Region Archives: Canada East

Resolute Forest Products has expanded its use of drone technology to include mapping and aerial seeding in its Ontario woodland operations.   They are just scratching the surface of what the foresty industry can do with drones as each new project application generates more ideas on how to use the technology, said Seth Kursman, vice-president of corporate communications, sustainability and government affairs with Resolute Forest Products.  “This is a demonstration that the forest industry is certainly taking advantage of new equipment and technologies that are available to improve stewardship and the ongoing sustainability of the resources that we rely upon,” he said.  “It also is another way of being able to be that much more focused in our work, and in doing so, reduce associated greenhouse gas emissions, which of course, is a key element of Resolute’s overall sustainability strategy.”

NOVA SCOTIA — Scheduled logging has been paused after environmentalists in Annapolis County, Nova Scotia, say they have discovered several at-risk species of plants in a large wooded area of Crown land. About a dozen volunteers conducted a bio blitz to document the biodiversity of the western side of Goldsmith Lake last month. They identified eight species at risk in the area including black ash, blue felt lichen and frosted glass whiskers lichen. The blue felt lichen has recently been named Nova Scotia’s provincial lichen. …They wrote the provincial government to ask them to freeze tree cutting and road-building immediately in forests in three areas near Goldsmith Lake, part of the Annapolis River watershed. …A plan by WestFor to harvest 343 hectares had been approved by the province but the government is now directing WestFor to conduct surveys, Adele Poirier said.

…In the 20 years since the emerald ash borer was first found in Canada, it has wiped out hundreds of thousands of ash trees, many of them in cities, where trees are heavy lifters in climate change adaptation, offering shade and lessening what’s known as the “urban heat island” effect. “It’s going to be one of the major factors influencing vulnerability of Canadian communities to climate change moving forward, because it’s just this huge force of destruction in urban areas,” said Dr. Hudgins, a post-doctoral fellow at Carleton University who studies invasive forest insects. The ash tree … was long a favourite of urban planners, it could stand up to the stressors like road salt, soil compaction, construction and vandalism. Overreliance on the ash has left the urban canopy particularly vulnerable to the emerald ash borer… Some communities have brought in an invasive parasitoid wasp, which kills the emerald ash borers’ larvae… [Access to this story requires a subscription to the Globe and Mail]

Efforts to protect centuries-old eastern hemlock trees from an invasive insect are expanding in Nova Scotia after a volunteer group found success in the Tobeatic Wilderness Area. Last fall, a group of volunteers started inoculating trees on the central island of Sporting Lake with insecticide, to protect them from an infestation of hemlock woolly adelgids. The adelgid has been wreaking havoc on hemlocks in eastern North America — including Nova Scotia — for years. …Matt Miller, a forester who volunteered with the group last fall, said about 2,160 trees on the island were inoculated to prevent an infestation. Now, a year later, Miller, the general manager of the Medway Community Forest Co-operative, said the group is seeing results. …Since their success in the Tobeatic Wilderness Area, Miller said the provincial and federal governments have provided some funding to expand treatments to trees at Pollards Falls in Queens County and Four Mile Stillwater in Annapolis County.

WASWANIPI, QC – In rural, remote and Indigenous communities across the country, the Canadian forest sector continues to play a significant role in maintaining and creating good jobs. Natural Resources Canada announced a $20-million investment, including a $4.7-million federal investment, to support the upgrade and restart of the Cree Forestry Project in Waswanipi, Quebec. This is a unique partnership between Mishtuk Corporation and Chantiers Chibougamau, a private firm in the region that operates forestry products facilities. The funding will support business and partnership planning for a more economically sustainable upgrade to the facility and site and for equipment reconditioning. The recommissioned facility will also produce mill-finished timber for retail markets with a focus on addressing the housing shortage in the Cree region of Quebec.

OTTAWA, Ontario — The Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Natural Resources, alongside Adam van Koeverden, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health and to the Minister of Sport, and Lloyd Longfield, Member of Parliament for Guelph, announced a $12.7-million contribution to Forests Ontario to plant 7.2 million trees over a span of three years through the 2 Billion Trees program, aimed at partnering with governments and organizations to plant two billion trees over 10 years. As part of the 2 Billion Trees program, this project by Forests Ontario will increase forest cover and improve forest conditions. These trees will provide a nature-based climate solution by sequestering significant amounts of carbon, contribute to habitat restoration, including species and habitats at risk, and provide the many social, cultural, environmental and economic benefits that trees and forests offer.

