Letters to the editor.

Dear Editor:

It was with great interest that I read the article in your January 2007 issue concerning wood supply going to Quebec. I am sure that we would all agree that the forest industry is going through a difficult period, but I would like to clarify some of the other points made in your article. The Province of Ontario monitors the flow of public owned wood into Quebec. Historically about 2 % of Ontario's annual harvest goes to Quebec, the majority of which is low-grade hardwood which has limited market in Ontario. The Ministry has held more than one competitive process to try to develop local Ontario industry for this material, but so far we still have more low-grade hardwood than we can use. Selling the current low quality surplus to Quebec mills provides harvesting jobs in Ontario and allows us to get to the higher quality trees to supply Ontario veneer and sawmills. In both Northeastern and Southern Ontario, our Ministry has a protocol in place that requires loggers to make wood available to Ontario mills before selling outside the province. Quebec has a similar policy and Ontario mills can purchase logs from Quebec and, for example, at least one Ontario mill is receiving high quality logs this winter, sourced from Quebec.

Crown wood is made available to Timmins area mills annually, but that does not mean that the mill holds a commitment for specific trees in a forest nor does it mean that the expected volume can be left and stored in the forest and allowed to accumulate year over year. More than just the mills depend on the forest management activities for their livelihood. There are many types of bush work contractors that depend on steady work throughout the year to support their business and their employees. If there is a market to keep these workers going during the recent downturn in the milling industry, we would like to take advantage of it, where it makes sense. There are mills in the area that use the veneer quality portion of the hardwood harvested and we depend upon the oriented strand board mills and others to utilize the remainder of the non-veneer portion of the hardwood trees. Our usual Ontario markets for the non-veneer portion of the logs are reduced this year and, without the option of selling the low quality logs to Quebec mills, our value adding veneer mills may be forced to close, putting more local people out of work. Mill closures have also affected Quebec, reducing the volume of logs harvested in Ontario for that market. We anticipate a reduced flow of wood to Quebec this year as a result. Global conditions have decreased the harvest of both conifer and hardwoods in Northeastern Ontario generally and more wood is being left standing for future years. MNR will continue to monitor wood flow throughout the province. Our policy is to achieve a consistent and predictable flow of wood each year, which can be made available to Ontario mills as a priority For the long-term, MNR continues to work with industry and other partners to develop new uses for wood that is currently surplus to our industrial requirements and provide greater benefits to the people of Ontario.

Yours truly,

Rob Galloway, R.P.F.

Regional Director Northeast Region

Ministry of Natural Resources