Region Archives: Canada East

The Earth is sick and so are its peoples, with Indigenous Peoples being affected more than most. Despite the warnings and the solutions Indigenous Peoples have provided, they continue to be ignored. This is environmental racism. Take, for example, the Quebec government’s recent decision to again postpone its strategy to recover caribou across the province. For an animal of profound cultural and spiritual significance, that is also central to Indigenous food systems, the decision is a death sentence. This is a direct affront to the Indigenous communities for whom the caribou play a fundamental role. Not only the lack of action for caribou recovery, but the lack of real dialogue or meaningful efforts to listen to Indigenous perspectives is in itself a form of environmental racism. Through the inaction and inertia of the Government of Quebec, the ancestral rights of Indigenous Peoples have been and are still widely violated.

Town of Fort Frances Mayor June Caul issued a public apology for releasing a confidential legal opinion to a local resident, during Monday night’s council meeting. The apology was made at the unanimous request of council, following an in-camera discussion. “I definitely misstepped in the way I handled the situation,” Caul said in her statement. “I should have asked council to give me permission to share the report from the lawyers and for this, I humbly apologize.” …A local barrister claimed he obtained, through a Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection Privacy Act request, all emails Caul sent to and received from local resident David Kircher. …Kircher has been publicly vocal about investigating the sustainable forest license that was held by Resolute Forest Products when they owned the Fort Frances mill. The sustainable forest license is now under the management of the Boundary Waters Forest Management Corporation. 

Preparations for Demo International, originally scheduled for 2020 were on track as we worked with our partners and host, SBC Cedar (SBC) to develop and invest in a world class show site, which at that time was 75% complete. However, the pandemic prompted the decision on two occasions to postpone the event to ensure the health and safety of our exhibitors, visitors, partners and contractors.  The Demo International management team continues to be actively engaged in reviewing and discussing the ongoing circumstances around the pandemic… Despite their best intentions, these challenges have made it extremely difficult for many manufacturers to maintain their participation in the 2022 show. The Canadian Woodlands Forum Board of Directors in partnership with our host SBC Cedar & show partners, have made the difficult decision to postpone DEMO International until September 2024, putting the show back on track with its four-year cycle and providing time for the global economy and supply chains to recover.

Residents of Port Blandford and the provincial government continue to be in a bit of a racket that pits the benefits of a growing forestry industry against the potential negative impact on a treed valley and a river the town depends on for its tourism draw. The province released its five-year forestry operating plan for Zone 2 — which includes Port Blandford and the picturesque Southwest River valley — from the environmental assessment process Wednesday, Jan. 5. Residents of the area have been fighting the provincial government since 2017 on the issue of commercial clearcutting, citing its possible impact on the river, and on migrating caribou and pine martin, and limiting tourism growth potential for hiking trails, bird watching and kayaking, and as a backdrop for the town and businesses. The residents are frustrated with what they claim is the government’s lack of effort to meet with them to address their concerns.

Endangered turtles in Nova Scotia have secured some new habitat thanks to a successful fundraising campaign over the holidays. The province is home to four species of turtles, three of which are endangered. The Blanding’s turtle, which sports an endearing smile, is one of the most vulnerable. It’s estimated that just 500 of them remain, which is especially concerning due to their slow maturity rates. So, 50 extra acres of protected habitat is key, said Anna Weinstein, communications lead at Nova Scotia Nature Trust, which secured the property. Over $70,000 was raised to purchase the land, and any extra funds that aren’t spent on the purchase will be put towards future turtle conservation efforts. …Looking forward, Weinstein said Nature Trust will continue securing more habitat for the turtles, as well as other at-risk species in the province.

Based upon the growing number of letters to this paper and ramped-up news in other media articles, an increasing population of Nova Scotians are providing their opinions on forestry and clearcutting activities. …The vocal desire to exercise management control over privately owned lands is somewhat current and recently suffered a dismal failure in the controversy surrounding the Rankin government’s reversal and downscaling of its Biodiversity Act. It’s timely to have these discussions. ….It is my opinion that private woodlot owners will not accept harvesting controls imposed upon them. One can ask why should they. …Let’s start by moving away from the destructive practices that affect species at risk and the greater environment. Let’s also give something to the private landowners to incentivise the best management practices going forward.

Jesse Saindon

Conservationists are working together to save one of the last old growth tree species on New Brunswick’s floodplain. Bur oak is ecologically and culturally important in the province. Historically, it grows along the floodplain of the St. John River and its tributaries. Once plentiful, it now only grows in about one per cent of its original range in the province. It was harvested to make oak barrels in the 18th and 19th centuries and has fallen victim to deforestation and agricultural development, according to Jesse Saindon. Saindon is the owner and grower at Liberty Tree Nursery, outside of Fredericton and part of a group of conservationists working to recover the bur oak population. …Saindon has grown at least 2,000 bur oak seedlings over the past three years.  …The Nashwaak Watershed Association buys many of the seedlings Saindon grows and has been busy planting them along the floodplain of the Nashwaak River.

