Land Use Planning in the Northern Boreal Initiative
| In 2007, the ECO undertook an extensive analysis of the environmental implications of various land use policies and allocation decisions in Ontario’s northern boreal landscape. The following articles are included: | |
The Crown Forest Sustainability Act and Declaration Order MNR-71 under the Environmental Assessment Act are the legal basis for permitting commercial logging in Ontario. They operate under the assumption that forestry in the AOU, including the southern parts of the boreal forestry, is an ecologically sound activity. Similar approvals do not yet exist for areas north of the AOU.
The federal Senate Subcommittee on the Boreal Forest recommended in 1999 that “in those parts of the boreal forest approaching the tree line, where adequate silvicultural methods have not been developed, logging should not be allowed ... [and] cutting should be limited in old-growth sections of the boreal forest.” In our 2002/2003 Annual Report, the ECO made a similar recommendation that MNR “should carry out a thorough assessment of forest management approaches that are ecologically suited to the northern boreal forest and make the research results available to the public.” No such assessment has been made public as of June 2007.
In 2000, MNR established the Northern Boreal Initiative (NBI) for the portion of the boreal forest to the north of the AOU. The purpose of the NBI is to open up the NBI area to new commercial forestry and other forms of resource development, and to facilitate economic renewal, employment opportunities and resource stewardship for First Nation communities in the far North. One of the rationales to opening up this intact forest to commercial harvesting is to address a perceived future shortfall of wood supply in the province.
Pursuant to the NBI’s Community-Based Land Use Planning Process, each First Nation community within the NBI area is expected to lead a planning process and develop a land use strategy for its respective region, with support and input from MNR and other provincial agencies.
In June 2006, MNR adopted the first land use strategy using the NBI planning process. The Community-based Land Use Strategy for the Whitefeather Forest and Adjacent Areas (the WFAA Strategy) is the first of an expected 15 land use strategies to be developed under NBI. For a detailed review of the WFAA Strategy, see The Whitefeather forest and adjacent areas community-based land use strategy in this Annual Report.
The WFAA Strategy, developed by Pikangikum First Nation with the assistance of MNR, is a guidance document that sets out specific land use designations – such as Dedicated Protected Areas and General Use Areas – and identifies zoning areas where each of the designations are supported. The WFAA Strategy also provides strategic direction for the proposed future land uses and activities.
The WFAA Strategy brings the province one step closer to opening up Ontario’s northern boreal forest to commercial forestry and new levels of resource development, including mining, tourism, hydroelectric generation, and road building. The WFAA Strategy makes important zoning decisions, such as which areas should be protected, and which should support forestry and other development that will likely have significant impacts on the fragile northern boreal forest. Yet, these decisions were made without the benefit or guidance of a comprehensive land use planning system.
There is no legislative direction for the development of the NBI land use strategies. Further, there has not been any broad-scale land use planning or gap analysis for the NBI area to guide the individual land use decisions in the WFAA Strategy. Without such broad planning guidance – like objectives for the conservation of biodiversity – the NBI’s piecemeal approach wastes a unique opportunity to create a regional system of protected areas that best safeguards ecological values for all of the NBI area.
This approach is in stark contrast to what is required in other parts of the province. In southern Ontario, the Planning Act and the 2005 Provincial Policy Statement provide clear planning guidance. Moreover, extensive planning for Crown lands was undertaken for the Ontario’s Living Legacy land use strategy for the AOU.
The WFAA Strategy hopes to achieve the competing objectives of economic renewal and increased employment on the one hand; and sustainability, biological conservation, stewardship of the land, and remoteness objectives, on the other. With the inevitable tension between these goals of conservation and development – a tension which will likely arise in all of the individual NBI land use strategies – there is a strong need for clear and explicit rules governing planning under the NBI before the next 14 land use strategies are developed.
| This is an article from the 2006/07 Annual Report to the Legislature from the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario. |
Citing This Article:
Environmental Commissioner of Ontario. 2007. "Developing Priorities: The Challenge of Creating a Sustainable Planning System in Northern Ontario." Reconciling our Priorities, ECO Annual Report, 2006-07. Toronto, ON : Environmental Commissioner of Ontario. 60-61.
