Logging in Northern Ontario's boreal forest.

By Tanya Talaga Queen's Park Bureau

The Liberal government gets a failing grade in northern forestry management as clear-cutting of the boreal forest continues while numerous jobs are being lost, environmentalists claim.

The Ontario government has tried to put resources and thoughtful planning behind resource development in the north but it “just doesn’t translate to good things on the ground,” says a new Greenpeace Canada report released Thursday.

Instead, clear-cutting of northern forests is happening without proper regeneration, forestry jobs are still being lost and industry is not taking advantage of green markets for their products, said the report entitled, “A Failing Grade: The McGuinty Government’s Management of Public Forests.”

Northern Ontario’s boreal forest stretches from the Manitoba border to James Bay and Quebec. It is one of the world’s last, great forest regions known as the “lungs of the earth” for its ability to store carbon gas emissions.

This ecologically sensitive area is also home to the Ring of Fire, more than 5,000 square kilometres of pristine wilderness developers believe contains a massive $30 billion deposit of chromite — the ore used to make stainless steel. Nearly 9,000 claims have been laid in the area, covering 480,000 hectares.

All-weather roads, bridges and a railway line are being planned to transport the ore to southern refineries.

In the southern boreal forest, between the 50th and 51st parallels, if depletion of the area isn’t stopped, all intact wildernesses in the area will be gone by 2025, said Greenpeace’s Catherine Grant, the report’s author.

“There is a problem with regeneration,” she said. “Our forests aren’t coming back after they are being harvested. Or, in the boreal, if they are coming back they are coming back a different tree species.”

The report found in 2007-2008, clear-cuts of 25,000 hectares were permitted and that between 1989 and 2001, 206,500 hectares was cut a year, mainly through clear-cuts.

And a lack of proper plans to save the threatened woodland caribou, which need hundreds of development-free kilometres to roam, means their numbers are declining further, the report noted.

However, the government has introduced new laws to help sustainably develop the north such as the Far North Act, which promises to include First Nations communities in land use plans and sets aside 225,000 square kilometres of the north from development.

And in May, the Liberals introduced the Forest Tenure Modernization Act, which allows for a more competitive market environment in the allocation and pricing of Crown timber.

Natural Resources Minister Linda Jeffrey said she “doesn’t accept” the failing grade from Greenpeace.

“I try to understand the motivation for putting this report out now, but I guess we all know it is political season,” she said. “In the past, Greenpeace has been pretty constructive working with us. They were extraordinarily complimentary of our protection of the boreal forest when we did the Far North Act.”

While many First Nations object to the act, others are working with the government to develop their resource rich land and bring jobs to the remote north, Jeffrey said.

“I’m mindful we have to make great strides protecting the forest but we also have to protect 1,600 northern forestry jobs in the wood supply program,” she said. “It is about finding a balance and still moving forward to find protection.”

If elected premier, Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak has said he would repeal the Far North Act to stimulate job growth. McGuinty, he said, wants to turn northern Ontario into a “giant museum.”

As for the caribou, for the first time, the forestry industry and environmentalists were tasked with the job to help come up with a plan to save the animals.

“They (both) think there is a bright future for the woodland caribou and the forestry industry in northern Ontario. I agree with them,” said Jeffrey.

Besides, both the NDP and the Tories voted against the endangered species act — legislation to help the caribou. “It is easy to be critical when you don’t put up constructive ideas,” she added.