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Category Archives: Forestry

Reject Schedules 6 and 8 of Bill 229 to Protect Conservation Authorities and Species at Risk

By Linda Heron on Monday, November 30th, 2020
Posted in Bill-229, Climate Change, Crown Land Use Policy, Flooding, Forestry, Government, Land Use, ORA Submissions, Regulatory, Regulatory Submissions, River Concerns, Rivers at Risk, Species at Risk, Stormwater, Urban Development, Water Quality, Wetlands

Bill 229 is just the most recent in a long list of omnibus bills containing devastating amendments, exemptions and streamlining of key environmental policy and legislation designed to protect our environment and communities and provide the public and stakeholders with meaningful input.  These government actions have created a deep erosion of public trust and confidence.  It is unacceptable that it would mislead its citizens and bypass the norms by taking advantage of a world-wide health emergency to aggressively push their destructive agenda through.

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EBR 012-9499 – Naturally Resilient – MNRF’s Natural Resource Climate Adaptation Strategy

By Linda Heron on Saturday, April 1st, 2017
Posted in Climate Change, Environmental Registry, Forestry, Land Use, ORA Submissions, River Concerns, Water Quality

The focus of the Strategy’s five goals should not just be on “Natural Resources”, but rather on the resilience of the province’s natural heritage landscape, using a watershed approach, in consideration of the cumulative effects of all past, present and future development on our air, land and water. Additionally, the scope of the Strategy must be broadened to encompass a review of all policies, guidelines and legislation that do not support the resiliency, conservation and protection of our streams, rivers, lakes and wetlands in this warming climate. Continue reading →

EBR 012-8685 – Ontario’s Crown Forests: Opportunities to Enhance Carbon Storage

By Linda Heron on Tuesday, January 24th, 2017
Posted in Environmental Registry, Forestry, ORA Submissions, Policy & Process, River Concerns, Water Quality

Stream-side forests are crucial to the protection and enhancement of freshwater resources. They are extremely complex ecosystems that provide useful ecosystem services such as mitigating or controlling non-point-source pollution as well as providing optimum food and habitat for stream communities. As a component of an integrated management system including nutrient management and sediment and erosion control practices, stream-side forests have important effects on water quality. They remove excess nutrients, pollutants and sediments from surface runoff and shallow groundwater and they also shade streams to optimize light and temperature conditions and provide dissolved and particulate organic food for aquatic plants and animals.[1]

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Algonquin Park Brook Trout Populations Threatened

By Linda Heron on Wednesday, June 3rd, 2015
Posted in Articles, E-Newsletter, Fisheries, Forestry, ORA Reports, River Concerns

A summary of a presentation delivered to the Muskoka Field Naturalists (MFN) by Bob and Marj Wilton, in Gravenhurst on February 5th, 2015.   Written by John Challis, editor of “Wakerobin”, MFN newsletter.

As Mike Wilton tried to connect the dots to explain why forest management in Algonquin Park is threatening brook trout, one might confess to losing the thread.

There is a kaleidoscope of different sciences connecting cause and effect. But Mike and his wife Marj have been sleuthing through various disciplines for decades, and the evidence is stacking up. The interdisciplinary nature of their research reflects the fact that Algonquin’s ecology is an intertwining web of dependencies. Soil chemistry and rainfall chemistry, prevailing winds, hydrogeology, geology, logging techniques, road construction, invasive species, dendrology and silviculture, even glaciation: they all play a part—positively or negatively—in the breeding success of brook trout in the park. Continue reading →