Region Archives: Canada East

A biologist by training, Marie-Claude Gros-Louis has worked at the Laurentian Forestry Centre for over 20 years. In 2020, she successfully began a career shift that few public servants make. She stepped from the world of science into the world of partnerships by becoming a liaison for national Indigenous forestry programs. “I very much wanted to contribute to the development of Indigenous nations. At first, my new position required a lot of adaptation, but I am very proud of what I have accomplished,” explains Marie-Claude, who is a member of the Huron-Wendat Nation of Wendake… She assists Indigenous proponents in Quebec with their forestry-related economic development projects. Whether it is to refine a project idea, to look for financial partners, to follow the progress of a financed project or to promote it, she adjusts to the needs of the clients and the requirements of the program.  

Lots of snow and rain this winter in Nova Scotia means the ground is soggy in much of the province as fire season officially starts Tuesday. But that’s never a true indication, says the Department of Natural Resources and Renewables. Wildfire prevention officer Kara McCurdy says it’s hard to predict what a fire season will be like based on the winter. “Every year it’s hard to predict what the weather will be,” she said Monday. “There are some winters that we’ve had no snow and we expect the spring to be really busy, and then it’s the opposite.” Last year was an example of that, she said. …“Every year it gets a little bit earlier and goes a little bit later into the fall,” McCurdy said. …At this time of year the ground is covered in … fine fuels that dry out easily, burn fast and cause fires to spread rapidly.

THUNDER BAY — The Ontario and federal governments are negotiating an agreement to collaborate on measures to protect the threatened woodland caribou population. Canada’s largest environmental law charity and the Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association (NOMA) both have big concerns about the proposal, but for very different reasons. Ecojustice alleges that it’s simply “a plan to make plans,” and requires major revisions to ensure the survival of the caribou herd. …A summary of the proposed inter-government collaboration was posted last month in the Environmental Registry of Ontario. It says the measures are aimed at enhancing caribou conservation in the context of broader socio-economic interests. …Ecojustice has seized on this, saying the draft agreement focuses on balancing and even prioritizing economic considerations, contrary to the Species at Risk Act. …NOMA says an agreement that endorses the federal definition of “self-sustaining” will potentially devastate northern Ontario’s economy.

But the “friends” look familiar, and the “new” Northern Pulp sure looks a lot like the same old Northern Pulp. This is how the “Friends of a New Northern Pulp” describe themselves on their website: We are Nova Scotians who care deeply about our province, our forests, and our communities. We are the 36,000 Nova Scotians who own small and large woodlots. …The wording suggests that every one of the 36,000 small and large woodlot owners in the province is a “friend”. If this statement were true, then I — as a woodlot owner — would count among them. …This latest campaign designed to sell the “new Northern Pulp” is very much like the one waged by the industrial forestry sector’s prime lobby group, Forest Nova Scotia, back in 2019, in an effort to keep the pulp mill open.

Doug Larson

Ancient cedars weren’t the mystery Doug Larson was seeking to unravel when he first rappelled down from the edge of the Niagara Escarpment in search of cliffside forests.   He wanted to know how these hardy trees prospered, clinging to the side of the rock face — he never expected they’d been doing it for a really, really long time.  Larson, an ecologist, had been dissuaded from continuing his previous work studying lichens: “It’s just rock scum, nobody cares,” one critic told him. So, he was out on the rocky ridge of the escarpment, in Halton Region west of Toronto, to instead study cedars he saw as “basically like big lichens.”   “What we thought and what we expected was that European colonists had literally nuked the forest vegetation of Southern Ontario,” he said.  …When they began counting the trees’ miniscule rings under a microscope, the researchers realized they had found something considerably more long in the tooth.

International lumber prices are surging again and private sellers of wood in New Brunswick say that’s been helping them get better prices for their softwood logs. In Maine. Linda Bell of the Carleton-Victoria Forest Products Marketing Board, said prices being paid for saw logs at mills across the border are up to 70 per cent higher than in New Brunswick. …A series of shocks to lumber supplies, including historic flooding in BC and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, have taken turns roiling markets. …Dustin Jalbert [Fastmarkets] says “This Russia Ukraine situation is only adding to the fear out in the marketplace… as we head into the prime home-building season.” In New Brunswick, forestry companies have been setting revenue records during the pricing bumps, but those who cut and sell trees have complained for more than a year that little of that bounty has been making its way back to them or flowing to the province.

A Montreal non-profit group is transforming wood from Montreal’s cut-down ash trees into classic toboggans.  Volunteers at Les Jeunes Marins Urbains have taken their woodworking skills crafting sailboats to building traditional sleds.  “I thought this was going to be easier than making sailboats but I was wrong,” director Yves Plante said. “It’s completely different.”  Since 2015, with the helping hands of volunteers and partners, Jeunes Marins Urbains, from its woodshop in Hochelaga, has transformed ash wood offered by the City of Montreal and Hydro-Quebec into recreational sailboats and oars.  Plante says he started making the first toboggans in December 2021 as a pandemic project. It has since picked up speed, with more than a dozen already made.  The handcrafted toboggans vary in size from four feet to 10 feet.  Plante says when he takes his work out on the hills, people of all ages are fascinated by the old-fashioned sled.

