Forestry sector needs "room to grow".

A proposed overhaul of Ontario's protected areas legislation should not take more wood out of Ontario's dwindling wood supply by allowing the creation of more protected areas, says a forestry industry official.

Forest companies are concerned about what they see as the "continuing erosion of land available for harvesting" and believe that any planned revision of the laws governing parks should respect that.

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The Ontario Forest Industry Association (OFIA) is cautioning Ontario Parks to avoid opening up the possibility of adding any new provincial parks, wilderness areas and conservation reserves in the province as it opens up Ontario's legislation affecting the province's parks.

"Any new policy must conform to the principles laid out in the Ontario Forest Accord and the Room to Grow policy framework," says Jamie Lim, president of the OFIA.

Those policies aim to balance harvesting with conservation by "sharing permanent increases in wood supplies between gaps in parks and protected areas."

The Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) hosted a series of open forums across the province last month, with most meetings occurring in the North. The purpose is to re-evaluate legislation affecting protected areas that has not been revisited in 50 years.

Since the first legislation was enacted in the 1950s, Ontario only had eight provincial parks. Now, Ontario's network of protected areas has grown to over 316 provincial parks, 249 conservation reserves and 10 "wilderness areas." Lands in the Far North are, for the present time, also off limits for any industrial development, including mining and hydroelectric facilities.

According to the MNR, about nine per cent of Ontario's total land base is protected from industrial development, which roughly translates to just under nine million hectares of land.

As it is, forest companies, the government and most mainstream conservation groups arrived at a consensus several years ago stipulating that new conservation reserves must be balanced with more development.

Lim says that ensuring this balance is met is part of the government's commitment to the industry to look at the "socioeconomic impact" of every piece of public policy they enact into law.

"If we take that land base out of our reach, what is the impact on jobs and on the industry?" Lim says.

According to the OFIA, about 275,000 families in the province depend on the forest for their livelihood, so any new policy should bear that in mind.

Officials with the MNR, however, say that the proposals do not in any way intend to create new protected areas. Lyne Gagnon-Ruscio is a communications adviser with the MNR and she says that the intent of the review is only to strengthen existing laws, not create new ones.

The overhaul will only establish the parks and conservation areas into law. Gagnon-Ruscio also stresses that at least one park--Algonquin Provincial Park--allows harvesting in specific areas.

Those within the environmentalist community are also quick to point out that policy frameworks like Lands for Life and Room to Grow still leave much of Ontario safe for harvesting.

"About 90 per cent of Ontario's lands is currently available for allocation," says Evan Ferrari, forest programs director with the Toronto-based Wildlands League. Ferrari also says that mining is also occurring in 23 areas on different "protected areas" in the North. For him, this activity should disqualify these areas as "protected."

One of the major proposals being put forward for public input is a proposal relating to the prohibition of major industrial use on all conservation areas, with the exception of Algonquin Park and First Nations hydroelectric projects.

The MNR will collect all of input from the public consultations, along with comments from stakeholders, and will prepare a report. Ontario Parks will evaluate and analyze the proposals and prepare its recommendations to the MNR.

www.ontarioparks.com

www.ofia.com

www.wildlandsleague.org

By JOSEPH QUESNEL

Northern Ontario Business