OTTAWA — On Nov. 23, ministers, senators and NGO representatives gathered… to watch and discuss a film that interweaves the deforestation of the boreal forest and colonial policy. The event was hosted by the film’s producer, Sen. Michelle Audette, and director Michael Zelniker, while current and former ministers of Crown-Indigenous relations, Marc Miller and Carolyn Bennett, sat in the front rows. …Minister of Natural Resources Jonathan Wilkinson wasn’t in attendance for the film screening, which gave a passionate defence of the boreal forest through the stories of First Nations Elders. The boreal is an essential carbon sink, yet the Canadian logging industry harvests 80 per cent of its lumber from old-growth boreal trees, according to the film. …Janet Sumner, of the Wildlands League said the film captures the parallel between climate collapse and colonization.

GATINEAU, QC – “Montréal, Canada will host the biggest international nature summit in a generation. Over the next three weeks, we’ll be highlighting Canadian actions under the broad themes of progress, protection and partnership—progress towards our goal of conserving 25 percent of Canada’s land and waters by 2025 and 30 percent by 2030; protection of iconic species; and partnership with Indigenous peoples… Each in its own way carries momentum into the nature and biological diversity conference. And each represents a waypoint on the path Canada will be pursuing in negotiations. On December 7, the Fifteenth Conference of the Parties (COP15) to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity will bring together 196 countries to blaze a path forward at a time when nature is under threat across the globe. …Today in Peterborough, Ontario, the Government of Canada is kicking things off with the announcement of $109 million from the Nature Smart Climate Solutions Fund for forty worthwhile projects.

Nova Scotia has declared blue felt as its official lichen. The complex life form, also known by its scientific name, Pectenia plumbea, is quite common and grows on hardwood trees in the dense forest of the province. It can be distinguished by its leafy grey top with red dots and frosty edges, and its indigo blue underside. The species was declared the province’s official lichen, after Bill 230 passed at the Nova Scotia Legislature. …The designation is the first of its kind in Canada, Jonathan Riley, co-ordinator for the Municipality of Digby said. …Nova Scotia’s species at-risk database says the lichen can be found in 88 locations, which makes up a “considerable portion of the entire range known in North America,” but it’s threatened by climate change and airborne pollutants. That’s why it’s important to recognize their importance with this designation, Riley said.

There are no gray whales in the Atlantic Ocean anymore. The island marble butterfly and Pacific pond turtle have disappeared from B.C. And, in Ontario, the paddlefish and timber rattlesnake are locally extinct. Wetlands have been drained, grasslands destroyed and old-growth forests systematically cleared. It’s a global problem and it’s getting worse. And, yet there are solutions. What’s not clear is whether we come together to act in time. But soon delegates from countries around the world will converge in Montreal to hash out the final details of what could be a landmark agreement to save biodiversity. There is a lot at stake: biodiversity is all living things, the genetic diversity within species and the variety of ecosystems found on Earth. For better or worse, humans are part of it. …Here’s what you need to know in the lead up to COP15, the United Nations’ biodiversity conference in Montreal.

…Hurricane Fiona made landfall near Whitehead, N.S., on Sept. 24. After two days of heavy rain and wind gusts that reached 179km/h at their peak…Fiona ripped into the infrastructure of natural habitats, flattening forests and damaging generational woodlots… Wind disturbance is part of nature, but climate change is expected to increase the intensity of storms hitting Atlantic Canada. …the maritime forest has changed a great deal since the members of the Wabanaki Confederacy … were stewarding it. Old-growth forests have been cleared for agriculture and heavily logged: according to the Nova Scotia Nature Trust, only 0.6 per cent of the province’s forest is over 100 years old. And replanting has usually meant focusing on a less diverse collection of species and ages than was here originally. That youth and homogeneity puts the region at greater risk during natural disasters. …Community Forests International is encouraging land owners to consider making recovery decisions with biodiversity in mind.

David Hawke

Two Oro-Medonte tree farmers have won the 2022 Huronia Woodland Owners Association (HWOA) White Pine Award of Merit. BradfordToday columnist David Hawke and his wife, Juliana, are “honoured” to win the award that recognizes leadership and “unique skills to advance” woodlot management. “It means a lot on a couple of levels,” Hawke said. “Both my wife’s father and uncle are previous recipients of this award. It’s so nice to proudly say that we are doing the best that we can with our management of the trees.” …Hawke, an Orillia native, was raised in the country. He has built a career out of working in the ecological field and outdoor education. “Forestry and woodlot management is always something I’ve been aware of,” he said. “To have such a unique opportunity to manage a woodlot is pretty exciting.”

