Congratulations on your…

Congratulations on your initiative in drafting a Forest Sector Strategy. The draft addresses most of the relevant issues and opportunities in an apparent progressive manner, however, as in most strategies, the devil can be in the details. I am a retired professional forester who over more than sixty years in sequence have been an observer, harvester, researcher, manager, auditor of, and most recently a writer about, Canada’s boreal forests. I give this draft strategy my overall support with the following caveats:
• I do not agree with developing, and managing for harvest, all of the forest. I believe that Ontario has more to gain by focusing on intensively managing forests on the most productive and accessible ground to achieve our targets.
• I agree Ontario needs to aggressively research the growth rates. Our existing plantations that were created under the Forest Management Agreements (FMAs) between 1980 and 1994 are today visible evidence that tree growth in those plantations may be more than so far reported. The information waiting to be discovered in those plantations may offer the best solution to achieving Ontario’s draft production target. It is my opinion that if FMAs were reinstated the draft production target could be achieved on much reduced area and more forest could be managed for other purposes.
• If forest management is to be regarded as an investment, then forest management licenses need to be perpetual with no stumpage charges, but significant land rental fees. For decades Spruce Falls Power and Paper in Ontario, and Anglo- Nfld. Development Co. in Newfoundland demonstrated that perpetual licenses promoted sustainable forest management, until rules were changed in both provinces during the 1960s.
• If the status quo form of licensing continues the province should approach forest management costs as a cost of doing business. The trust funds are currently enabling that approach, but the rules should ensure adequate deposits to cover a higher level of forest management.
• There is a danger in trying to keep up with constantly changing technology. In my opinion, if we keep up we may fail to produce timely, more-reliable forest knowledge, whether it be standing-forest inventory, or available harvest. With each change of technology there is a tendency to start over with different indicators that make comparisons with older data irrelevant. Too often we may be fascinated with the technology being used and ignoring the reason we are using it in the first place. Change is good, but changing too fast can be counterproductive.
• I fear that by reducing too much, what we regard as red tape, and depending too much on industrial self-policing, we may damage our ability to compete in our markets. Failure to control poor performers will be highlighted in independent audits and be available for the world to see.