I am a Forestry Planner and…

I am a Forestry Planner and Consultant for industry clients in the French Severn Forest. The Endangered Species Act has created many challenges. My focus is primarily on the Blanding's Turtle.

The act deals with species of Special Concern, Threatened, Endangered and Extirpated which are all bundled up into one act.

The act, at its inception, recognized the need to protect and preserve species at risk in certain areas. Those areas for the Blanding Turtle focused on decline of habitat. That habitat and numbers focused on the loss of habitat in mostly rural farm and wetland areas.

This particular illustration deals with southern, central and portions of eastern Ontario populations and was from a report in 2017, but illustrates back to 1800.

http://cossaroagency.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Accessible_COSSAROEv… Page 7 Wetland Loss by Habitat

Species such as the Blanding's Turtle, were put on Species at Risk, but the population distribution varies throughout many areas of Ontario. I'm not sure that full consideration was or is given to more heavily populated areas.

"The total Ontario population is estimated to be < 50,000 mature individuals, based on data from the Ontario Reptile and Amphibian Atlas. This is an increase from the estimate used in the previous assessment (10,000), reflecting increased survey efforts, rather than a genuine increase in population size. There has also been an increase in reporting from forestry companies and private individuals, both through the NHIC system, the Ontario Reptile and Amphibian Atlas (Ontario Nature 2017) and through submissions made directly to COSSARO."-

http://cossaroagency.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Accessible_COSSAROEv… page 5

In the Cossaroagency Report it mentions an increase in numbers is due to better reporting rather than an increase in the population itself. I find this statement hard to comprehend. If the numbers for the Act were based on the 10000, was this is a fair and measured threshold to base a Species at Risk?

I work in the French-Severn Forest (Muskoka-Parry Sound) and this graph from page 7 does not illustrate our current situation.

The Forest Management Planning process, which is not exempt from the Endangered Species Act, provides the framework and preservation for these species though their identification and guidelines. However, when a situation goes beyond the scope of the guidelines and is not in the plan, it is subject to the environmental assessment process, which is subject to additional costs.

As a result of timing restrictions and habitat concerns related to the Endangered Species Act, many forestry operators, logging contractors and saw mills have been forced to harvest their compliment of wood requirements in a very short window from December 1-March 31.With this shorter window of opportunity, we have essentially created a seasonal work environment. This is contributing to a worker shortage already present in the forest industry.

I believe that the Georgian Bay (French-Severn) area has a healthy population of Blanding's and the population is stable. There will be contributing factors that will play a role in its survival, but those factors are not based on conversion of wetlands or forest management activities.