Timmins Local Citizens Committee

 

Minutes of February 11, 2009

 

February 11, 2009

LCC hours:  54 hours

Year to Date: 321

Total: 5566.4

 

Date:  February 11, 2009

 

Location: Ontario Government Complex, Fire Boardroom                                                                 

 

Present: James McCarthy, Bob Bielek, Bill Russell, Jenny Millson, Melanie Johnson, Robert Calhoun, Kees Stryland, Lino Morandin, Mark Joron, Gail Krawchuk, Allan Moyle, Ron Johnson, Rusty Fink, Scott Tam

 

Regrets: Kees Pols, Dave Stringer, Chris McKay

 

Absent: Audrey Cumming, George Sackenay, Dino Pellerin, Bill Hutchinson, