Region Archives: Canada East

THUNDER BAY — Friends of Wabakimi, a 250-member group of wilderness paddlers and recreational businesses, is lobbying for the preservation of new areas adjacent to the large wilderness park northwest of Lake Nipigon. …Vern Fish of Waterloo, Iowa is the president of Friends of Wabakimi. He says the group has participated in the Ontario government’s planning process for the Wabadowgang Noopming Forest in the Armstrong area. It’s proposed four new Conservation Reserves and limitations on planned logging roads within a designated woodland caribou special area of concern. …For Kristen Setala, the upcoming trip is also an opportunity for her to gather data for Ontario’s third Breeding Bird Atlas. Setala is the Community Science intern for Ontario Nature, based in Thunder Bay. According to Ontario Nature, habitat loss is the greatest threat to breeding birds in Canada.

The Nova Scotia government has indefinitely delayed an application to log on Crown land near Bridgewater, N.S., to protect critically endangered Atlantic whitefish. Westfor had applied to cut near lakes in the Petite Rivière watershed, the last place on earth where Atlantic whitefish still survive in the wild. The Department of Natural Resources and Renewables said Monday it has “placed an indefinite hold” on the proposed harvest plan. It applied to log three parcels of Crown land near Minamkeak Lake, one of three lakes where Atlantic whitefish, the ancient relative of Atlantic salmon, persist. Minamkeak is the only one of the three lakes free of invasive chain pickerel. …In a statement, Westfor accepted the results of the department’s review, which found “that at the planning level the amount road work required would not meet Best Management Practices for this site.”

Northern Ontario First Nations emergency management professionals and organizations gathered in Thunder Bay, Ont., in preparation for the upcoming wildfire season. The inaugural “After Action Responders Forum,” hosted by the Northern Ontario Emergency Management Working Group, was designed to give First Nations and people working in emergency management a chance to share experiences, challenges and best practices from previous years. …The conference came on the heels of a record wildfire season — with more hectares of land burned in Ontario in 2021 that in any other year in history and over 3,000 people forced from their homes, many of them from remote First Nations in the northwest. …Derek Maud, a former chief and now the community emergency management coordinator for Lac Seul First Nation said it was an important networking opportunity, given that the position of community emergency management coordinator is a relatively new one for First Nations.

The cost of fighting Ontario forest fires last year during one of the hottest summers in memory is in the stratosphere, even more than previous seasons that were similarly rife with fires.  The province finally released the 2021 tally of $239 million on Wednesday, following months of requests for the figure by Northwestern Ontario news media outlets, including The Chronicle-Journal.  Normally, an estimate is released in late fall. It wasn’t clear why the province chose to release the figure for 2021 on the first official day of the election campaign, although it did follow yet another request by The Chronicle-Journal.  Meanwhile, on Monday the province’s Aviation, Forest Fire and Emergency Services department recorded the first fire of this season — a small blaze about 20 kilometres north of Dryden at Anaway Lake.  Most forest fires at this time of year are caused by human activity, the department says.

A joint federal and provincial commitment to revive the boreal caribou population in Northern Ontario doesn’t go far enough for some conservation and environmental groups. A news release penned by the David Suzuki Foundation, Ontario Nature, Ecojustice and the Wildlands League said the new agreement will “do more harm than good” for the threatened species which roams mostly in Ontario’s Far North. They collectively say the agreement contains no real commitments or targets to protect or restore caribou habitat. “It ignores the negative and cumulative impacts industrial logging, road building, drilling and blasting are having that impede the recovery of caribou,” the release said. The groups are referring to an announcement by Ottawa and Queen’s Park to commit $5 million this year and next to put plans into action with measures that combine evidence-based approaches with Indigenous traditional knowledge.

