Logging Resumes in Ontario's Temagami Old Growth Forest

TEMAGAMI, Ontario, Canada, June 23, 2004 (ENS) - Conservationists' appeal for an environmental assessment on the Temagami Forest Management Plan has been denied, allowing clearcutting in pristine areas of Ontario's northern forests to begin anew under the controversial plan.

The request by the Ontario group Earthroots had stopped normal logging operations in Temagami for four months while the Ministry of Environment (MOE) considered it.

"We have been pushing for the full implementation of the Temagami Land Use Plan which includes integrated resource management planning and detailed planning for recreational and remote values," said Victor Lorentz, Earthroots Forest Campaigner. "In rejecting our request the MOE is rejecting these values."

Temagami old growth forest in northeastern Ontario (Photo credit unknown)

Environment Minister Leona Dombrowsky's decision did order the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) to monitor the effectiveness of their access control systems and report publicly on the results.

The MNR must also develop and use alternative measures of access control if a restriction is found to be ineffective, Dombrowsky ordered.

"While we're happy there will be a higher level of accountability for MNR's access control measures, we feel these measures have adequately demonstrated their ineffectiveness already," said Lorentz.

"According to MNR's own data, 45 percent of their inspections revealed a violation. That means that their roads strategy is not working and needs to be immediately improved," Lorenz said.

"Temagami's backcountry is shrinking, contrary to land use guidelines. It will continue to diminish without action from MNR on integrated resource management as called for in the Temagami Land Use Plan," said Hap Wilson, an eco-tourism operator in the Temagami region.

"The government's commitment to land use planning is in danger. The Temagami Land Use Plan was the template for land use planning in the rest of the province and Temagami is supposed to be under model management by the MNR. If they're not taking land use decisions seriously here, I shudder to think what will happen in the rest of Ontario," Lorentz said.

The protests against logging the Temagami are long-standing. More than 300 demonstrators were arrested in 1989 when they blocked a logging road in the region.

In 1996, environmental protesters mounted a three-week blockade of logging roads.

In the town of Temagami, the long anti-logging campaign has infuriated some residents and created animosity toward the locals who sympathize with Earthroots.

That minority believes the town's future lies in tourism, but the majority says mining and logging are essential to cut Temagami's high jobless rate which can reach 40 percent in the off-season winter months.

Earthroots vows to keep up the pressure on the Ontario government to follow its own land use guidelines.