Comments on A BLUEPRINT FOR…

Comments on A BLUEPRINT FOR SUCCESS: Ontario’s Forest Sector Strategy - DRAFT

The draft Forest Sector Strategy needs a definition of the forestry sector. A United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization website has the following:

2.1.1 Definition of the forestry sector
There is no commonly agreed definition of the forestry sector. Ideally, the sector should be defined to include all economic activities that mostly depend on the production of goods and services from forests. This would include commercial activities that are dependent on the production of wood fibre (i.e. production of industrial roundwood, woodfuel and charcoal; sawnwood and wood based panels; pulp and paper; and wooden furniture). It would also include activities such as the commercial production and processing of non-wood forest products and the subsistence use of forest products. It could even include economic activities related to production of forest services (although it would be difficult to determine exactly which activities are really dependent on forest services).

By this definition, the current scope of the draft Forest Sector Strategy is narrow. It lacks mention of non-timber forest products, and of economically important recreational activities in Crown forests such as hunting and snowmobiling. It does not acknowledge the full range of ecological goods and services provided by forests, which, broadly speaking, include clean water for domestic and industrial use and hydropower, climate regulation, flood control, provision of medicinal plants, etc.

Another emerging area of major economic importance is forest carbon offsets. Ontario’s crown forests could supply the large and rapidly growing global market demand for biomass carbon storage as a means of reducing atmospheric greenhouse gases. This is an important strategic consideration that must be addressed in the Forest Sector Strategy.

The draft Forest Sector Strategy notes “there is nearly 15 million cubic metres of available wood supply that existing industry is unable to harvest and that could potentially support further investment in the forest sector.” Reasons for not fully using available wood supply include limited road access, high costs of transport to mills, shrinking demand for traditional paper products, etc.

The draft Forest Sector Strategy should examine converting unused timber supply into carbon offsets. In parts of British Columbia, First Nations and local communities have found that a combination of reduced land allocated to harvest and increased land allocated to carbon offsets provides greater economic benefits than timber harvest alone. Carbon offsets can be sold on a permanent basis – helping meet protected area targets and enhancing Ontario’s “brand” as a leader in sustainable forest management – or on a time-limited basis, with the option of resuming harvest in the future if market demand declines.

It is positive that Ontario “utilizes and supports the role of Indigenous firefighters to support its fire management programs.” The role of Indigenous peoples should be expanded to encompass a full range of forest management activities, with First Nations having a lead role in crown land planning.

It is good to see a commitment to an improved forest inventory in the draft Forest Sector Strategy, including enhanced use of remote sensing techniques. This will provide benefits that go beyond wood supply management, including assessment of carbon and biodiversity values of different parts of the forest landscape.

Despite the heavy focus on new markets for wood-based products in the draft Strategy, gaps in this area include charcoal, bio-oil and wood pellets.

Interest is growing in the use of charcoal – in the form of “biochar” – as a soil amendment and a means of long-term carbon storage, with the potential to enter carbon markets. Pyrolysis (thermal decomposition of biomass in a limited oxygen environment) may become a more efficient and profitable way to use logging wastes than full combustion. Mobile pyrolysis units could produce biochar at the harvest site. If biochar were then spread back over the harvested area, it could yield carbon credits, and also benefit soil microorganisms and seedling growth.

Another pyrolysis product is bio-oil. Ensyn’s 3-million gallon per year production plant in Renfrew, Ontario employs some of the leading technology in this area, for production of biocrude liquids for specialty chemicals and heating fuel.

While the draft Strategy mentions biofuels and “bioheat”, there is no specific mention of wood pellets. Wood pellet stoves represent a convenient and efficient means of home heating. The potential for unutilized mill wastes to be converted to pellets should be examined.

Finally, collaborative work with Quebec on carbon analysis is a welcome development. This should be expanded beyond a tool to estimate greenhouse gas emissions from various building designs to encompass carbon analysis of biomass energy (for heat and/or power, transport fuels, etc.). This would enable the setting of targets to further reduce emissions from the entire forest industry, including logging operations as well as mills, and position Ontario’s forest industry to be a leader in the transition to a zero-carbon economy.