NEW CLEARCUTTING GUIDELINES PROPOSED The Ministry of Natural Resources has recently released proposed new guidelines for clearcutting. There are many positive elements in these proposed rules, which could help mitigate the impact of clearcutting on our forests. Other elements, especially the idea of combining clearcuts in areas as large as 10,000 hectares in all forest types, are more problematic. The public comment period has now started -- take a look at what MNR is proposing for our forests and have your say!

 From the very beginnng of Lands for Life, the Partnership has made it clear that we are interested in the health of the entire landscape, not just in parks and protected areas. We see the parks system as one vital element in a sustainably managed landscape. Our goal is to ensure that the full biodiversity of our natural forest regions is maintained for generations to come.

Thanks to the Ontario Forest Accord we have, for the first time, a real chance to have a say about broader landscape issues in Ontario. Representatives of the Partnership, for example, are involved with both the Ontario Forest Accord Advisory Board, which considers overall forest-management approaches in the province, and the Provincial Technical committee, which is looking for better ways to protect habitat for all species during forestry operations.

The vision we bring to both of these bodies is straightforward: We must maintain the health and diversity of our wild forests both inside and outside the park's system.

We are, for example, emphasizing the importance of maintaining connections between protected areas so that species do not become trapped or isolated and we are asking for modified harvest practices around protected areas so that protection does not simply fall away at park boundaries.

Outside of parks, we are calling for improved forestry techniques that can ensure that we really are using just the interest generated by our forests rather than cutting into our natural capital. We are also looking at the feasibility of producing more wood from a smaller landbase in order to reduce the overall area impacted by roads and industrial activities.

This is a large agenda and we will have more discussion of where we are headed on these issues in the coming months.

For further details, check out these related pages:

• Ontario Forest Accord Advisory Board, which oversees the implementation of the terms of the Ontario Forest Accord
• Habitat Review, which has a panel that discusses how forestry operation guidelines can better protect wildlife