I am writing to express my…

I am writing to express my strong opposition to the proposal to double the amount of industrial logging in Ontario without first addressing our biodiversity commitments, including safeguarding the habitat of imperilled species, such as boreal caribou.

At a time when we need to support more habitat conservation, pushing the sector to double its impact makes no sense. We want you to support the industry in ways that don’t foreclose opportunities for your government to leave a conservation legacy that benefits all of the people of Ontario. Locking down unused wood for one forest stakeholder won’t achieve that.

Further, using tens of millions of taxpayer dollars every year to expand the logging road network is an unacceptable subsidy for industry and fails to acknowledge the impact of forest fragmentation on many forest-dependent species. Instead we should be using those public funds to address the legacy of logging roads, landings and slash piles that hamper forest restoration.

I urge you to revise the strategy to:

1) Identify ways to share the huge wood supply surplus that includes increasing habitat protection for caribou and other imperilled species.

2) Link logging access roads and other taxpayer subsidies to environmental performance, including plans to properly address the legacy of habitat fragmentation (e.g., through increased protection and restoration of wildlife habitats).