PETERBOROUGH, ON – With the world coming to Montréal in less than three weeks for the preeminent global biodiversity and nature conference, the Government of Canada continues to invest in conserving and protecting nature. …The Minister of Environment and Climate Change, announced up to $109 million in funding over five years for forty projects across Canada from the Nature Smart Climate Solutions Fund. The latest tranche of investments is part of the $631 million that the Nature Smart Climate Solutions Fund will distribute over ten years (2021–2031). The Kawartha Land Trust will receive up to $1.7 million dollars over five years to secure land made up of carbon-rich ecosystems, such as forests, wetlands, and grasslands with extensive biodiversity in Ontario. Of the forty new projects, twenty-four are place-based and will conserve about 32,000 hectares, restore up to 5,500 hectares, and enhance the management of about 460 hectares of wetlands, grasslands, and forest areas.

The U.N. climate talks in Egypt closed on Sunday with a resolution to address the dual crises of climate change and nature loss, but did little to boost next month’s global meeting on biodiversity. Countries will gather in Montreal in two weeks’ time to seek a global deal to protect the world’s declining wildlife and degraded ecosystems. Many environment ministers and campaigners have said the climate talks should underline the importance of protecting nature to help to limit climate change. But the final deal repeated much of the same language on nature as last year’s Glasgow pact, and there was no mention of the upcoming U.N. biodiversity summit – COP15 – to take place Dec. 7-19. The decision “failed to signal the need for (COP15) to be successful,” said Brian O’Donnell, director of non-profit organisation Campaign for Nature.

Trees are known as one of our best tools to fight climate change, but researchers doing experiments east of Fredericton say there’s no guarantee future forests will absorb more greenhouse gas than they give off. And, some argue we should adjust forest management practices now to improve the odds. “When you hear in the news about how we’re trying to cap the climate warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, that projection of warming is based off things like this forest carbon measurement that we take,” said Loïc D’Orangeville, one of several scientists collecting data at the Acadia Research Forest. Wood is a “nice, long-term” way to sequester carbon, said D’Orangeville, at the University of New Brunswick. …All the climate models have been assuming that with longer growing seasons, trees would grow more, and overall, forests would be storing more carbon, said D’Orangeville. But his research suggests that may not be the case.

EDMUNDSTON — The Northern Hardwoods Research Institute is helping the operators of tree harvesters spot the difference between sugar maples, yellow birch, and red oak by combining drone and computer technology. The Digital Timberlands 20/20 project uses drones, equipped with light detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensors which collect thousands of data points, to accurately describe not only the forest but every tree within it. “We’re convinced that the future of forestry has to go through digitalization,” says Gaetan Pelletier, the executive director of the Northern Hardwoods Research Institute. Working with SceneSharp Technologies, a data analytics firm in Fredericton, and with artificial intelligence (AI) students and teachers at the CERFO (Centre d’enseignement et de recherche en foresterie) in Sainte-Foy, Quebec, Digital Timberlands aims to precisely map forest sections in 3D, providing foresters with a highly detailed, digital view of a section of forest so that they can optimally manage it.

…Canada’s boreal forests, representing the world’s largest intact forest ecosystem and storing at least 208 billion metric tons of carbon, is considered one of the world’s largest terrestrial carbon vaults. In part to meet its climate goals, in part to further reconciliation with Canada’s Indigenous communities, the Canadian government has been turning to them more and more to help manage boreal forests by ceding more of the forest land to Indigenous groups. Last year, the federal government set aside $340 million to support areas protected by Indigenous groups and networks of Indigenous experts. Under this program, more than 50 Indigenous communities across the country have received financing to establish and oversee areas for conservation, turning them into stakeholders entrusted to not only resist deforestation, but also to safeguard their carbon sinks. The program will also support Indigenous people who will oversee these areas. [Access to the full story may require a subscription to the New York Times]

…The Department of Natural Resources is poring over satellite images and foresters are cruising lots around the province as they seek to quantify Fiona’s damage. Right now, they mainly know what it was a lot and that worst hit were valuable stands of mature spruce and fir. Hurricanes have been flattening forests on our peninsular province since before our ancestors wandered out onto the savannah chasing forgotten beasts. Management  regimes are in the midst of a redesign meant to make Nova Scotians live more sustainably with our forests. Fiona flattened some of our best efforts at progressive forestry, but  took a lesser toll on the few older hardwood stands we still have. As foresters and harvesters literally work to pick up the pieces from Fiona, they’re also wrestling with what bigger storms brought on by climate change mean for the future of forest management in this province.

