Region Archives: Canada East

The province has issued a sustainable forest licence (SFL) to the Temagami Forest Management Corporation, giving the group the green light to manage the Temagami Forest in northeastern Ontario. Stretching across 456,770 hectares, the Temagami Forest is located north of North Bay and south of Elk Lake, and encompasses the communities of New Liskeard, Haileybury, Cobalt, Temagami, Latchford, Dymond, Harris, Hudson, and Coleman Townships. Roughly 94 per cent of the Temagami Forest is comprised of Crown land, but only two thirds can be harvested. The rest is off limits, protected as part of provincial parks, conservation reserves, and other “no forestry” land uses.

Rod Cumberland

NEW BRUNSWICK — The head of the Maritime College of Forest Technology said he wanted to keep “a positive relationship” with the forestry industry as he fielded complaints about an instructor he later fired. Officials at NRCan were complaining to college director Tim Marshall about Rod Cumberland, a biologist and instructor who opposes the spraying of the herbicide glyphosate in New Brunswick forests.  Cumberland’s internal criticism… triggered the emails between the federal department, the college and J.D. Irving. …Cumberland argued a conference on vegetation management at the University was one-sided in favour of glyphosate. …Cumberland was fired from his instructor position at the Fredericton college five months later. In a court filing in a wrongful dismissal lawsuit by Cumberland, the college says he attended the conference and was “disrespectful, rude and insolent” toward the scientists. The college denies Cumberland was fired for his views on glyphosate.

For more than 25 years, the Québec Ministry of Forests, Wildlife and Parks has had a very effective tool to make its forest industry more competitive than other provinces. Québec has not implemented a single forest road management plan since the mid-1990s. This has allowed the government and the forest companies operating in the province’s public forests to save money, but it has put nearby aquatic environments, including lakes, rivers and streams — and the animals that live there and rely on them — at risk. Only in Québec does it appear to be a legal and common practice to abandon logging roads once they are no longer needed. This can lead to road erosion and leaching of culvert backfill, both of which pose a direct threat to water quality. These failures gradually lead to tonnes of sediment being deposited in aquatic environments.

The City of Mississauga is conducting an aerial spray this spring. The spray will target and manage Lymantria dispar dispar (LDD), formerly known as “gypsy moth,” in affected city neighbourhoods. The timing of the spray is dependent on weather conditions, the emergence of the LDD caterpillars and the development of leaves on trees. …“LDD caterpillars are an invasive species with distinctive red and blue dots covered in tiny fine hair. They have been around for decades with populations significantly growing over the last number of years leading to record-breaking numbers in Mississauga and across Ontario. While our trees have shown their resiliency facing extreme conditions – there is only so much they can handle before we start to see impacts on their health and survival,” said Stefan Szczepanski, Parks, Forestry & Environment. …Btk is only toxic in the caterpillar stage of the LDD life cycle and does not affect adult moths or butterflies.

My name is Cassandra Bananish, and I am a bilingual Indigenous woman with a passion for the forest. I am from Longlac 58 First Nation and am currently living and studying in Ottawa, Ontario. I am in my second year of college in a three-year program at La Cité in the Forestry and Fauna Program. I always had an affinity for the outdoors and most of my favourite memories were spent outside. …I started my pathway into the forest sector with the Outland Youth Employment Program (OYEP) as a participant. During the program I learned so much about myself and the forestry/mining sector and the hard reality of tree planting… I’ve been working with OYEP for three years now and no other job has left me with the feeling of accomplishment like this one has. …In the coming Summer I will be going back as a CIT for a second year thus doing 4 years with the Outland Youth Employment Program and when September rolls around, I will also be returning to La Cité to complete my last year of college and go wherever opportunity takes me.

NACKAWIC – A New Brunswick forestry company is the first in the province to receive world-class certification for its privately-owned and managed land in York County. AV Group NB is the province’s first recipient of the newly revised Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC) Forest Management Certification on a tract of forest land it owns and manages. Mike Legere, director of government relations and communications with AV Group, said the certification is an important accomplishment. “We think this is bringing some value to our company because that’s what the market is demanding from us,” said Legere. AV Group is the first forestry company in New Brunswick to be awarded certification under a new, revised standard from 2020. The certification was awarded for its management of a 40,000-hectare freehold parcel of Acadian forest in near the community of Nackawic.

