Region Archives: Canada East

Iian Rankin

In the wake of a Nova Scotia Supreme Court order to better protect at-risk species, Nova Scotia’s minister of lands and forestry said his department will do its best “to get the work done.” Minister Iain Rankin said he was still reviewing the decision, released Friday, and wouldn’t say whether the province might appeal. …Rankin said much of the work ordered by Justice Christa Brothers last week is already underway. Brothers said the minister had failed to live up to his duties under the Endangered Species Act in chronic and systemic ways, and specifically in the cases of six at-risk plant and animal species. …But Rankin said it wasn’t actually the judicial review that prompted the work. Rather… the auditor general reported in 2016, and again after the 2018 Lahey Report on ecological forestry advised the province to better implement the Endangered Species Act.

A Nova Scotia Supreme Court justice says the province has failed to live up to its self-prescribed legal obligations to protect species at risk, and has ordered the minister of lands and forestry to fulfil those duties.   A group of environmental advocates launched a judicial review in January 2019, alleging a slew of failures under the Endangered Species Act dating back to the early 2000s. The case went to a hearing for two days last fall.  There were 60 species listed as endangered, threatened or vulnerable when the judicial review began, but the case narrowed in on six “representative” species — the Canada warbler and eastern wood peewee, both songbirds; the black ash and ram’s head lady slipper, both plants; the wood turtle and the iconic mainland moose.

Ontario has proposed extending an exemption to the Endangered Species Act for the forestry sector, a move that environmental groups say is another step toward decimating species at risk.  The forestry sector, meanwhile, said forcing the industry to follow the act would be a bureaucratic nightmare and “impossible.”  Last week, the province proposed extending the exemption for another year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, adding that consultation isn’t required due to a temporary regulation it put in place on April 1. The province has, however, opened up the proposal to public comments until June 18.  “This proposal will maintain the current requirements and help avoid additional regulatory burden and economic strain on the forestry sector while a long-term approach is finalized,” the province wrote on the Environmental Registry of Ontario.

An environmental protection plan 25 years in the making has been released, with public commentary invited until June 22. The plan, released by the Wilderness and Ecological Reserves Advisory Council (WERAC), identifies 32 areas to be protected across the island portion of the province. …WERAC chair Graham Wood says it’s a relief to finally get the report in the hands of the public. “We’re ecstatic, actually,” said Wood. The proposed plan would see 8.7 per cent of the wilderness in the province protected. Currently, just 6.9 per cent of the province is protected — the third least across the country. While the plan doesn’t get the province to the 17 per cent protected area outlined by the United Nations, it’s a good place to start, Wood says. “The whole rationale for this is to reach the 17 per cent goal of the UN conference on biodiversity, which Canada is committed to,” said Wood.

Jenny Millson

This could have been a disastrous year for Millson Forestry Service, with the COVID-19 pandemic forcing the shutdown of many industries and businesses. It was a big boost for the Timmins-based company when on April 2, the provincial government declared the forest industry an essential service throughout the pandemic “At the time of the pandemic, we already had a greenhouse full of trees. So we couldn’t just let them die,” said Jenny Millson, owner of Millson Forestry Service. …Despite the turbulent times amid the pandemic, Millson Forestry is gearing up for a busy summer and growing plenty of saplings for planting locally and beyond. Physical distancing is being practised on site as much as possible, with the use of dividers used in some instances for those working in close proximity at their facility on Dalton Road.

Northwestern Ontario, from the Manitoba boundary as far east as Geraldton, is facing a higher-than-normal forest fire risk this summer, according to scientists with Natural Resources Canada. The long-term weather model suggests the summer of 2020 will be hot and dry across much of the region, especially around Kenora, Red Lake and Sioux Lookout, explained Richard Carr, a wildland fire research analyst with the Canadian Forest Service. Spring was slow to come to the area and the Arctic air mass that settled in and kept temperatures cooler than average also increases the hazard, he said. …Carr noted that it is difficult to predict what effect the pandemic may have on the potential for forest fires this year. …A number of provinces and territories restricted open burning in an effort to reduce human-caused fires, at least in the spring.

