A man and a numbered company were ordered to pay $65,000 in fines and fees for unlawfully harvesting Crown timber under the Crown Forest Sustainability Act.
Two other men received suspended sentences. Justice of the Peace Michael Kitlar heard the case in the Ontario Court of Justice on July 13 in Sudbury.
Darrel Christensen and Ingolf Christensen, both of Hagar, east of Sudbury; and Nicolas Krucker of Hanmer, a Sudbury suburb; and a numbered company, 8741859 Canada Inc., pleaded guilty to unlawfully harvesting timber in a Crown forest without the required forest resource licence.
Darrel Christensen was fined $25,000, Ingolf Christensen and Krucker each received a suspended sentence, and the numbered company was ordered to pay the $40,000 stumpage fee of the harvested timber.
Court heard that on October 31, 2016, Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry staff received a public complaint about the illegal harvest of timber on Crown land in Appleby Township, in the Municipality of St. Charles.
An investigation determined that over 3,600 trees were illegally cut from 27 hectares of Crown land between April 1 and November 1, 2016.
The ministry seized all logs located at the landing area of the operation, which amounted to five truckloads of red and white pine.
The ministry calculated that the total volume of timber harvested would require the payment of a $40,000 stumpage fee, funds that are used for the renewal and management of Crown forests.