How much are Quebecers willing to pay to save the province’s caribou? That’s the question being asked by the province’s independent commission on woodland and mountain caribou.  The commission will launch a series of regional public hearings this spring to gather participants’ opinions on two theoretical scenarios to protect the species. Of the two proposed scenarios, one would do little to protect a quarter of Quebec’s caribou habitats and would have minimal impact on logging. The other involves putting in place more measures to protect caribou but would cost the province millions of dollars and eliminate hundreds of jobs in the forest industry.  The commission’s mandate is not to analyze the causes of the decline in caribou numbers, said Nancy Gélinas, at Université Laval, who is chairing the commission.  “We will not become caribou experts,” she said. 

MISSISSAUGA, Ontario – Kruger has entered into a charitable partnership with One Tree Planted Inc. to plant 100,000 trees throughout North America over the next three years. …”We know sustainable achievements aren’t made through one initiative alone, which is why we are continuously investing in new opportunities to continue reducing our environmental footprint,” said Steven Sage,VP, Sustainability, Kruger Products. “Fibre is essential to our business, so we are committed to using this resource responsibly and seeking out collaborations  to further our sustainable impacts.” …Since 2014, One Tree Planted has worked with over 266 planting partners across more than 43 countries. Together they have planted more than 40 million trees to aid in environmental conservation and reforestation across the globe.

Greg Rickford

From warming water to shifting growing seasons, Ontario is already seeing the effects of climate change. But for the most part, Doug Ford and his government say, the province’s natural resources are doing just fine. In a report the government had declined to make public until The Narwhal requested it through freedom of information legislation, the province concluded that Ontario’s forests, fisheries and biodiversity are “in a healthy and productive state.” And, it takes care to note, extractive industries are producing significant wealth. But that sunny assessment isn’t a complete picture. A closer read of the document, titled “The State of Ontario’s Natural Resources,” may explain why the government previously planned to keep it private. Much of it shows that elements of the natural environment have been deeply damaged by the same activities that have built local economies. 

FREDERICTON, NB – Canada’s forests are an integral part of our fight against climate change. Resilient forest ecosystems help preserve biodiversity, protect and conserve our water resources and mitigate the effects of climate change by capturing and storing carbon, resulting in clean and healthy air. …Today, [the] Minister of Natural Resources, announced the launch of the Indigenous Seed Collection Program, which will build the capacity of Indigenous communities to collect seeds from tree species of cultural, spiritual and economic importance to those communities. This program will be delivered through Natural Resources Canada’s National Tree Seed Centre (NTSC), and will advance conservation and planting of various tree species under the 2 Billion Trees program. It will support Indigenous communities as they play a vital role in ensuring that the right tree is planted in the right place.

In January, a group of maple syrup producers, including the Martins, marched through Saint-Quentin, the heart of New Brunswick syrup country, calling on their government to lease them more of the sugar bush. One syrup producer, Denis Côté, said “They’re clear-cutting everything.” In Quebec, syrup makers created a video critical of loggers, and demanded that governments protect Crown land for that sweet nectar of spring. Sawmills and pulp mills have long been pillars of New Brunswick’s economy, but the province’s northeast, where the Martins live, is increasingly known these days for maple syrup. As demand for syrup soars, syrup producers in New Brunswick and Quebec are demanding that governments reduce logging and protect more maple trees. …You need maple trees to make maple syrup but the wood of maple trees has many other uses: floors, furniture, etc. This leaves governments in a sticky situation.

Logging proposed on Nova Scotia Crown land adjacent to the world’s remaining population of critically endangered Atlantic Whitefish is raising concerns among groups trying to save the species. But the provincial department reviewing the harvest application says there’s no evidence previous agricultural and forest activity in the area has caused aquatic habitat degradation or negative effects on Atlantic Whitefish. A consortium of forest companies, WestFor wants to harvest a 49-hectare parcel at Minamkeak Lake near Bridgewater and dozens more hectares in parcels slightly further away. …The public has until April 23 to comment on the plan, which involves a “shelterwood” harvest at Minamkeak Lake. The department said that method removes a stand of mature trees in two or three cuts over five to 20 years to allow sunlight in to stimulate the growth of seedlings.