Support sought against new act

The Ontario Forestry Coalition (OFC) will be holding a public meeting Monday at noon at the Memorial Sports Centre auditorium to urge local residents to send a message to the McGuinty government that the new Endangered Species Act (ESA) will hurt communities like Fort Frances.
The meeting is part of a regional tour next week (June 9-13), with other stops slated for Atikokan, Kenora, Ear Falls, Dryden, Sioux Lookout, Ignace, Nipigon/Red Rock, Marathon, Terrace Bay-Schreiber, Thunder Bay, and Greenstone.
Monday’s meeting will include presentations from municipal, industry, and labour representatives, and will encourage those on hand to log on to www.forestrycoalition.com and post their point of view.
The coalition said the act should be called the “Endangered Communities Act” as it “will cripple forest companies without any additional benefit to the species that may be at risk,” and consequently devastate families and communities which rely on the forestry industry.
Back on May 15, the new Endangered Species Act regulations were posted on the province’s website.
The OFC and other industry groups are concerned its implementation, without a long-term regulation for forestry under Section 55, will have significant social and economic impacts.
Section 55 of the act authorizes forestry activities through a permitting process, as opposed to the forest management planning system which currently is conducted under the Crown Forest Sustainability Act.
The province noted it will delay for one year the application of the ESA on the forestry sector in Northern Ontario.
The natural resources minister has told the OFC that this year will be used by the province to develop a permit system that will require forest companies to apply for their planned work on each individual cutting block, and perhaps for each separate activity (such as reforestation, harvesting, and road building).
But because each permit could be challenged by special interest groups opposed to logging, landing the province and forest industry in court, the permit system potentially could close down forestry operations “for months, if not years,” the OFC charged.
“While we are supportive of protective measures for all species, the province’s proposed plan of permitting would result in a duplicative and onerous process, and in our opinion, not provide any additional protection for identified species,” the OFC stated in a recent press release.
“It is our position that the work the industry does through the forest management planning process, and mandated by the Crown Forest Sustainability Act, currently protects for endangered species.
“Although the province of Ontario originally committed to recognizing the efforts of the industry through an exemption, most recently the government withdrew the previous plans for the implementation of a long-term regulation.
“It is our opinion that the implementation of a permitting process could cause extensive delays, the immediate withdrawal of land base, and wide exposure to frivolous and manipulative legal challenges that would effectively turn forest management over to the courts,” the OFC said.