Ontario burned through and exceeded its 2021 Emergency Fire Funds by $139 million in last year’s forest fire season. MNRF Fire Information Officer, Chris Marchand notes this is the interim cost. …The interim funds given each year were well exceeded as a very dry spring and summer in 2021, created a record year for forest fires in Ontario as the province saw 1180 fires burning over 770,000 hectares, which surpassed the previous record set in 1995 of 713,914 hectares. …The biggest fire in the Northwest Region was the Kenora 51 fire that was burning through the Woodland Caribou Provincial Park, 120 kilometres north of Kenora, and was listed at over 200,000 hectares in size. Kenora 51 was labeled out of control for most of the summer. …In 2021, wildland fires resulted in the evacuation of approximately 3,400 residents from their homes in seven communities across Ontario’s Northwest Region.

The following statement was read in the House of Assembly today by the Honourable Derrick Bragg, Minister of Fisheries, Forestry and Agriculture: Speaker, forest fire season has started for the island and will begin in Labrador on May 15. The season remains in effect for the entire province until September 30. I would like to remind everyone enjoying the province’s beautiful outdoors this summer that you all have a role to play in protecting our forests from the threat of wildfire. Be cautious when lighting fires in and around forest areas, never leave one unattended, and always ensure fires are completely extinguished. I strongly encourage anyone planning a fire to learn the outdoor burning regulations and to check the Forest Fire Hazard Index Rating Maps on the Department of Fisheries, Forestry and Agriculture website to determine the wildfire risk for their location in the province.

It is long past time for the Nova Scotia government to take the proverbial bull by the horns and deal decisively with the deeply-embedded conflict of interest within the Department of Natural Resources and Renewables (DNRR). This conflict, of course, is between the department’s unabashed priority on forestry resource development and exploitation and its responsibilities for Crown land management and biodiversity protection. DNRR’s steadfast promotion of forestry as the predominant use of Crown lands not only lays bare the fundamental conflict within the department’s mandate but also flies in the face of the interests and expectations of Nova Scotians regarding the responsible stewardship of our publicly-owned natural assets. Persistent public criticism and pressure for reform led to two government-initiated arm’s-length reviews… The outcomes, the 2011 natural resources strategy and the 2018 independent review of forest practices (the Lahey report), generally were well-received, with recommendations advanced accepted by government.

ONTARIO — Election promises should be examined carefully, from all parties, not just believed because they sound good. The recent Earth Day promises of the NDP and Liberals were simply reported without being questioned. …In their attempt to win the June 2 Ontario election, the NDP and Liberals tried to outbid each other on how many trees they would plant. Steven Del Duca’s Liberals were first out of the gate on Earth Day with a promise of 800 million trees over 8 years followed shortly thereafter by Andrea Horwath saying her party would plant 1 billion trees by 2030 if elected. It’s hard to be against trees, and I’m not, but these promises simply aren’t based in reality. …These promises are attempts by both parties to show they care about the environment while doing little to actually improve the environment.

Tory Rushton

The Nova Scotia government has advised foresters who have been pre-approved to cut on Crown land they have until June 1 to start cutting or they will have to use more eco-friendly cutting practices as the province shifts to an ecological forestry model recommended four years ago. Natural Resources Minister Tory Rushton called it a “fundamental shift in how forestry is done in the province.” …”There are going to be some hiccups along the way,” said Rushton. “But I’ve been very adamant that we have one chance to get this right, and I certainly want to take the time to ensure that we’re moving at the right pace, in the right direction on this.” …Ray Plourde, senior wilderness co-ordinator at the Ecology Action Centre in Halifax, said he was happy to see the government set the June 1 deadline.

Additional coverage: Government of Nova Scotia Press Release: Province Making Progress on Implementing New Forest Practices Guide

A fund for emergency forest firefighting in Ontario has been cut. The Ontario budget shows $100 million is being set aside for 2022. Last year, Ontario spent $239 million, more than double the amount of money that had been set aside. The province had a record setting year for forest fires in 2021 with nearly 800,000 hectares of land being scorched, a majority in Northwestern Ontario. The Conservative government released the financial plan Thursday, however it will likely not be approved before the Ontario Legislature dissolves Wednesday.[END]

Planting trees to replace clear-cut forests is not good enough to protect the ecosystem, according to a new study focused on forests in the Maritimes. Matt Betts, a professor of forest ecology at Oregon State University, is studying the decline of bird species caused by deforestation in the Maritimes and the replacement of diverse Acadian forests with one type of tree. The study, which was published Thursday in Nature, Ecology and Evolution, shows some species have seen a population decline of up to 70 per cent since 1985. More common species have seen a decline of 50 per cent. “At the very least, we need to change some of our core forestry practices, focus more on maintaining those those nice, colorful Acadian forest tree species we have,” he told Shift New Brunswick. The species most affected is a little migrant songbird with a bright orange face called the Blackburnian warbler, which has seen a 70 per cent decline.

