Public Input Coordinator…

Public Input Coordinator
Species Conservation Policy Branch
300 Water Street
Floor 5N
Peterborough ON K9J 3C7

To Whom It May Concern:

Please accept this letter as the formal submission from Forests Ontario on the 10th Year Review of Ontario’s Endangered Species Act: Discussion Paper, ERO number 013-4143.

Forests Ontario is the voice for Ontario's forests, working towards a future of healthy forests supporting healthy communities and a healthy economy through forest and ecosystem restoration, stewardship, education, and awareness initiatives. Among our restoration work is the administration of the government of Ontario’s 50 Million Tree Program (50MTP), an initiative designed to significantly increase our forest cover on Ontario’s fragmented landscapes. In addition to that, the 50MTP has enabled Forests Ontario to roll-out Ontario’s new Grassland Stewardship Initiative, developed to improve the quantity and quality of grassland habitat.

Firstly, our organization strongly believes that the management of species at risk would be greatly improved through a landscape level/ecosystem-based approach, as opposed to a species by species framework. As noted in the discussion paper, species-specific policies can often limit the ability to achieve positive outcomes for species at risk or may result in situations where protection and recovery approaches for individual species can limit or conflict with one another. While we believe that species-specific elements (e.g. calving or nesting sites) can always be incorporated (i.e. a fine filter approach), a landscape level approach (i.e. coarse filter) should be given priority consideration during the development and implementation of species at risk related policies.

Secondly, we believe that ongoing provincial level support for afforestation and grasslands programs, including the 50MTP and the Grassland Stewardship Initiative, will have significant and long-lasting benefits to many species located across southern Ontario’s fragmented landscapes including but not restricted to; Butternut, Acadian Flycatcher, Flying Squirrel, American Badger, Ginseng, Eastern mole, Cucumber tree, Algonquin Wolf, Cherry Birch, Bobolink, Kentucky Coffee Tree to name a few.

However, we also recognize that in an extremely fragmented landscape, an ecosystem approach may not be practical and as such specific considerations needs to be available to mitigate the loss of individual species habitat.

Our organization would be pleased to discuss these positions in more details with the province in support of the government’s efforts to ensuring the recovery of species at risk in an effective and efficient manner.

Regards,

Rob Keen
CEO
Bus: 416-646-1193
Cell: 416-706-3230
Email: rkeen@forestsontario.ca