Lakehead University Forestry Association - Yearbook (Thunder Bay, Ontario Canada)

Page 23 text:

yield. Beyond these provisions, however, the Crown Timber Act would seem to be intended principally to ensure the orderly disposal of public timber, and for the collection of dues, fees, charges, and penalties. The support of our provincial government for sustained yield forest management, whether assumed or implicit, appears to be most generous, perhaps even embarrassing to some who are responsible for the expenditure of some part of the public silvicultural largesse , but that support might well be examined in the light of apparent provincial priorities , as revealed in the programs and expenditures in other areas of the public realm, and in the extent to which the full needs of an effective forest management program are being met. Six years ago, the Forestry Study Unit estimated a need for the commitment of $8.1 million to silvicultural programs by 1970, or approximately $3 million more than were provided in 1971. During the discussion on the estimates of his Department in the Legislative Assembly, in 1971, the then Minister of Lands and Forests acknowledged that current regeneration programs were inadequate and confessed that he was unable to obtain a large share of funds from the public purse for them. It seems that other programs in the public domain were deemed to be of greater importance. These, doubtless, included the $25 million ex- travaganza in Lake Ontario, Ontario Place , and the recreation of various provincial heritage sites at costs of some millions of dollars, such as old Fort William, on the eroding banks of the Kaministiqua River. Looking beyond the grosser aspects of public spending, at the silvicultural program in particular, one is led to speculate as to the quality of regeneration work being undertaken when he learns that, although the silvicultural budget has increased by 2.5 times in the past seven years, no increase in the complement of professional foresters in the employ of the Department of Lands and Forests has been permitted since 1962. Although a substantial portion of the increased regeneration program was intended to fall .under the direction of cooperating continued .

Page 22 text:

WHAT IS THE FORESTRY POLICY OF ONTARIO? Amongst a majority of members of the forestry profession, doubtless, there is a general assumption that a sustained yield policy has been adopted in the province and, on the evidence of increasing silviculture activities and rising expenditures in the past five years or more, that the policy is being effectively implemented. Since 1964, for example, outlays of public money on silviculture have gone from $2,000,000 to more than $5,000,000 in 1971, and statistically, at least, the annual reports of the Minister of Lands and Forests reveal in- creases in acres treated, units planted and so on, commensurate with these out- lays . If one should seek to find in the public record an unequivocal declaration of the policy of Ontario in respect of forest lands, one which is known to and supported by all political parties, and which has been defined in all its im- plications, both immediate and long term, for all of our citizens, he may have some difficulty in finding any more substantial basis for the activities mentioned above than the casual interest of the government of the most prosperous of the ten provinces. The Crown Timber Act , which is taken to be the legislative embodiment of provincial philosophy and policy towards public forest lands makes no mention of sustained yield. Although a management plan may be required of a licencee , this, alone, is no assurance that such plan will be little more than an inter- esting academic exercise, or, as has been too often the case, simply a long term timber liquidation projection, in which unaided, beneficent natural processes are offered as the basis for the establishment and growing of the next forest. The Act provides that the Minister may enter into regeneration agreements with licencees to promote and maintain the productivity of cut-over areas. Here, there has been a significant growth in activities and here, perhaps, can be seen a confirmation of the dedication of the government to the principle of sustained continued .

Page 24 text:

licencees, it is a fact that the initiative and responsibility for the planning, design, and general supervision of projects remained with the Unit Foresters. That the average Unit size, in the North, is approximately 1 million acres may be sufficient indication of the extent of the responsibility assigned to these people, and it may be inferred, of the intensity of management to be provided. In considering this issue of forest policy in Ontario in the light of actual experience across the past few years, one is inclined to speculate that the policy is in reality one of expedience, perhaps best expressed as, you liquidate, we regenerate, where possible, and to the extent that funds may be provided. Indeed, in the past several years, there has occurred a shrinkage in financial support for silviculture, and this has imposed stresses and dif- ficulties at all levels. Nearly 20 years ago, the Sixth British Commonwealth Forestry Conference a- dopted a resolution on Forest Policy, portions of which follow: 1. That the attention of all Commonwealth Governments be drawn to the great need for a continuous and stable forest policy. 2. That those Governments who have not yet formulated and published a statement of their forest policy be urged to do so without delay, and that all Commonwealth Governments be urged to take action to implement their forest policies. A forest policy, the Conference agreed, should aim at, The protection, conservation, and sustained yield management of sufficient areas of forest land to ensure the maintenance and the improvement of the protection functions of the forest, particularly in relation to soil and water supplies. In discussing the necessary steps towards sustained yield, a Conference committee stated that the attainment of adequate restocking of cut-over areas by natural or artificial means should constitute the first charge on the re- continued.