Tag Archives: OMNR

The State of Ontario’s Forests Report summarizes how Ontario’s forest is managed for ecological sustainability.

The Ministry of Natural Resource’s (MNR) mandate is to manage our natural resources in an ecologically sustainable way and to ensure that these resources are available for the enjoyment and use of future generations. In support of this mandate, the MNR reports comprehensively on the state of Ontario’s forest resources every 5 years.

This is Ontario’s third State of the Forest Report. The reporting period for the report is April 2004 to March 2009.

This legally mandated report describes Ontario’s forests and forest management, based on a criteria and indicators framework for sustainable forestry. Criteria reflect provincial forest sustainability goals and are designed to reflect public values and desired long-term outcomes for Ontario’s forests. Indicators are specific measures used to assess progress towards the achievement of forest sustainability goals and objectives.

The latest State of Ontario’s Forests report is comprised of a feature report and a supporting Criteria & Indicators interactive PDF. The feature report focuses on specific themes (state of the forest sector, biodiversity, forest health, and climate change) and provides a high-level summary of the Criteria & Indicators framework. The Criteria & Indicators interactive PDF provides detailed information about the Criteria & Indicators framework and will be updated periodically to provide new information prior to the release of the next State of Ontario’s Forests report.

Read the report:

• State of Ontario’s Forests (feature report) (PDF, 8.0MB 73 pages)
• Criteria & indicators interactive PDF

Read previous reports:

• State of the Ontario’s Forests – 2006
• State of the Ontario’s Forests - 2001
• State of the Ontario’s Forests - 2001 (Summary)

Michael Gravelle, Ontario’s Minster of Natural Resources and MPP for Thunder Bay-Superior North, announced today he was recently diagnosed with an aggressive form of lymphoma.

Gravelle will begin chemotherapy treatments tomorrow and says the prognosis is good.

“It’s very serious, but I am heartened by the assessment of my oncologist that this is a treatable form of lymphoma and the prognosis for a full recovery is good,” Gravelle said today.

Gravelle has no intentions of stepping down from his positions, but did say he will likely rely on his staff a little more than usual.

Read more from TbNewsWatch: Cancer diagnosis

Ontario is blind to the impact forestry is having on wildlife species across the province says Ontario’s Environmental Commissioner Gord Miller today in the release of Part 2 of his 2011/2012 Annual Report, Losing Our Touch.

Despite a legal requirement to do so, Miller says the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) does not adequately monitor forest wildlife populations and incorporate the information into its own forest management policies.

When a class environmental assessment 18 years ago authorized MNR to proceed with planning for timber harvesting and related activities, it also imposed legally binding terms and conditions. One requirement was the establishment of a province-wide monitoring program that would assess how timber harvesting affects forest-dwelling species.

“The Provincial Wildlife Population Monitoring Program was designed to be an essential part in Ontario’s forest management system. But the necessary comprehensive wildlife monitoring has never been done,” says Miller. “As a consequence, we don’t know if our forest management is protecting wildlife in the long term or not.”

The Commissioner has determined that the legally required Provincial Wildlife Population Monitoring Program has been dysfunctional for a long time:

• MNR does not even have a list of species that it will monitor
• Data reported by MNR have largely been collected in areas where commercial forestry does not actually occur, by third parties or by other ministry programs that have nothing to do with forestry
• The Ontario government has never allocated adequate funding or resources for this program to carry out its original objective; most recent data obtained by the ECO showed the program was being given only 6 per cent of the funding that was originally suggested as necessary to do the minimum job required.

“MNR has failed in its duty to monitor wildlife species across Ontario’s forests,” says Miller. “However, the Ministry of the Environment (MOE) shares the blame: MOE should have enforced the terms of the environmental assessment.” The Commissioner says, “After 18 years, the government still cannot provide Ontarians with any assurance that forest management activities are able to sustain the natural heritage in our publicly owned forests. For example, when asked about its monitoring results from 2009, MNR said it had ‘nothing to report.’”

The Environmental Commissioner of Ontario is appointed by the Legislative Assembly to be the province’s independent environmental watchdog, reporting publicly on the government’s environmental decision making.

