroyed by fire last summer. Over 22,647 hectares of land went up in flames, according to the province’s department responsible for forestry. It was determined that a lightning strike created the spark that grew to a large fire in very hot, dry and windy conditions. The central Newfoundland fire complex consisted of three individual burn areas: Bay d’Espoir Highway, Southern Lake and Paradise Lake. About 7,000 hectares within those burn areas were considered productive forest, including 791 hectares of recently planted areas. The total volume of lost timber is estimated at about 615,000 cubic metres, the department told SaltWire.

Thunder Bay, Ont. — After holding a caribou roundtable, Conservation and Parks Minister David Piccini said on reintroducing endangered caribou to different areas in Northwestern Ontario, “ultimately, there would be nothing more embarrassing than moving caribou just essentially serving up a caribou buffet to wolves.” Piccini announced last month that the provincial Progressive Conservative government will spend $29 million over a four-year period to support caribou habitat restoration, protection and conservation activities such as monitoring, research and new protected areas. …Wendy Landry, mayor of Shuniah and president of the Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association, who is also a member of the Red Rock Indian Band, said a protection order for the caribou can lead to a vast ripple effect. …Landry also said protection orders can also hinder the hunting of moose in the region, the lifeblood of many Northwestern Ontario and First Nations’ residents.

FREDERICTTON, New Brunswick — A forestry college instructor was fired because he was a “disruptive and destructive force” and not because of his views of the herbicide glyphosate, a judge has ruled. Rod Cumberland’s treatment of students and the “obvious toxicity” of his relationship with Maritime College of Forest Technology leaders led to his dismissal in June 2019, Chief Justice Tracey DeWare says. In a trial last fall in Fredericton, the former instructor’s lawyer suggested that members of the college board from the forest industry, including J.D. Irving Ltd., had pushed for the firing after Cumberland challenged government scientists on glyphosate. But DeWare said it was Cumberland’s rigid teaching style and his rejection of a new, more “inclusive” style at the college that ended his job. …DeWare did say that the college… failed to warn Cumberland that his job was in jeopardy.” She concluded that this entitled him to seven months’ notice of his firing.

Forestry in Northern Ontario is… experiencing labour force and skill shortages that are preventing the sector from realizing its full economic potential. Bridging the Gap Between Ontario’s Youth & the Provincial Forestry Sector is a recent study that explores the current job vacancies and the education and training needed to fill the workforce gaps. The study was a collaboration between Forests Ontario and Ontario Forest Industries Association with the support of the Government of Ontario. “The forestry sector is faced with labour shortages across a variety of roles, and these are expected to increase over the next five to 10 years,” said Ian Dunn, CEO at OFIA. Dunn said the study was initiated to get a better understanding of young people’s perception of a career in the forestry industry and any barriers they encounter. …Awareness and education are also key barriers to the industry, and compensation can be lacking compared to mining.

ANNAPOLIS ROYAL, Nova Scotia — Artists and citizen scientists have come together to create a unique show opening this week. The show is called For the Love of Lichens and Old Forests and was put together to raise awareness around the destruction of old forests in Annapolis County. It features paintings, sculptures, lichen-encrusted rocks and photographic portraits of at-risk lichens. …Nina Newington, part of the Citizen Scientists of Southwest Nova Biosphere and one of the show’s organizers, said the idea came about because art is an effective way to communicate environmental concerns. …Newington said that Nova Scotia is in a biodiversity crisis with only a few old forests left. …Some proceeds from sales will go to the Save Our Old Forests campaign.

Migratory birds are returning to Prince Edward Island, and many of them are finding that trees they have nested in for years are gone. Gary Schneider, with Macphail Woods Ecological Forestry Project, said this spring, the birds will find that post-tropical storm Fiona knocked down whole stands of trees across the Island. “There’s going to be no forest for them in some places,” said Schneider. “They really have to scramble to find territory, and it may already be inhabited by other birds.” …The window for cleaning up in the forest this spring is closing with migratory birds arriving to nest. Removing partially downed trees or even brush from mid-May to early August runs the risk of destroying nests. …The loss of trees is not all bad news, said Bob Bancroft, president of Nature Nova Scotia. …On the other hand, birds of prey like osprey and eagles will be at a disadvantage.

David Hawke and Jim Marchand

Local naturalist and Village Media columnist, David J. Hawke, was recently recognized by the Ontario Woodlot Association (OWA) for his years of educating others about the values of forests and other habitats. Hawke was presented with their Lorax Award, named for the woodland creature invented by Dr. Seuss who “spoke for the trees”. “This award recognizes an individual or group for outstanding achievement for promoting a better understanding and appreciation of forest values in Ontario’s woodlands.” states the OWA criteria for this award. Hawke was nominated by the Huronia Woodland Owners Association (HWOA), the Huronia Chapter of the provincial organization. Jim Marchand, a HWOA and OWA Board member, says that “it was with great pride we nominated David, as for many years he has been consistently advocating for awareness and understanding of the natural environment.”