Region Archives: Canada East

ONTARIO — Live Christmas trees have become more expensive in the last few years, but they continue to be a popular option for many families, according to tree farmers. Javid Gibson has owned Walker’s Farm Fresh Trees in Bonfield, Ontario for six years, and said business has increased every year since he bought the farm. It’s one of the few remaining Christmas tree farms in northeastern Ontario. “We’ve seen a huge increase in the demand for real live Christmas trees,” he said. …The Christmas Tree Farmers of Ontario say prices have gone up five per cent in the last year. And there were bigger price increases in 2021 and 2022. …Shirley Brennan, the executive director of the Christmas Tree Farmers of Ontario, said costs for farming equipment and fertilizer have also gone up significantly over the last few years.

Louis De Grandpré

QUEBEC — Louis De Grandpré is a forest ecologist with the Canadian Forest Service, currently on an exchange programme with the Pessamit people. …I work with the Pessamit band of the Innu First Nation in Nitassinan, the traditional land of the Innu Indigenous people. This is a vast boreal forest region in Canada, covering some 130,000 square kilometres northeast of Quebec City. …I study the southern portion of these forests, an area of roughly 30,000 square kilometres, to see how their structure and diversity change over time and respond to disturbance. …I’m not against logging, but I’m against the speed with which it’s done here. …Sustainable forest management means maintaining the species that are associated with these forests. And that’s not what is happening. Many groups are pushing for an Indigenous-led conservation area. The Innu are also interested in the possibility of carbon credits. They want to find ways to manage the forest, while continuing their cultural practices. 

Growing up in the Innu First Nation of Essipit east of Saguenay, Quebec, Michael Ross, the community’s director of development and territory, says caring for the land nestled along the St. Lawrence River was instilled in members of the community by their elders and parents. But on Thursday, the council of the First Nation took it a step further, making public Essipiunnu-meshkanau, a proposal that would more than double their protected area over the next seven years. By 2030, Essipit aims to have protected 30 per cent of its territory, in line with international targets set at COP 15 in Montreal last year. …The protected area, which would cut across the Côte-Nord and Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean regions. …He says several industries, especially logging, have a role to play and that Essipit will have discussions with forestry operators, who they hope will keep an “open mind.” “It’s going to be tough discussions,” said Ross.

A Nova Scotia environmental group is calling on the province to protect a section of Crown land in Kings County from potential logging and development. The Blomidon Naturalists Society wants the Nova Scotia government to conserve a portion of land in the southwest corner of the county next to the Cloud Lake Wilderness Area that includes vulnerable and endangered species and old-growth forest. …The Nova Scotia government has a goal of protecting 20 per cent of the province’s land and water by 2030. Approximately 14 per cent is currently protected, according to the province. …The society has asked the Municipality of King’s County to support its request, but the county has one condition — wind turbines need to be allowed in the protected land. …The Nova Scotia government has released the locations where clear cutting may be allowed. Some of the locations are near the area the society wants protected.

Moulay Akhloufi

NEW BRUNSWICK—Researchers in New Brunswick are developing a new approach to tackling Canada’s growing threat of wildfires: teaching artificial intelligence to find them faster. A team of engineers at the Université de Moncton is fine-tuning an algorithm that works with satellite and drone images to detect fires more accurately than humans. The technology also predicts where a blaze will spread, helping firefighters know where to send resources. Moulay Akhloufi, a computer science professor and head of the Perception, Robotics and Intelligent Machines Laboratory, said it can help spot signs of a fire the human eye would miss. “It’s very accurate. Some of the algorithms are able to get to more than 99 per cent performance when we want to detect fires,” he said. …While in early stages of development, some firefighters are already using artificial intelligence to inform decisions on the ground.

Cam Douglas, Sandy Agnew and Doug Frost

The Huronia Woodlot Owners Association recently held their 43rd White Pine Award meeting, and the 2023 recipient is Oro-Medonte resident Sandy Agnew. Agnew is a Certified Engineering Technician, a graduate of Niagara College’s Ecosystem Restoration program and a Managed Forest Plan Approver. He has been involved in ecological restoration for over 35 years with such groups as Black Creek Project of Toronto, Trout Unlimited Canada and the Severn Sound Environmental Association. He is a former councillor in Oro-Medonte Township and former member of the Lake Simcoe and Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authorities boards and the Couchiching Conservancy land trust board. …Agnew holds memberships and has held Board positions in numerous environmental groups including the Ontario Society for Ecological Restoration, the Ontario Woodlot Association (Huronia Chapter), Forests Ontario and Ontario Nature. …The White Pine Award is given to a deserving person to recognize and celebrate their dedication to good forestry practices.

