Earthroots - Temagami Fax Action Centre

Click here to support Earthroots!

Upcoming Events

Thu, Nov 20th
Caribou Mask Exhibition Opening

Search

Login

Temagami Fax Action Centre

Monday, 11 February 2008

Fax to the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources

Please feel free to edit the content of the fax below as you see fit.

To: Robert Baker, Planning Forester, North Bay District Office

Subject: Long Term Management Direction for the Temagami Forest (EBR #010-008)

Robert Baker, Planning Forester, Ministry of Natural Resources
North Bay District Office, 3301 Trout Lake Road, North Bay, ON, P1A 4L7, Fax: 705-475-5500

Re: Long Term Management Direction for the Temagami Forest (EBR # 010-0008)

Dear Mr. Baker,

I am writing to provide input for the long term forest management planning of the Temagami Forest. As you are aware, Temagami is internationally renowned for its unique ecology, cultural values, and recreational opportunities. As such, forest management must ensure that ecological, cultural and recreational values are permanently protected. With a dramatic decrease in mill demands, this is a perfect time to reduce logging allocations in the Temagami region in order to protect other values adequately.

The Long Term Management Direction Summary states that the harvesting of red and white pine will increase by 52% for the 2009 plan. The planning team must ensure that old-growth red and white pine (130 years+) is excluded from harvest. Old-growth red and white pine forests are seriously threatened ecosystems, and only exist on less than 1% of their historic range. In order to protect the region's biodiversity, all old-growth stands in Temagami must be protected. Harvesting should be excluded from Temagami's western backcountry, and especially from areas near 
Shelburne, Canton and Le Roche townships, as well as Owain Lake, since they contain representative old-growth stands.

One important aspect of old-growth ecosystems is the wide variety in age classes of the trees. Very old and dying trees are crucial to maintaining forest biodiversity because they provide nutrients to the forest floor and habitat for wildlife. Therefore, trees that are on the upper threshold of their natural age-range must be left to die naturally and decompose. While it is commendable that the Ministry of Natural Resources intends to allow the percentage of 130-140 year old pines in the Temagami Forest to increase, it must not do so at the expense of the older trees in the unit. Furthermore, the planning team should not include old-growth trees found in Temagami's protected areas in its analysis of the amount of old growth in the Forest Management Unit.  Including the protected old growth stands in this calculation does not give an accurate picture of the impact that the proposed logging will have on the majority of the landbase.

In addition, forestry must not impact on the region's aboriginal sacred sites. Harvesting near Shish Kong Lake will undoubtedly put "Spirit Rock", a site of great spiritual significance, at risk.  Block 400 (former block 30) must therefore be permanently removed from the harvest cycle. In addition, the sacred Grandmother and Grandfather Rocks (on Obabika Lake) must be adequately buffered from logging. This area also contains old-growth forest stands, which is even more reason to spare it entirely from cutting.

Finally, the planning team must ensure that canoe routes, portages, hiking trails, and viewpoints are given adequate protection. Buffers of at least 200 metres must be implemented to protect the ecotourism values of the region and viewscapes must be preserved to ensure a quality remote tourism experience. Finally, 2km buffers must be implemented around Temagami's provincial parks and conservation reserves to ensure that ecological values in the region's protected areas are not adversely affected by forest operations.

I hope that the Temagami forest management planning team will take these recommendations seriously. At a time when mill demand is in serious decline, and interest in wilderness tourism and aboriginal traditions is growing, it would be irresponsible to squander a natural treasure as valuable as the Temagami Forest.

Thank you for the opportunity to participate in this process. Sincerely,

Full Name:
Address Line 1:			Address Line 2:
City:			Province:
Postal Code:			Email:

Free social bookmarking plugins and extensions for Joomla! websites!

Joomla! is Free Software released under the GNU/GPL License.