Region Archives: Canada East

Last February, Calvin Township passed a resolution calling on the province and the country to better prepare for forest fires. Council put together a list of suggestions and recommendations and send it out to municipalities throughout the province and to many provincial and federal government officials. The provincial government recently responded, but the federal government has yet to acknowledge Calvin’s request to create a national strategy to prepare for and fight forest fires. “I’m disappointed that we haven’t heard from the federal government,” Calvin’s Mayor Richard Gould said. “I think we have to look at being a little more proactive” in creating a national strategy. Mayor Gould mentioned that for a federal government so focused on reducing carbon emissions, he’s surprised he has yet to hear from leaders about the township’s proposals.

The Department of Fisheries, Forestry and Agriculture’s Spruce Budworm Early Intervention Control Program will be active along parts of Western Newfoundland and the Northern Peninsula this summer, subject to insect development and weather. Spruce budworm is a destructive forest insect capable of causing widespread defoliation leading to tree mortality and growth losses. Aerial treatments will take place on forest land located south of the Bay of Islands, east of Gros Morne National Park extending to the Baie Verte area, north of Gros Morne National Park up to the Plum Point area, and the Roddickton-Bide Arm area. Up to 90,000 hectares of forest is scheduled to be protected using one or more applications of the biological control agent Btk, which has been approved for use by the Health Canada – Pest Management Regulatory Agency.

Quebec is on high alert for forest fires this week as the province endures a period of hot and dry conditions. An atmospheric trough stationed in the Maritime provinces, which blocked moisture from reaching Quebec. The lack of moisture for the vegetation and abnormally dry soil has increased the danger of forest fires. In addition, ample sun and southerly warmth has recorded temperatures 5°C to 15°C above normal across the province to start June. …Temperatures soared into the 30s with Montreal airport recording 31.4°C on June 4. On Tuesday, Société de protection des forêts contre le feu (SOPFEU) said there is a maximum risk of forest fires nearly everywhere in the province. Vigilance will be needed in the coming days. People have been reminded to be careful of how cigarette butts are discarded, as well as proper incineration of waste, which could easily start fires.

MONTREAL — Demand for commercial drones is growing dramatically — from an estimated $19.9 billion in 2022 to a projected $57 billion in 2030. And the Autonomous Vehicle (AV) market is projected to grow to more than $13 trillion by 2030. But one of the key challenges for drone and AV manufacturers continues to be finding more-accurate and lower-cost navigational sensors that are essential to enabling this growth. …Now a Quebec-based company has developed an inertial optical system that matches the accuracy of navigational sensors used in the aerospace industry at a fraction of the cost. …The company behind this new technology, Montreal-based One Silicon Chip Photonics (OSCP), has partnered with French multinational company Thales, which is developing autonomous rail systems and has been testing OSCP’s prototype in the field. …drones and AVs are also increasingly being used in agriculture, mining, mapping and survey work, as well as in trucking, delivery and other transport industries.

A bid from Corner Brook Pulp and Paper to harvest wood in a local watershed has hit a brick wall at city council. The Kruger-owned company had asked for permission to cut wood near the city’s water supply. The proposal involved harvesting 330 hectares of forest inside an 11,000-hectare protected lake area, as well as the construction of a 2.75-kilometre access road. City council rejected the proposal at its meeting on Monday. “When it comes to drinking water, we’re the ones. The buck stops here,” said Coun. Pamela Gill, who spoke at length about her concerns at the meeting. In a subsequent interview with CBC News, she said that while she isn’t fully opposed to cutting in the watershed, she didn’t feel enough information was given to make a properly informed decision.

Federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault says $8.2 million spent since 2022 has successfully restored several Quebec wetlands inhabited by the threatened western chorus frog. Guilbeault said in a news release the money from the Canada Nature Fund has brought new life to wetlands in the Montérégie region, south of Montreal, and in western Quebec’s Outaouais region. The money given to Nature-Action Québec, Ducks Unlimited Canada and the Nature Conservancy of Canada has allowed the organizations to protect dozens of hectares of green space since 2022. Although not considered endangered across the globe, the tiny western chorus frog is listed as a threatened species in Canada

With World Environment Day just around the corner, a local Nova Scotian organization is working to purchase and conserve forests which are in danger of being clear-cut. The CEO of Growing Forests, Dale Prest, says saving forests from being clear-cut is important to maintain our environment. …Prest says Maritime forests are especially in danger due to the ownership laws around them, as a total of 70 per cent of Nova Scotian forests are privately owned, compared to only five per cent in British Columbia and 10 per cent in Ontario. Many of the over 30,000 small private woodlot owners have owned the land for generations, and as they get older and are in need of money, they sell their properties to forestry companies which hope to clear the trees for profit.

