Please accept my comments on…

Please accept my comments on your proposed amendments to the Endangered Species Act and especially section 22.1 of regulation 242/08. This regulation will be extended to all forestry operations regulated under the Crown Forest Sustainability Act The intent of this amendment is to extend this term to July 2020. I would not just support that extension but strongly encourage you to consider extending it for at least 5 years. The panel you will be setting up needs more time to thoroughly explore the complexities of this legislation and its impacts on the forest industry and the people and communities it supports.

I am a professional forester who has worked in northern Ontario my whole career and raised a family here. Most of that career has been in planning and implementing forestry activities in forests that have wrestled in particular with managing caribou habitat. While this has often been difficult, the companies, government agencies and interested parties have been able to develop creative solutions reflected in evolving manuals and guidelines regulated under the Crown Forest Sustainability Act. This is powerful legislation and the government should consider making this the only legislation for managing species at risk issues through Forest Management Plans. I believe it is not necessary to duplicate protecting species at risk in managed forestry activities with the costly job and community damaging processes of the ESA.

[Original Comment ID: 213239]