Kevin Edgson

For years now, the forest industry has been facing a shortage of skilled labour as many forestry workers reach retirement age and fewer young workers enter the industry. So, what can forest products companies do to attract younger workers? Kevin Edgson, president and CEO of EACOM Timber… There are a number of reasons why fewer young workers are entering the industry. For example, there is an outdated perception of the industry and opportunities within it, Edgson said. …A generational shift away from manufacturing and trade jobs, as well as the general urbanization of Canadian society also play a role. As a result, the industry needs to communicate and engage society to help the public understand what the industry is about, how industry manages forests, the technology involved and the career paths available, Edgson said.

Drone projects don’t get much more ambitious than the one envisioned by Flash Forest, which plans to plant a billion trees by 2028—helping save the planet in the process. The Canadian startup says its drones, which can identify the best planting sites before dropping specially designed seed pods, can each plant up to 20,000 trees a day, while a human can manage 1,500 a day at best, Fast Company reports. The company, which aims to improve the technology to the point where two pilots can plant 100,000 trees in a day, is planting 40,000 trees this month in an area north of Toronto scorched by a wildfire. Later this year, it plans to plant 300,000 trees in Hawaii. The company says its technology will be the key to restoring forests, as well as to countering climate change.

TORONTO —The Ontario government has taken additional steps to protect people and property during the wildland fire season, including an increase in base funding for emergency forest firefighting by $30.2 million, and ensuring safety measures are in place to protect Ontario’s highly trained fire rangers from COVID-19. At 12:01 a.m. on May 16, 2020, Ontario is lifting the Restricted Fire Zone (RFZ) designation that was put in place last month across Ontario’s fire region.  The province will continue to assess forest fire hazard conditions and an RFZ designation may be reinstated in higher risk areas if conditions deteriorate. These restrictions are put in place in order to reduce the number of preventable human-caused fires and lower the risk of wildfires impacting the public. The province has also implemented a more aggressive approach to fighting wildland fires this season.

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed tree planting and the way foresters bring in summer help. In the past, hundreds of tree planters from all over would converge on northern Ontario to work for the summer. George Graham is a professional forester who’s been working at the Hearst Forest for more than 30 years. His firm, Thunderhouse Forest Services, needs to plant 5.2 million trees on Crown land this summer around Hearst. “The work still has to get carried out,” he said, though admitting that this will be a very different year for foresters. …Graham says they’ve had to add some infrastructure changes like extra dining tents, more wash-up stations and isolation trailers to help deal with physical distancing and public health guidelines. …The provincial government has provided foresters some emergency response funding to help pay for the extra costs associated with COVID-10.

This week, on land north of Toronto that previously burned in a wildfire, drones are hovering over fields and firing seed pods into the ground, planting native pine and spruce trees to help restore habitat for birds. Flash Forest, the Canadian startup behind the project, plans to use its technology to plant 40,000 trees in the area this month. By the end of the year, as it expands to other regions, it will plant hundreds of thousands of trees. By 2028, the startup aims to have planted a full 1 billion trees. The company, like a handful of other startups that are also using tree-planting drones, believes that technology can help the world reach ambitious goals to restore forests to stem biodiversity loss and fight climate change. …Drones don’t address deforestation …but to restore forests that have already been lost, the drones can work more quickly and cheaply than humans.  

THUNDER BAY – The province is investing more than $3 million to ensure the workers in the forestry sector are protected this upcoming season. The provincial government announced on Thursday that it is investing $3.5 million to implement protective measures for tree planters in northern and rural areas of Ontario. …John Yakabuski, Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry… “This will help the industry expand existing facilities and modify operations to ensure that those helping to renew Ontario’s forests can work in a safe environment. With these measures, we are also securing the planting of 70 million trees this year in Ontario’s forests.” Safeguards to prevent the spread of COVID-19 include larger camp facilities and additional kitchens, personal protective equipment, more wash stations, and plastic partitions for transporting workers.