The government is making the Innovation Rebate Program a permanent program and investing $12 million each year to help Nova Scotia businesses thrive. Susan Corkum-Greek, Minister of Economic Development, made the announcement to a business audience today, March 3. Two other pilot rebate programs – the Forestry Innovation Rebate Program and the Small and Medium Enterprise Innovation Rebate Program – will be combined with the Innovation Rebate Program to form a single program, effective April 1. The three programs had been set to end March 31.

Peterborough ON  – Fleming College will offer three new intakes of its free SkillsAdvance Ontario – Forestry training program for job seekers. The four-week program is designed to build skills progressively for entry-level jobs in the forestry industry… It focuses on both soft and hard skills, such as forest measurement, navigation and inventory, health and safety, lumber grading, log scaling and equipment operation. The program also provides support from employment consultants and job search assistance. For employers looking to increase the skill level and qualifications of their workforce, the SAO Forestry initiative provides an opportunity to access training for its existing employees. Fleming works with employers to identify skills gaps to collectively build a stronger forestry workforce for the future. The Ontario government announced a $5-million investment in the program in 2021 to address labour shortages in the forestry industry – one of the province’s largest industrial sectors and a major economic driver.

Scientists in Sault Ste Marie, Ont., have made a discovery about the emerald ash borer that could help assess future risk to the region’s — and Canada’s — threatened ash trees.  Amanda Roe, a scientist at the Great Lakes Forestry Centre, studied how the ash borer was able to survive extreme cold temperatures and adapt its physiology to severe Canadian winters.   The study, titled “Plasticity,” was published in Current Research in Insect Science. Co-authors include Meghan Gray and Chris MacQuarrie from Great Lakes Forestry Centre, and Meghan Duell and Brent Sinclair from Western University in London.  Roe said the researchers isolated beetle larvae to study how they reacted under extreme cold temperatures similar to those in Canada, specifically, icy Winnipeg temperatures.  “These larvae actually can survive really cold temperatures, and they do that by keeping their blood from freezing,” Roe said.

Two pieces of land on Nova Scotia’s South Shore that provide habitat to some endangered animals are being protected by the Nature Conservancy of Canada. The newly conserved land — nearly 160 hectares in total — is made up of salt marshes, tidal flats, beaches and Wabanaki-Acadian forest. It connects with existing protected areas on the Port Joli peninsula, including Thomas Raddall Provincial Park. Andrew Holland, spokesperson for the nature conservancy, said the protection is strategic. “It’s not easy to find larger tracts of lands, wetlands, forests and coastal areas that have been unspoiled, so you’ve got to seize the opportunities as they come up, no matter the size,” Holland said. …Forty-seven hectares of land was donated, and 110 hectares came at a cost of about $400,000 — a figure that includes the purchase of the land.

CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — Sawmill owners in Prince Edward Island will soon have access to a new revenue stream that may also contribute to the province’s net zero plan, but professionals in the field say more infrastructure is needed to get involved in the process. Starting this spring, P.E.I. sawmill owners will be able to stamp construction-grade lumber in the province, the minister of agriculture announced in the legislative assembly on Feb. 25. Responding to opposition questions, Bloyce Thompson said potential graders have already spoken up about becoming certified. …Opposition leader Peter Bevan-Baker brought up lumber during a line of questioning around the net zero plan. “One of the issues that woodlot owners face here on Prince Edward Island, which contributes to the tendency to clearcut rather than sustainably harvest their forests, is the absence of mills here on P.E.I. able to stamp Prince Edward Island-produced lumber,” noted Bevan-Baker.

John Pineau

The Ontario Woodlot Association (OWA) is helping landowners take care of the health of their forests with a pilot project. Last year, the not-for-profit organization began the Community Forest Owners Cooperative pilot project, providing woodlot owners with an affordable way to access professional foresters. …Jack McFadden and his wife Janet are having their forest thinned out. McFadden says they always loved their forest the way it was, but the couple was surprised to find out the lot had health problems and invasive species. …It’s good for the environment, and OWA executive director John Pineau adds it also benefits the local economy. Professional forester Eleanor Reed says they have six more projects to be completed by May. …Any woodlot owners in the two eligible regions can apply. 

An official with Nova Scotia’s Natural Resources Department says buffers will be placed on a piece of Crown land in Annapolis County to protect species at risk, but logging will still be permitted at the site.  Protesters have been camped out near Beals Brook between Roxbury and Albany since December. They don’t want a partial harvest that would remove about one-third of the trees on the 24-hectare site to proceed.  The province recently put a hold on the harvest after a citizen scientist identified lichen that could be rare. A recent expert report confirmed that there are three species that need to be protected.  Ryan McIntyre, resource manager for the province’s western region, said the department was pleased to get the additional information.  …”The fact that we can now protect those individual occurrences, you know, is a good thing.”