A new Temagami birch mill should not be affected by a provincially imposed area-logging ban that has been in place since last winter. Temagami Forest Products, which opened for business in mid-June, will process low-quality white birch from Crown land in the Temagami Management Unit.
The construction of the mill has been the goal of company treasurer Aurele St. Jean and company president Ivan Beauchamp since 1999. But logging in the Temagami unit has been halted since February, while the Ministry of Environment considered a petition from the environmental group Earthroots to put the province’s forest management harvest plan up for an environmental review.
The group petitioned the MOE to submit the plan to an individual environmental assessment in February.
In a news release, the Toronto-based environmental group cites access control and the recreation area strategy as outstanding issues that have not been reconciled.
They say the Ministry of Natural Resources has an obligation to do recreation planning and integrate that with logging plans, and also charge that the MNR has failed to control motorized public access to protect “sensitive features.”
St. Jean says the company has built up its own inventory by purchasing wood outside of the Temagami Management Unit in February and March. “But if this goes on for two or three months, it would affect our operation.” The lumber mill, which will employ 62, is projected to take in 40,000 to 50,000 cubic metres of white birch.
Company officials were in contact with Natural Resources Minister David Ramsay to get the issue resolved, but no decision has been made on when the logging ban will be lifted.
In June, Environment Minister Leona Dombrowsky denied the bump-up request, but it is conditional on the MNR preparing an annual report assessing the effectiveness of a generic road use strategy for roads in a special management unit.
