Congratulations on producing…

Congratulations on producing this report, it gets to the heart of many of the challenges that have faced the forest industry. There are several aspects of the report I would like to address.

1) The Minister will need to ensure that managers and employees are given clear direction and made accountable to reduce regulatory burden. Past exercises in forestry red tape reduction generally had good intent but often did not achieve meaningful results. The sustainable management of forests will be greatly enhanced if Forest Managers can focus on the harvest and renewal of forests rather than policy and planning.

2) Large areas of merchantable timber have been lost due to the single-species focus of the ESA. MNRF previously was a leader in ecosystem-based forestry which resulted in healthy forests across the landscape. Initiatives developed by MNRF such as the Ontario Tree Marking Certification program trained forest workers to identify and protect wildlife habitat. Ironically many areas which are currently rich with species at risk and prohibitive to harvest because of current ESA guidelines have been harvested previously following sustainable, but much less restrictive forest practices.

3) More emphasis is required in the strategy on the role of private forests. The forest industry in south-central Ontario relies on wood from private lands for wood supply. Sustainable forest management provides revenue to the landowners and gives them an incentive to conserve rural forests for future generations. A good place to start would be to re-establish communications with the municipalities that manage the Community Forests created by MNRF under the Agreement Forest program.

4) The report does not address the substantial potential forest resources of the acquired Crown Lands south of the EA area of undertaking. These lands have not been managed for over 20 years.

5) MNRF should re-establish locally-based operational science support to Forest Managers. The greatest advances in forest management in Ontario occured when MNRF Science and Technology Transfer Units provided local support to Forest Managers.