There is an orphan Christmas tree in my arboretum. It comes from the mountains of British Columbia where it once protected the valleys below from flooding. The blue giant dwarfs my house sending a steeple into the sky. Every year this tree lives, it presents me with a botanical surprise. …The Abies concolor candicans, possibly crossed with Abies grandis, is a wonder of nature. The blue colour makes it one of the first adaptors to climate change because the leaf cuticle is extra thick. The tree is fire and drought resistant. It guards the waterways of the mountains of the western seaboard. It holds the soil in place with its plunging roots. This tree happens to be one in 100 million fir trees that can make the difference for the people who live in the valleys of B.C.

The membership of the Canadian Association of Retired Persons, Nova Scotia chapter (CARP NS), is comprised of seniors and others 45 years of age and older. This is a stage of life when thoughts increasingly turn to the legacy our generation will leave to our grandchildren and those who will follow. Considered from this perspective, the debate that is raging across Nova Scotia over the state of the province’s forests, particularly Crown-owned forest lands, is troubling and, frankly, alarming. …The obvious concern, identified in Lahey’s evaluation report …is that Crown lands required to meet the 20 per cent protection target …will continue to be lost to aggressive industrial forestry harvesting operations. CARP NS therefore finds itself in agreement with recommendations to significantly curtail industrial forestry operations on Crown land over the timeframe required for planning to meet the protected areas target and to delineate the triad zoning system.

Christmas tree growers in Nova Scotia say they’re already experiencing the impacts of climate change on their industry, and they’re preparing for even more. Balsam fir, the predominant species grown for Christmas trees in the province, require a series of frosts in the autumn to harden off and retain their needles long after they’re cut. But those fall frosts are becoming scarcer. “We’re lucky in here — we have a cold climate. However, we’re seeing changes. Our falls are getting warmer,” said Chrissy Trenholme, the assistant manager of the Northeastern Christmas Tree Association. When Trenholme spoke with the CBC two days before Halloween, growers were about to start cutting trees to ship to U.S. markets. But with only about seven frosts in the Giants Lake area of Guysborough County where she is located, she was concerned about trees drying out before they arrived at their destinations.

Tom Miller

A Green Hill man is concerned how forests will be spared well into the future. Tom Miller, a Healthy Forest Coalition member, said Crown forests are being cut while the province’s Lahey Report remains unheeded. “It seems like it’s full bore ahead in the forest industry,” he said in a phone interview shortly after eight organizations in the province called for an immediate moratorium on forest harvesting on public lands in Nova Scotia. “They talk ecology and mow down on production. I’m for the moratorium, but that hasn’t happened. Something’s wrong.” …Miller said he’s most bothered that fees for foresters like him have been stagnant while sawmills and forest companies’ fees have risen. “The money’s staying at the top,” he said, adding he’s concerned about how the province’s forests will be treated. 

THUNDER BAY, ONTARIO  – Representatives from Resolute Forest Products Inc. and Lac des Mille Lacs First Nation celebrated the renewal of a long-term partnership agreement at a signing ceremony held in Thunder Bay, Ontario. For nearly 25 years, Resolute and Lac des Mille Lacs First Nation, a Treaty 3 Nation located in Northwestern Ontario, have enjoyed a productive, mutually beneficial partnership. The First Nation community participates in forest management and land use planning, and plays an active role in local citizen committees, providing valuable input and expertise on matters related to local development and commercial enterprise. Resolute also announced a $25,000 contribution to the Lac des Mille Lacs Education Centre, an innovative, multicultural school established in 2019 in the city of Thunder Bay.

The president of a forestry group that’s licensed to cut trees on Crown land in Nova Scotia is pushing back against calls for a moratorium on cutting, saying the livelihood of forestry workers is at stake. Earlier this month, people representing eight environmental and community groups demanded that the provincial government immediately halt all logging on public land until recommendations in the Lahey report are fully implemented. They say it was their only option after years of inaction on the forestry file by the province. But Jamie Lewis, president of WestFor Management, told CBC that halting logging on Crown land would have a “very negative impact on a lot of families and a lot of people who count on the forest industry and cutting on Crown lands to sustain their jobs.” …Tory Rushton, minister of natural resources and renewables, told CBC News that there will be no moratorium on Crown land harvests.

Timmins-based Mikro-Tek uses fungi to improve tree growth and help offset carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. And now the company has secured $3.7 million from the federal government to help commercialize its technology. “What we do is we produce certain fungal organisms that enhance plant growth,” said Mark Kean, the company’s president. Kean started the company in the 1990s and has researched mycorrhizal fungi that can colonize the roots of most plants. That leads to increased nutrient uptake, which helps plants grow more rapidly. Kean said the special fungi are especially useful in environments where plants might have limited nutrients to draw from, such as reclaimed mine sites. His company identifies the specific fungi that work best with particular types of trees.