BARRIE, ON – This spring, more than 70 teams from high schools across Ontario competed in environmentally themed regional events that led 17 teams to meet at the University of Waterloo from May 26 to 29. From that series of training workshops, testing, and judged presentations, Grand River Region’s Waterloo Collegiate Institute came out on top as the 2024 Ontario Envirothon champions. All teams showcased their knowledge of Ontario Envirothon’s four core topics – forestry, soils, wildlife, and aquatic ecosystems and soils – along with this year’s current topic of “Biodiversity in a Changing Climate”.  The Waterloo Collegiate Institute team is now headed on to the National Conservation Foundation (NCF)-Envirothon in Geneva, New York, to represent Ontario against hundreds of students from across North America and Asia. “As lead agency of the Ontario Envirothon, we are proud to help the next generation of environmental leaders learn about the environment and hone their STEM skills,” Jess Kaknevicius, CEO, Forests Ontario, says.

Two trees were planted at a park in a suburb outside Halifax Wednesday as a symbol of the community’s resilience after last year’s wildfires. About 80 residents and firefighters gathered at Timberlane Terrace Park in Highland Park subdivision for the ceremony, one year after the fire ripped through 151 homes in Upper Tantallon and Hammonds Plains. “We are all in this together,” Tricia Murray-d’Eon, who organized the event and lost her own home, bellowed to the crowd from a large rock. “We have been through hell this year. “I’m hoping that this occasion can mark a solid return to normal within our subdivision as we try to regroup and rebuild.”

Requests for trees from Prince Edward Island landowners, schools, and community groups have “increased a great deal” since post-tropical storm Fiona in 2022, and the J. Frank Gaudet provincial tree nursery is trying to fill that demand. Mary Myers, the nursery’s manager says most of the trees grown there go to P.E.I.’s forest enhancement program, which supplies trees to Island landowners. She said trees for the forest enhancement program and watershed groups across the Island are the nursery’s priorities. If those two groups need more trees, the greening spaces program may get fewer. …The J. Frank Gaudet nursery recently added three new greenhouses to help with the P.E.I.’s contribution to the federal government’s 2 Billion Trees Program, which aims to plant two billion trees in Canada by 2031.

HALIFAX — Many property owners in the woodsy suburbs of Upper Tantallon and Hammonds Plains are working with a group of organizations to have blackened trees removed from their land. They are being given a new life at a lumber yard in Greenfield, Nova Scotia. Every part of the tree has a use — from wood pellets to lumber — lumber that those in the industry say could easily wind up helping rebuild homes destroyed in the very community they were plucked from. And while clearing the trees has been cathartic for some residents who felt their appearance forced them to relive that day, those in forest ecology say they should have been left alone. …Willett and Freeman Lumber worked with every resident to decide which trees would stay and which would go. Some people wanted mostly everything removed. Some wanted all their hardwoods kept in the hopes it would sprout new life.

Donnie McPhee

The National Tree Seed Centre in Fredericton is trying to add to its already substantial stockpile of seeds, with varieties that are in short supply, for restoration projects and to prepare for the possibility of poor growing seasons in the years ahead. The centre collects seeds for 724 tree and shrub species in 1,000 different eco-districts across the country, said co-ordinator Donnie McPhee. Initially, its focus was to help with research and recovery from things such as insect infestations and wildfires. But that mission has been evolving, said McPhee, since the federal government created a funding program to plant two billion trees. Calls have been coming in from people all over the country who are looking for certain species for their planting projects, many of which are in riparian zones or flood plains, he said. Red maple, elm, and silver maple have been in high demand but “that seed wasn’t available.”

THUNDER BAY, Ontario — A forester and arborist is sounding the alarm on increasing spruce budworm infestations across the Thunder Bay area and expects a further surge this season. Vince Rutter, of Rutter Urban Forestry, said “This year’s spruce budworm infestation leaves me with big concerns about tree health that start with losses to individual landscape trees and can lead to widespread tree mortality, which results in economic losses to the forestry sector, but worse, can lead to fuel for forest fires”. In the region, Rutter said he noticed significant feeding damage last year. This year he expects more damage and defoliation, a trend continuing for the next few years at least. …He pointed out the Kamview Nordic Centre as an example of a forest area which he expects 90% mortality over the next few years.