The Nova Scotia Forestry Innovation Transition Trust is investing $9.85 million in a new program to support businesses facing increased costs from adopting more sustainable forestry practices. Under the Ecologically Sustainable Forestry Equipment Program, businesses will be able to apply for a grant to help with the cost of buying or retrofitting equipment for sustainable harvesting operations. An eligible business could receive up to $500,000 in total from the program. Available grants include: up to 35 per cent of the purchase price for new equipment (maximum grant of $250,000); up to 30 per cent for used equipment (maximum grant of $125,000); and up to 30 per cent for retrofits (maximum grant of $100,000). The trust is developing criteria and application requirements for the program, which will be administered through Nova Scotia Community College.

CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — Woodlot owners across P.E.I. are facing the continued aftermath of post-tropical storm Fiona and are asking the province for increased support. Despite support from the Forest Enhancement Program (FEP) woodlot owners are still struggling to heal their woodlots more than a year after the post-tropical storm. This lack of financial assistance has caused massive delays and decreased recovery work in woodlots across the province. “The quicker we can get it down, the better, there’s never enough woody debris,” Wanson Hemphill, a board member of the Prince Edward Island Woodlot Owners Association, told SaltWire on Nov. 4. …The Prince Edward Island Woodlot Owners Association (PEIWOA) went before the standing committee on natural resources and environmental sustainability last month, recommending increased support and funding for woodlot owners after Fiona.

The Northern Ontario Heritage Fund has chipped in $1.5 million to help make the film Jane Goodall: Reasons for Hope. The film was produced by Science North, and was officially released in Kenora last week. Chair of the NOHFC, Greg Rickford says says the film talks about preserving nature in other parts of the world, but here at home in northwestern Ontario. “The film shows the great work Jane Goodall has done, but also shows her particular focus in northern Ontario, showcasing the commitment we have keeping the vast region protected and conserved and there for people to enjoy,” says Rickford after the launch of the new film at the Discovery Center in Kenora.

Quebec’s forest fire prevention agency says the area burned by wildfires this year was greater than the previous 20 years combined. SOPFEU director general Eric Rousseau told reporters Tuesday that some 45,000 square kilometres of land burned during this year’s record-breaking fire season, including more than 11,000 in the bottom half of the province, where most people live. …other provinces found themselves similarly overwhelmed, leaving them largely unable to lend workers. Instead, the province received help from about 1,000 Canadian Armed Forces personnel as well as more than 1,100 foreign firefighters from the United States, France, Portugal, South Korea and Spain. …Forest Minister Maïté Blanchette Vézina said the province is providing an additional $16 million to the fire prevention agency. She said the money will go toward the purchase of new equipment, such as vehicles and telecommunications material, as well as fire prevention initiatives and strategies to make communities more resilient to extreme weather events.

Wahkohtowin Development is being lauded for its land stewardship work by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). Wahkohtowin is one of 17 organizations and three projects to be cited as part of the 2023 FSC-US Leadership Awards, “recognizing uncommon excellence that advances responsible forest management and forest conservation.” …Wahkohtowin is a social enterprise founded by three First Nations — Chapleau Cree First Nation, Missanabie Cree First Nation and Brunswick House First Nation — that seeks to pursue economic and employment opportunities focussed on sustainable forestry practices. The FSC acknowledged Wahkohtowin for “partnering with FSC Canada and Green First at the intersecting areas of land stewardship, sustainability, respecting and upholding Indigenous rights, climate change mitigation and cultural revitalization.”

The National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) announced that the agency responsible for watershed protection in Niagara and parts of Haldimand and Hamilton has added 11 conservation areas encompassing 790 hectares — almost 2,050 acres — to land already committed to a plan to protect 30 per cent of Canada lands and waters by 2030. That nearly doubles the total amount of NPCA property placed under this designation to 1,622 hectares, or 4,008 acres, the NPCA said. …The NPCA, which has 41 conservation areas, said the newly protected conservation areas were evaluated for inclusion in partnership with Ontario Nature. The properties were assessed to look at unique ecological characteristics and biodiversity, the NPCA said. …Many of the submitted properties are along the Niagara Escarpment, a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve, which represents the largest continuous forested area in south-central Ontario. 

