The Ontario Forest Industry Association (OFIA) is challenging the provincial environmental commissioner's assertion that caribou protection measures will not harm forestry in Northern Ontario.
The Toronto-based industry group said repeated comments by Environmental Commissioner Gord Miller that caribou regulations pose no serious issue for industry and the Northern economy are “erroneous and misinformed.”
In reviewing forest management plans posted on the MNR's website, OFIA said caribou protection measures will cause “dramatic reductions” in available wood supply across the North.
The group said the regulations will cut harvest volumes by more than 20 per cent in the Lac Seul and Kenogami forests, and by 65 per cent in the Abitibi River Forest after 20 years.
The areas outlined as caribou management zones supply wood fibre to mills in Dryden, Kenora, Fort Frances, Thunder Bay, Timmins and Terrace Bay.
OFIA president and CEO Jamie Lim supports the commissioner's call for greater transparency on caribou population numbers, but adds it needs to “go well beyond sharing information on where caribou are in Ontario.”
Her group is asking for the MNR to conduct a socio-economic impact on the regulations. So far, it has fallen on deaf ears.
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