LOOKING BACK AT LOOKING FOREWARD

" THERE WILL BE LESS LAND AVAILABLE ON WHICH TO GROW TREES EACH SUCCEEDING DECADE."

This was in a paper presented at the 62nd Annual Meeting of the Woodlands Section, Canadian Pulp and Paper Association, March 22-25, 1981. W.S.I. No. 2841 (F-3) ODC 618 (331) W.S. Moore, Utilization in the Forest. W.S. Moore was manager of forestry operations for Great Lakes Forest Products Ltd. Thunder Bay Ontario

I'll quote one more sentence.

"The Acceleration we have recently witnessed in land withdrawals will not be reversed, if anything it will speed up as time goes on and ever increasing demands made on land base for parkland, wilderness, recreation, wildlife protection, hunting and fishing opportunities and aesthetics. "...page 54 Pulp & Paper Canada

On March 15, 2007 Superior Sentinel published on-line the following article I wrote.

Ontario Loves You, Baby!

In the past decade the provincial environmental representation went "shopping" in our Crown Land and left us locally with 19 Provincial Parks, 11 Provincial Nature Reserves, at least 7 Conservation Reserves, a National Marine Conservation Area and the Great Lakes Heritage Coast. 

• Ruby Lake Provincial Park
• Lake Nipigon Provincial Park
• Livingstone Point Provincial Park
• Slate Island Provincial Park
• Rainbow Falls Provincial Park
• Porphry Island Provincial Park
• Black Sturgeon River Provincial Park
• Sleeping Giant Provincial Park
• Kaiashk Provincial Park
• Gull River Provincial Park
• Kopka River Provincial Park
• Neyes Provincial Park
• Whitesand River Provincial Park
• Wabakimi Provincial Park
• Steele River Provincial Park
• Sedgman Lake Provincial Park
• Pipestone River Provincial Park
• Ogoki River Provincial Park
• Albany River Provincial Park
• and now half the Far North 2010 yet to be determined
  
  Some of these above, like Neyes, Wabakimi and Sleeping Giant have been around longer but I put them in as they are sort of local land used for parks.
• Kama Hills Provincial Nature Reserve
• Albert Lake Mesa Provincial Nature Reserve
• Cavern Lake Provincial Nature Reserve
• Ouimet Canyon Provincial Nature Reserve
• Puff Island Provincial Nature Reserve
• Schreiber Channel Provincial Nature Reserve
• Gravel River Provincial Nature Reserve
• Shesheeb Bay Provincial Nature Reserve
• Edward Island Provincial Nature Reserve
• Kabitotikwia River Provincial Nature Reserve
• Windigo Bay Provincial Nature Reserve
• Lake Nipigon Conservation Reserve
• Nipigon Palisades Conservation Reserve
• Nipigon River Conservation Reserve
• Black Bay Bog Conservation Reserve
• Lake Superior Archipelago Conservation Reserve
• Lake Nipigon Waters Conservation Reserve
• Ottertooth Conservation Reserve
  
  Piggy-backed onto all of these are 170,716 hectares of Enhanced Management Areas.
• South Lake Nipigon EMA
• Gull Bay EMA
• West Lake Nipigon EMA
• Pitituguishi EMA
• Lake Nipigon-Beardmore EMA
• Black Bay Peninsula EMA

Forestry is allowed in EMA's in recognition of the overall reduction of wood supply for industry caused by the creation of 166 parks and conservation areas by Ontario's Living Legacy, but each area has its own unique operations plan.

AND THEY ARE NOT DONE YET.

Room to Grow sets out how permanent increases in wood supply, through intensive forest management activities, will be shared between NEW parks and protected areas and the forest industry. That is if the foresters can skillfully increase fibre production of the forest stands by ten percent more than the 1999 baseline. It all takes study and documentation.

In 2002, when fibre supply and demand were equal, the Forest Accord planned for an additional 378 parks and protected areas without reducing the wood supply thus keeping the forest industry viable.

In April 2005 The Ontario Biodiversity Strategy came out. It was vision for the future health of all species including humans. It is a triple strategy to protect, develop and use our biological assets in a sustainable way. It is the scariest piece of legislation yet as it calls for a major generational change in attitude and behaviour. That means you have 20  years to figure out what to do. The powers that be admit understanding Ontario's biodiversity is incomplete but they do want a healthy Northern Community.

We have in place now the Ontario Biodiversity Council. First chair is Jon Grant: ex-trustee of WWF Canada, and ex-chairman of The Nature Conservancy of Canada.