I live in the small…

I live in the small community of Dryden, Ontario. I enjoy feeding the birds and am wondering where the birds are. Many of my neighbours and friends have asked the same question this winter. There was an abundant supply of tree seed and berries going into this winter but I don’t believe forest berries and abundant seed is the full answer. This past winter there is a noticeable dearth of evening grosbeaks. I believe the evening grosbeaks nest in mature forest and Dryden is now surrounded by many clearcuts. The forest is fragmented and is less productive for birds and many mammals, especially, moose.

Too much of the Crown forest is being clearcut around Dryden in recent years and not enough is left for wildlife habitat, recreation and tourism.

It is alarming that younger and younger trees are being harvested and only scrub forest remains along the forestry roads. Young forest needs time to develop into real forest with large diameter seed trees growing amongst new tree seedlings. This is called natural succession opposed to spraying herbicides, mechanical thinning and chipping forests before 80 to 100 years old depending on the forest stand. A natural real forest is full of diversity and self- thins over time. Industry doesn’t want to wait. They want to farm the trees. Our forests are a biodiversity, not tree farms.

There is no mention of tourism and protecting forests for cross-country skiing hiking and other forest-based recreation other than hunting and fishing. Perhaps tree harvest has declined in some areas in Ontario but this is not the case in our area. Our forests in the Dryden area, are being depleted at an alarming rate and as a result the forest industry is harvesting stands of trees that are too young. The accelerated harvest of the Crown forest in the Dryden area is already impacting moose populations and boreal songbirds.

Our forests are more than just trees.