Northwestern Ontario tree grower protests government apathy on forest renewal

Staff in Premier Dalton McGuinty's office in Queen's Park received an unexpected “gift” August 11 courtesy of a northwestern Ontario tree nursery owner.

Joy Neill of Jellien Nurseries in Armstrong, north of Thunder Bay, shipped 45,000 spruce and pine seedlings to the Ontario Legislature to protest the lack of commitment by the government toward forest renewal.

“I want the people of Ontario to know that the forests are not sustainable, they haven't been for 10 years,” said Neill, owner of a 12-greenhouse operation near the town of Armstrong.

A spokesman in Natural Resources Minister Donna Cansfield's office said the 50 boxes of seedlings were transferred to cold storage at the ministry's district office in Aurora.

Neill is upset that the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) refused to plant 160,000 seedlings left over from a 1.5 million order placed by the government for the Crown-owned Armstrong Forest, one of 47 forest management units in Ontario.

About 1.3 million seedlings were planted in the Spruce River Forest, south of Armstrong, but the remaining plants were dumped back on her.
Neill was paid for her work, however she thinks it's a colossal waste not to plant them in the Armstrong forest.

She contends the MNR's Forest Renewal Trust Fund for the Armstrong Forest has $1.4 million but the Thunder Bay district office refuses to release any money to plant them.

Neill said her frequent calls to Natural Resources Minister Donna Cansfield to overturn the district office's decision went nowhere.

“There's money sitting in the trust fund and there's trees sitting out here and nobody wants to plant them,” said Neill. “Meanwhile there's still people here that need jobs and work and I'm throwing 160,000 trees in the dump.”

MNR District Manager Bill Baker in Thunder Bay was not available for comment.
Neill contends the struggling forestry companies are not regularly paying into the trust funds in management units where they harvest and the province has no idea how much money is owed.

Thunder Bay-Superior North MPP Michael Gravelle said the whole issue of Forest Renewal Trusts, land tenure reform and pricing are complex issues that he is committed to addressing.

Gravelle, whose riding includes Armstrong, was recently handed the forestry file as part of the new pumped-up Ministry of Northern Development, Mines and Forestry.

Gravelle said there needs to be “very serious discussions” about the Forest Renewal Trusts, tenure reform and pricing in the province.

In his first month as forestry minister, Gravelle said many industry stakeholders have brought up these matters and there must be “very serious discussions” undertaken.

“My goal is to have an announcement in relation to that process in the very near future.” It will tie directly in Neill's concerns as well. “This is something we take seriously.”