Hailey Blacquiere

The province is ramping up tree production over the next six years, following in the footsteps of a federal program called 2 Billion Trees. The national program aims to plant that many trees by 2031. Provincially, there are four programs that will plant 300,000 additional trees per year. That’s on top of the 1 million trees that were already being planted annually. The P.E.I. 2 Billion Trees program is run by the provincial Department of Environment, Energy and Climate Action. “These trees will help us reach our net zero goals as well as hold carbon, create buffer zones, help with wildlife corridors, and generally increase our green spaces on the Island,” said Hailey Blacquiere, the 2BT co-ordinator for Prince Edward Island. …The trees are being grown at the J. Frank Gaudet Tree Nursery in Charlottetown, which has three new greenhouses to help support the increased production for the 2BT program. 

I would like to comment on your article titled “Ontario needs to press reset on the forestry sector” and add some additional information from my research on the Impacts of pulp mill closures in Espanola and Terrace Bay, Ontario. First, I thought the article was right on target with their statement, “Sustainably produced forest products are climate-friendly…” I applaud the government’s recent announcements on their investments into developing a bioeconomy from forest products. It would be great if the mills in Espanola and Terrace Bay could somehow be retooled to utilize this new technology. I know most people in Ontario don’t fully understand the full impacts that the closing of these two mills will have. Usually only the direct job losses are reported.

DEMO International is gearing up to make its mark in Ottawa/Gatineau from September 17 to 21, 2024. Organized by the Canadian Woodlands Forum, DEMO International is an event for forestry professionals, showcasing the latest innovations and technologies in action amidst a woodland backdrop. As part of the festivities, the DEMO International Pre-conference will kick off at the Delta Ottawa City Centre on September 17 to 18, offering attendees an opportunity to delve deeper into key industry topics. From presentations on research, automation, and digitalization to discussions on logging and trucking, biodiversity, and sustainability practices, the pre-conference is expected to be an enriching experience for all participants. Additionally, insights into international forestry outlooks from Sweden and Finland will provide perspectives on global forestry trends and best practices. …DEMO International is known for its demonstrations of forestry equipment, providing attendees with a firsthand glimpse into the future of the industry. 

GATINEAU, QC – The Honourable Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment and Climate Change, issued the following statement today: Today, the world celebrates the International Day for Biological Diversity. This year’s theme is, “Be Part of the Plan” to halt and reverse biodiversity loss. We Canadians love our natural surroundings, but few of us stop to think about the absolutely vital importance of nature and biodiverse ecosystems to our economic well-being, our health, and our ability to tackle and adapt to climate change. With biodiversity declining faster than ever due to human activity, now is the time for urgent and transformative action to ensure our children, grandchildren, and many generations to come live in a world where people and nature co-exist and thrive.

Marc Hébert

SUDBURY, Ontario — At the annual Minister of Colleges and Universities Awards for Excellence ceremony, Marc Hébert, who teaches in the forestry and wildlife programs at Collège Boréal’s School of Environment and Natural Resources, received one of these prestigious awards today in the Everyday Hero category. Hébert’s achievements for 2022–2023 include a significant contribution to the City of Greater Sudbury Council’s Regreening Advisory Panel (VETAC). Among other things, Marc Hébert identified improvements needed in the region’s tree production process and proposed concrete solutions. Professor Hébert’s commitment has also fostered close ties with Indigenous communities in Northern Ontario. One notable initiative is the establishment of an Indigenous medicinal garden catering to these communities’ needs for traditional plants.

Jordan Brown

As the forest fire season formally begins, western Labrador’s MHA is calling on the Newfoundland and Labrador government to put back in place a local resource that had been in place for more than three decades. “I would like to have my water bomber back,” Labrador West MHA Jordan Brown said Thursday. …Brown pointed out none of the province’s four water bombers has been stationed in the area since 2018. Brown, who told the House of Assembly that the climate in the vast terrain of western Labrador has changed, said Environment Canada has already listed Labrador West in drought condition. “We’ve had very little snowpack this year. The forests are drying up very quickly in Labrador West,” said Brown, who had raised the issue in the House of Assembly and later spoke about it with reporters.