For more information, read the chapter “Nothing to Report: The Failure of the Provincial Wildlife Population Monitoring Program.”

You can download the Environmental Commissioner’s full 2011/2012 Annual Report, Part 1: Losing Touch and Part 2: Losing Our Touch at http://www.eco.on.ca.

The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) is moving forward with a plan to modernize its business and operate on a more cost efficient basis.

With its transformation plan, the ministry is reviewing its operations to ensure a clearer focus on its core mandate of natural resource management.

The review process includes public consultations on a proposed framework for streamlining and automating permitting and licensing processes to help individuals and businesses access services faster and more efficiently.

Other modernization efforts include:

• Focusing service at Ontario’s most popular provincial parks and changing the designation at 10 provincial parks with very low visitation rates.
• Introducing a new day-based youth employment program, the Stewardship Youth Ranger Program, to replace the overnight Ontario Ranger Program.
• Modernizing the way the ministry supports community-based stewardship activities to ensure a clearer focus on ministry priorities.
• Issuing reminders for Outdoor Card renewals through channels other than mail, such as social media and magazine ads, saving on postage and printing costs.
• Focusing the structure of the ministry to support modernized service delivery.

These and other changes will result in the elimination of 28 full-time and 102 seasonal positions. They will also save the ministry $7.1 million each year and future capital costs of $12.3 million.

The 10 parks affected include Caliper Lake (Nestor Falls), Fushimi Lake (Hearst), Greenwater (Cochrane), Ivanhoe Lake (Foleyet), Mississagi (Elliot Lake), Obatanga (between Wawa and White River), Rene Brunelle (Kapuskasing), Springwater (Midhurst), and Tidewater (Moosonee).

Loss of the Ontario Ranger Program

The loss of the Ontario Ranger Program is devastating for so many who had the life altering experience of being a Ranger as a teenager.

The program was open to youth in their 17th year.  Camps of 24 all-boy and all-girl camps were located in northern Ontario.  The Rangers spent 8 weeks living in a camp, learning about natural resources, maintaining Ontario’s provincial parks, maintaining hiking and canoe trails, tree-planting, while learning valuable skills that would shape their careers, including team building, leadership, time management, along with first aid, and health and safety training.  For many, it is the first time away from home, and for some – the first time away from southern Ontario.

The program, formerly called the Junior Ranger Program, first started in 1944 and was originally only open to boys.  There were many more camps in the past, located throughout Ontario, including southern Ontario.  Recently, just 13 camps were operating.

So many former Rangers still call their Ranger year the best summer of their lives, an experience that led them to a career in forestry, natural resources, or park maintenance.

The Ontario Ranger Program will be replaced by the Stewardship Youth Ranger Program.  The workers will no longer stay overnight in camps.

Read the story of the Rangers of Wade Lake Camp, and how their summer changed their lives, as they headed home this past August.

Public Consultation

This proposal has been posted for a 47 day public review and comment period starting September 27, 2012. If you would like to submit your comments, please do so by November 13, 2012.

Were you an Ontario Ranger?

Leave a comment and tell us what your Ranger experience meant to you.

AV Terrace Bay has signed an agreement with Pays Plat First Nation that will allow the company to harvest wood from areas that are the band’s traditional territory.

The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources has made an agreement with the Pays Plat First Nation that will allow the Pays Plat bad members to maintain the forest access roads for AV Terrace Bay’s use, to access an estimated 2 million cubic metres of wood.

This will create 15 jobs, with more expected in the future.

AV Terrace Bay is working with other communities to establish similar relationships.

The company plans to restart the mill to produce traditional paper grade pulp in October. The mill will be converted to produce rayon grade pulp for export over the next 2 years.

Source:
Aditya Birla, Pays Plat sign wood deal (Chronicle Journal)

Fires have been banned throughout Northeastern Ontario.

The restricted fire zone ranges from the Quebec border in the east, to Marathon in the west, and includes all area north of the French and Mattawa Rivers.

The fire ban went into effect at 12:01 a.m. this morning and will remain in effect until conditions improve.

The fire hazard in northeastern Ontario is high to extreme.  The outlook for the next several days calls for continuing hot weather and dry conditions.

