New guide promotes more natural approach to timber harvesting
Copyright 2001
Canada NewsWire
August 31, 2001
TORONTO, Aug. 31 - The Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) is releasing a draft document for public comment today that promotes a more natural approach to harvesting Ontario's forests.
The draft Natural Disturbance Pattern Emulation Guide (NDPE Guide) is designed to leave clearcut areas of the forest in conditions that are closer to the conditions that exist after natural disturbances, such as forest fires.
"With this draft Guide, we won't be harvesting more, we'll be harvesting better," Natural Resources Minister John Snobelen said. He added that the draft Guide will not change the total area that the forest industry harvests every year. That area -- approximately 200,000 hectares a year -- represents less than one-third of one per cent of the total forested area in Ontario, and all of it must be regenerated.
The minister stressed that the draft Guide is consistent with the government's commitment to sustainable forest development, and to management practices that are among the best in the world. "It is also consistent with Ontario's existing forest management planning process, and the important role of the Local Citizens Committees in that process," he said.
The minister noted that the draft Guide represents an important step towards the goal of developing a more natural approach to harvesting timber, and that it will help maintain the widest possible variety of wildlife species in Ontario's Crown forests. "The next step involves the development of a more comprehensive landscape guide for forest managers that will embrace and protect the broadest possible range of resource values," he added.
The minister pointed out that patterning forest management techniques to simulate natural disturbances has the support of the Ontario Forest Research Institute, the Centre for Northern Forest Ecosystem Research and many other North American researchers.
He added that an open and inclusive process that involved a wide range of competing interests was put in place to develop the draft Guide. The draft Guide was developed with the assistance of the Provincial Forest Technical Committee, which has representatives from MNR, the forest industry, the environmental and academic communities and other interest groups.
The draft Natural Disturbance Pattern Emulation Guide will be posted on the Environmental Bill of Rights Registry for 60 days -- double the normal period for public review -- from August 31 to October 31, 2001. MNR encourages comments on the draft document from all interested members of the public.