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Bird species that live in wooded areas are under stress from human-caused changes to forest composition, according to new research led by Oregon State University that quantifies the effects of forest “degradation” on bird habitat.  “Reducing forest loss has been the main focus of conservation policy to date, which is well justified because it has a strong negative effect on biodiversity,” said Matt Betts of the OSU College of Forestry. “But the effects of changing the composition and age of forest via timber management have traditionally been very difficult to measure at large scales and thus have been largely ignored. Our work shows population declines in many bird species in eastern Canada are due to habitat loss caused by forestry activities.”  Findings by the international collaboration led by Betts were published today in Nature Ecology and Evolution.

SUDBURY — NORCAT, a global leader in the development and provision of skilled labour training, is excited to announce an investment of $450,000 from the Government of Ontario to empower career-building opportunities for Indigenous peoples residing in rural and remote areas of Northern Ontario through the expansion of NORCAT’s Development Series program in Thunder Bay. Northern Ontario continues to see a growing demand for trained, skilled, safety conscious and production ready machine and equipment operators to fulfill meaningful roles in priority industries, including forestry and mining. NORCAT’s Development Series program aims to address this demand by providing experiential, hands-on skilled labour training to 20 prospective workers over the next 12 months.

Pierre Dufour

Quebec is warning the federal government that its zeal to protect caribou could cost jobs, like the cod fishing moratorium of 1992. Ottawa has threatened to intervene directly to save the caribou, using the Species at Risk Act, and demanded Quebec present a plan by April 20. Pierre Dufour, Quebec’s minister of forests, fauna and parks, said Wednesday negotiations are continuing and consultations he launched are still in progress through an independent committee, and they will continue until May 17. He compared the federal government’s threat to a moratorium imposed on cod fishing in 1992, which led to the loss of 40,000 jobs but saved the species. Dufour said the committee is going “into these territories where the caribou are, to get the pulse of the population.”

TORONTO –  A newly signed agreement between Canada and Ontario will do more harm than good for threatened boreal caribou in the province, leading environmental groups say. The agreement, released on Earth Day, ironically encourages the clearing of habitat and fails to rein in the destructive practices that are responsible for putting caribou at risk in the first place, the groups describe in a scathing rebuke. “For a minister who has scaled the CN Tower for climate and is nicknamed ‘Green Jesus’ in Québec, this is a betrayal of his promise to halt and reverse nature loss,” says Anna Baggio, Conservation Director, Wildlands League. “The agreement locks in and funds five more years of delays and destructive practices,” Baggio added. “Minister Guilbeault has prioritized relations with the provincial government over safeguarding habitat,” says Rachel Plotkin, Boreal Project Manager of David Suzuki Foundation.

Domtar has sold a large swath of boreal forest near Hearst to the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC), which will use the land for research and conservation.  The deal impacts 1,450 square kilometres of land — in an area known as the Hearst Forest — that had been managed as a wood supply to Domtar’s pulp and paper operations. The company has not operated in the area for several years.  Domtar said it agreed to transfer ownership of the land to the NCC for $7 million below its appraised value.  The transaction is being described as the “largest private land conservation agreement in Canadian history.”  “Domtar is excited to be engaging with the smart men and women at NCC, who share many of our values regarding sustainable forest management, science-based research and public transparency,” said Rob Melton, Domtar’s senior vice-president of commercial, pulp and paper, in an April 22 news release.

Additional coverage in the Hill Times, by Catherine Grenier: Boreal Wildlands project a model for combatting biodiversity loss and climate change