QUEBEC — Even though he lives in the middle of Canada’s boreal forest, Jean-Luc Kanape can sometimes go weeks without seeing a single caribou. …The caribou is a symbol of the power of the subarctic boreal forest, but also the beating heart of Canada’s Indigenous culture. But the broad-snouted deer is “at risk,” Kanape says, notably because of the loss of its natural habitat. In Quebec province, the animal’s future is threatened by the lumber industry, which is crucial in some areas, providing 60,000 jobs, but which also contributes to mass deforestation. …Recent data suggests that caribous, which are called reindeer in Europe, have a better chance of survival if at least 65 percent of their living habitat is preserved. But in this part of Canada, roughly 80 percent of their habitat has been disturbed in some way. 

SHERBROOKE, QC – The ministère des Ressources naturelles et des Forêts is inviting the public to express their views between November 10th and December 5^th, 2022, on the forestry activities listed in the Estrie Operational Integrated Forest Management Plans (PAFIOs). The Department is interested in learning about the concerns of forest users related to planned forest activities. During this period, the public is invited to comment on potential new forest operation zones, specifically regarding: Potential forest operation zones (secteurs d’intervention potentiels) (SIPs) for commercial and non-commercial silvicultural work (timber harvesting, field preparation, reforestation, plantation maintenance and pre-commercial thinning); and Main roads and infrastructure to be constructed or improved where development activities are considered.

The Algonquin Nation has issued a report that says moose in Quebec are suffering “due to colonialism.” The 101-page report called Anishinabe Knowledge and Governance for the Protection of Moose Populations in and around La Verendrye Park, Quebec, compiled using traditional knowledge, government issued-statistics, and on-ground-testimonies from Anishinaabe living with the effects of over-hunting, found that “multiple, compounding factors continue to exacerbate moose herd health and population numbers.” According to the report, if an eventual moose population management plan is to be successful, “all forestry operations must cease immediately, the moratorium on the sport hunting of moose must continue to be enforced and a comprehensive, multi-method study that is co-developed.” …The grassroots report has been in the works since December 2021, following the Quebec government’s approval of a temporary two-year sport hunting moratorium in the La Verendrye wildlife reserve.

The province is providing $1.5 million for three Thunder Bay projects that will train Indigenous people for skilled trades work. According to the province, more than 100 Indigenous people will be served by the hands-on training and apprenticeship programs, which will prepare them for work in forestry and mining. Of the funding, $876,286 will go to two programs run by the Anishinabek Employment and Training Services (AETS), in conjunction with the Carpenters Union Local 1669 and Confederation College. Through this program, 72 participants will learn general carpentry, as well as welding and electrical basics through classroom training and a 12-week paid work placement.

There are many opportunities to create a growing, thriving and sustainable forest economy in Nova Scotia. To be able to capitalize on these opportunities, we need to quickly move to support the larger forestry supply chain. We don’t currently have sufficient demand for low-grade products and waste. This has reduced the overall harvesting capacity in the province. Harvesting capacity is around half of what it was before the closure of Northern Pulp. It also means the forest supply chain is at risk of collapse. …There are solutions within our reach. First, opening the European Union to Nova Scotia forest products would be a game-changer in the short term. …Second, we need to build more with wood. …Third, we are very interested in the possibility posed by district heating. …Finally, Northern Pulp’s efforts to build a world-class facility in Nova Scotia would provide a major boost to the sector.

NORCAT has come a long way in establishing its presence in Timmins as a provider of skilled labour and safety training for mining, forestry and construction. Necessitated by a recent need to expand, NORCAT held an official opening at its new location on Friday, within the provincial government building in Porcupine. “We now have a place to grow and spread our wings right here in Timmins,” said Jason Bubba, NORCAT’s chief operating officer. He said this opens the door to “some amazing new learning technology that we’re going to be bringing to the Timmins training industry.” …Ken Stewart, superintendent in charge of training and development in Timmins, said about 90 per cent of their clients today are in the mining industry, though they also provide training for other industries including forestry.