Much has been made of the forestry company's destruction of the Boreal Forest from the Environmentalist and or Conservationist's View.
Let us look at what a "Company" Timber Cruiser saw in 1937 when the Red Rock Mill was coming into being and ordered a cruise of their newly acquired "holdings" He cruised about a dozen areas but I am only copying a couple sites that gave him pause.
April 19 - 24th 1937 ...J. Cote reports -
AREA About 49 square miles...
HIGH GRADED " In view of its accessibility, this Township has been frequently logged and re-logged and high-graded by several people. Patented or full title lots were conceded by the Government. This fine gesture was appreciated accordingly. The numerous trespasses and poaching on adjacent crown land will remain for all time as evidence of it."
FOREST "The original forest on this tract was marvellous, if we can judge by what remains standing. Spruce trees to top 60 to 70 feet high are common. Jack Pine, however, is the dominant species standing now. In view of the fact that spruce was more commercial more of it was cut."
STREAMS "The streams on this property are not big, but driveable, in fact they have been driven before. Cash Creek drains the west side, and a branch of Jackfish River drains the eastern area. All dams found on these Creeks will have to be repaired or rebuilt. All streams in this area will not drive wood longer than 8 feet. bolts."
LOGGING "Spruce and fir pulpwood standing on this property should be logged and hauled to the streams. Very little of it could be hauled to the railroad. However, in view of the pressing and early requirements for wood by April 1st , 1938 - 15,000 to 18,000 cords can be logged and hauled cheaply to the Canadian National Railway."
QUANTITIES " Obviously, in estimating a forest that has been exploited at random like this one has, it requires a good deal of judgement. Lots of the timber left standing will never be logged, because it is too scattered. However, I estimated that 125,000 to 150,000 cords of pulpwood can be logged on continuous stands. Probably another thirty or forty thousand cords is so scattered, in old cut-over, that it may not pay to ever salvage it. A more thorough study of its potentiality can, however, be made later."
CAMPS " Numerous old camps are still there on the property. Most of these can be utilized again with the necessary repairs."
On May 6 to 8th, 1937 Mr. Cote inspected the logging operations at Cypress River.
"This was my first opportunity since arrival in this district to contact with some fresh logging operation, as it is carried out here. I am informed this is a typical one, and if there is such a thing as sacrilegious logging operations I have no hesitancy in branding it as such."
"First of all, the provision road was impassable with ruts, and the operator was using "stone boats" to haul provisions to feed river drivers. Fifty men were working on the drive for a distance of 8 miles, to float down a cut of 12,000 cords. This river was cleaned late last fall, at about freezing time. In consequence of this all the debris is coming down with the wood. No blasting was done, and no side piers. Needless to say they did not build any controlling dams, and did not clear away any brush on the banks to allow the drivers to walk freely along the banks."
"There is a river capable of floating down probably 100,000 cords of pulpwood in one season, and i venture to say that the way it is handled at present they will "stick" their drive at 12,000 cords, unless maybe Providence comes to their rescue."
TIMBER INTOXICATION
'The cutting and hauling of these wood operations are the worst the writer has ever seen, and i do not think I will ever see one like it. Stumps are from 3 feet to 5 feet high. Tree tops were left strewn everywhere, and they were pushed off the hauling roads. Great big fat tops they were; some of the tree tops one to two bolts could have been cut off them. The loggers didn't care. They were, so to speak, timber intoxicated. The forest was so dense thousands of trees were giant trees, and conditions were indeed favourable to practice logging gluttony."
"Ten percent of the the wood cut was left scattered or piled in the bush. A further 50% of the timber was left standing between hauling roads. No plan was worked out in advance. Hauling roads appeared to take the shortest cut towards the river, regardless of the slopes. Winding easy grade roads seem to be unknown to these loggers. It looks as though they wanted to practice expediency rear-end first. Ten contractors of that type would, in a decade, ruin the best timber limits a mill may have in reserve."
"From the mouth of the Cypress it is but a short distance to raft and bring the logs to the mill, with sufficient protection to hold the wood and enough boom space to prevent bottling of logs. A raft could be taken out of Cypress Bay every day while the drive is on. Prevailing winds in Spring in this zone are northerly, affording absolute safety to manoeuvre such a raft."
UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT
"Cypress River is one of the logical rivers to undertake cutting next fall with very little preparation."
"1. A dam is required at Gurney Lake, probably 10 to 12 miles from the River's outlet;"
"2. A good tote road should be constructed, ten to twelve miles northerly."
"3. Blasting and side piers on the river, etc."
"4. Telephone."
" Jack Pine River is the other logical river to log this year. It will require about the same amount of improvements as Cypress."
"As stated in another paragraph of this report, those responsible for logging operation on the above two rivers were the shifting kind of operator; they did not improve but they dirtied the place."
MR. COTE'S OVERALL IMPRESSION IN 1937
" It is a great pleasure for me to state here that I have been favourably and enthusiastically impressed with your timber holdings."
"The facilities to reach each and all your timber areas by water,(and) rail, cannot be compared anywhere."
"Lake Superior and Nipigon are peerless to transport raw material and finished products."
"Further, the Trans-Canada highway crosses at the mouth of the following rivers: Nipigon, Jack Fish, ozone, Jack Pine, Cypress, Steele and Little Pic. Another highway is contemplated from Nipigon following the transmission line, in a northeasterly direction going to Long Lac." The right-of-way has already been cleared for that purpose."
"This forest is densely wooded with large size spruce, sound and healthy, and growing conditions are excellent. The quantities thereon would assure a perpetual supply of wood for an industry much larger than the one you contemplate building."
The One Millionth Cord Post is part of the future operations of this contemplated mill.
While it was the Lake Sulphite Pulp Company Limited that started the Red Rock Mill in or around 1937- 1938, by 2006 it was under the management of NORAMPAC joint-venture : Cascades Inc (50%) and Domtar (50%)
NORAMPAC operated on 2 fundamental values: "a social conscience and respect of environmental resources."
Before the "Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement" this was Domtar's Commitment:
"Domtar has modern vision and mission statements that communicate its long-term pledge to becoming a leader in "responsible, progressive and sustainable forest management".
"The over-arching corporate policy statement " a forest for all, for always" effectively captures its commitment to sustainability."
"Domtar also has well-developed detailed policy documents underscoring its commitment to SFM, including a Forest Policy, an Environmental Policy, and a Fibre Use and Source Policy."
Copies are available on the corporate website.
In 2003 Domtar Inc. - Forest Products Group - Red Rock was certified to ISO 14001
In 2006 the Mill's management area was the Lake Nipigon Forest approximately 990,000 ha of which 90% is Crown-managed production forest.
Even with that area ..." It appears that the demand for a wide variety and sometimes competing, and increasing amount of benefits from a finite resource base is reaching the point where not all needs can be fully met."
The Red Rock Mill no longer operates in 2013. The forest continues to be managed and the fibre goes elsewhere.
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