Ministry of Natural Resources fire staff and conservation officers will strictly enforce the restrictions on open burning.  Starting or tending a campfire in a Restricted Fire Zone can lead to a fine of up to $1,000.

There are currently 35 fires burning in Ontario.

Source: Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources

Last year, Ontario unveiled a new “Ontario Wood” program to promote Ontario grown wood to consumers.

The program is modelled after the highly successful Foodland Ontario brand and promotes the benefits of buying high-quality Ontario wood products while raising awareness of the sustainability of the province’s forestry industry and the diversity and variety of Ontario wood products.

Products that carry the Ontario Wood logo come from tree species that are indigenous or commercially grown in Ontario, and all wood-product processing must take place in the province.  To carry the Ontario Wood logo, the wood product has to be certified by the program, and the manufacturer has to sign a contract.

There are currently over 40 licensees, including small artisans, sawmills and manufacturers of hardwood floors, doors and other products. The licensees range from some of the largest lumber producers in eastern Canada to small- to medium-sized companies that sell through multiple outlets, including directly to consumers.

The program is run by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources.

For more information, visit OntarioWood.ca.

The Sustainable Forestry Initiative^® (SFI) announced that the Forest Ecosystem Science Co-operative Inc. will receive a $32,000 grant to support graduate research activities to test current forest management practices in the Boreal Forest and develop best practice recommendations for protecting water resources.

The grant is being awarded under SFI^®‘s Conservation and Community Partnerships Grant Program.

The Forest Co-op partners participating in this collaborative include:

• Ontario SFI Implementation Committee
• Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources
• Canadian Forest Service
• Lakehead University
• 7 SFI-certified program participants:
  • Ainsworth Engineered Canada LP
  • Dryden Forest Management Company
  • LP Canada Ltd.
  • Miisun Integrated Resource Management Inc.
  • Resolute Forest Products
  • Wagner Ontario Forest Management Limited
  • Weyerhaeuser Company Limited.

“This important research will help us, at both the site and watershed scale, learn how well current forest practices emulate natural disturbance patterns,” said Dianne Miller, General Manager of the Forest Co-op.  “The results of our work can be used by SFI, forest managers and government agencies alike to ensure that forestry practices maintain water quality, and healthy, natural aquatic ecosystems.

The Forest Co-op project is one of five SFI Conservation and Community Partnerships Grants that will be awarded in 2012, and brings the total for the 29 grants awarded since 2010 to more than $1.2 million US.  This two-year project will result in science-based recommendations on how forest harvesting practices can better mitigate impacts on water resources.

“This research brings together non-profit, industry, government and academic partners to pursue important research that will help support water resources in managed forests,” said SFI Inc. President & CEO, Kathy Abusow. “The outcomes will help companies meet SFI program objectives for water quality and inform future management practices throughout the Boreal region.”

Since 1995, SFI program participants have contributed more than $1.3 billion for research activities, including forestry research, science and technology. In 2010, SFI Inc. created the Conservation & Community Partnerships Grant program to foster partnerships between organizations interested in improving forest management in the United States and Canada, and responsible procurement globally. In 2012 SFI Inc. devoted its grant dollars to projects that support water resources.  Through the involvement of partners, these research projects leverage additional resources, achieving a total investment of $4.8 million.

The SFI 2010-2014 Standard is based on 14 core principles that promote sustainable forest management, including measures to protect water quality, biodiversity, wildlife habitat, species at risk, and Forests with Exceptional Conservation Value, and encourages community involvement. The SFI program is the only forest certification standard in North America that requires participants to support and engage in research activities to improve forestry forest health, productivity and sustainable management of forest resources.

Source: SFI Inc. & The Forest Ecosystem Science Co-operative

Here is a video from the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources showing a Bird Dog and a water bomber respond to a small lightning fire in the North Bay District.

This video was taken on May 28 and it shows the North Bay 26 fire that is now out.

Source: Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources

The following shots are of hot spots in the interior of Timmins 9 fire at night on May 26 2012 at 2am.

Due to heavy smoke during the day, the exact fire perimeter was difficult to locate.

Using night vision goggles, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources pilots mapped the fire’s edge.