K.C. Irving bought 900,000 acres for $1.50 each — the foundation of an empire for J.D Irving Ltd., one of the defendants facing a Wolastoqey title claim. 

This short video story is available from the Read More link below.

Rob Keen

Re: Only 8.5 million of the two billion trees promised by PM have been planted so far, Dec. 13. What your readers might not be aware of is that the federal government has supported Forests Ontario’s 50 Million Tree Program since 2020, resulting in the planting of more than 4.6 million seedlings in Ontario over the past two years alone, and contributing to a cumulative program total of 34 million and growing across the country. Forests Ontario, alongside our national division, Forest Recovery Canada, and our many partners nationwide, are well equipped to support a successful two-billion tree commitment. We also recognize the significant and immediate investment that will be required to meet this target, and look forward to working with the federal government to achieve greener and healthier communities for generations to come.

Bill Lahey’s 2018 Independent Review of Forest Practices – the Lahey report – was seen [then and today] as a compromise and generally accepted … by foresters and environmentalists alike. (The two are not mutually exclusive.) Three years later, Lahey’s review of the province’s progress – or lack of progress – implementing the recommendations he made in 2018 and, in particular, his assertion that nothing has changed on the ground since, has been decried as nonsense by foresters and others. But environmental groups and their allies embraced Lahey’s year-three report card as affirming and confirming. They say … that while the province stalls the implementation of the Lahey report, clear-cutting has continued apace in publicly-owned forests. …It’s been brought to my attention that I should declare my bias [and] come out of the “green closet.” …consider this my coming out. …The Lahey report’s recommendations would protect a slice of a slice of Nova Scotia’s forests, but only if it’s implemented. [We respect the copyrights of the source publication – full access may require a subscription]

…I was greatly concerned when I read the progress report on the implementation of the 2018 Lahey report. …I think one of the main messages that causes almost everyone concern is this:  “None of the work underway on [the report] recommendations has resulted in any actual change on the ground in how forestry is being planned, managed, or conducted, and I have no indication of when any of it will…” As a professional forester and as a private woodlot owner, I was in complete disbelief after reading these remarks. In fact, there has been a great deal of change in Nova Scotia forestry since Lahey’s report was released in 2018, and in the decades prior to that as well. …I am in substantial disagreement with Lahey’s conclusion that “lack of progress” can, in part, be blamed on our forestry community given the very real and material changes that have occurred since the report was released. [We respect the copyrights of the source publication – full access may require a subscription]

Jeff Bishop

The forest sector is no stranger to calls for improving what we do… But what we can not stand by for activists being less than truthful with Nova Scotians, while hiding behind their true goal of shutting down forestry in this province. Sadly, local media stories show these activists seem intent to dismantle most of our rural, resource-based sectors in the same way. “The activists calling on the provincial government to halt all harvesting on Crown lands are being dishonest,” says Jeff Bishop, with Forest Nova Scotia. …Telling Nova Scotians that the primary goal of the Lahey recommendations was to protect our forests is quite contrary to the actual report. …Claims of ‘nothing being done’ in changes to forest management and operations flies in the face of reality. All due respect to Bill Lahey on this one, but he and the activists clearly did not spend time on the ground.

Thunder Bay – Lakehead University professors are able to perform important research thanks to the more than $2.1 million in NSERC grants and approximately $1.15 million in funding from partner organizations. …Dr. Ashley Thomson, Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Natural Resources Management, is receiving an Alliance grant of nearly $80,000 and $40,000 from partners Resolute Forest Products and the Superior-woods Tree Improvement Association. She and her team will develop and validate genomic-assisted breeding models for increased productivity and wood quality for black spruce, one of the most abundant and widely planted tree species in Canada’s boreal forest. “We are aiming to improve the growth and quality of black spruce in Northwestern Ontario,” Dr. Thomson said. …This will be the first study that evaluates the accuracy of genomic selection applied to an operational breeding program of black spruce in Ontario.

It is undeniable that one of society’s greatest challenges today is how to maintain and mitigate the environmental risks to our world’s forests and wildlife. The University of New Brunswick’s Faculty of Forestry and Environmental Management (UNB ForEM) understands this all too well. As a leading institution in forestry and the natural resource sector with a history of graduating students for over 100 years, UNB ForEM is dedicated to cultivating capable and empathetic leaders who can manage and tackle the effects of climate change on the environment. Undergraduate and postgraduate programs at ForEM offer a holistic approach to forestry and environmental management. Students are provided with the knowledge necessary to maintain and ensure conservation of forests and wildlife, and they are also exposed to the various beliefs, values, and needs of the global community.