Isabelle Lessard

One of Quebec’s youngest mayors announced Wednesday she will be stepping down next week, suffering the effects of burnout from handling last summer’s historic wildfire season in her northern community. Isabelle Lessard was acclaimed in 2021 as mayor of Chapais, a town of just over 1,500 people, located 500 kilometres north of Montreal near Chibougamau. The 23-year-old said Wednesday that her resignation is effective Nov. 17, about halfway through her mandate. She has been on a leave since mid-September, after shepherding Chapais through one of the worst forest fire seasons on record. In an interview with The Canadian Press, Lessard said she feels unable to complete her term and is at risk of developing post-traumatic stress syndrome. …At the beginning of June, two-thirds of the residents of Lessard’s community were forced from their homes for several days as wildfires closed in. The community was on high alert in the weeks that followed.

A tiny black beetle climbing on the branches of a majestic Nova Scotia hemlock was a big moment — a potential solution to a huge problem. “We think they’re probably our best bet,” said Lucas Roscoe, a research scientist with the Canadian Forest Service. The beetles — officially Laricobius nigrinus — have been shipped across the country from their native British Columbia in a race against time to try to control the hemlock woolly adelgid, an invasive species killing Nova Scotia’s hemlock trees — some of which are hundreds of years old. The beetles are coming to Nova Scotia as part of a new research program to see how effective they are in containing the invasive insects, and whether they are hardy enough to survive the East Coast winter and establish their own population there. Several federal and provincial agencies in both Nova Scotia and B.C. are involved in the project.

TORONTO – A letter signed by more than 100 scientists is urging the Canadian government to take action to stop the degradation of its previously undisturbed forests from large-scale industrial logging.  The letter, signed by several prominent Canadian and American climate and forest scientists, also calls on the government to help, rather than obstruct, global policies intended to curb industrial expansion into old-growth and primary forests.  It comes as Canada moves to draft its own definition of forest degradation after the European Union passed a law earlier this year intended to limit the availability of products that contribute to deforestation and degradation. …While Canada has often boasted about its low rate of deforestation – when forest land is converted for another use – the letter places attention on the degradation associated with logging old-growth and primary forests previously undisturbed by large-scale industrial activity.

On Russell Lake near Behchokǫ̀, N.W.T, moose hunter Glenn Blondin said animals also seem to be congregating in burned area between Whatı̀ and Behchokǫ̀ from a wildfire years ago. “Maybe they like the fresh little vegetation growing back, I’m not sure what it is,” Blondin said. Geneviève Degré-Timmons, a PhD candidate with the University of Laval, is studying how and why wildlife use burned lands. She lives in Chibougamau, Que., but travels to the Northwest Territories for her work. Degré-Timmons said there’s evidence to support Blondin’s observations. Her research isn’t conclusive, but so far indicates that for the first ten years after a fire, there’s an emergence of vascular plants that are rich in protein and other nutrients. Her research focuses on caribou, but she said those plants can attract moose too. …caribou seem to use the burned areas during the summer and birthing and calving season. 

NOVA SCOTIA — The Citizen Scientists of Southwest Nova Scotia are calling for more forestry protection after they came across what appear to be signs of an old-growth forest in Annapolis County. Nina Newington and others returned and found what they suspect are more old-growth trees along with a rare, protected lichen species. …”We have had confirmation of the Department of Natural Resources and Renewables (DNRR) and they said they will come in this fall and assess it.” Proulx said if the discovery of old-growth forest is confirmed by the province, she’s hoping it would mean the area would become protected from logging. Logging in the area was halted after the discovery of rare lichen last summer.

ONTARIO — This year marked a higher-than-average forest fire season in Northwestern Ontario, though it remained considerably lower than the record-setting 2021 season. Chris Marchand, a fire information officer for the Aviation Forest Fire and Emergency Services branch of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, said there was an increase in the number of blazes and hectares burned in the region. This past year the estimates saw 476 total blazes impacting 324,520 hectares across the region. “Though many of those were burning in remote areas. When we compare it to a season like 2021, we had as many as seven communities evacuated; This year, we saw far fewer problematic fires that were affecting populations on the landscape. With the notable exception of smoke,” Marchand said. The province considers Oct. 31 to be the conclusion of the wildfire season.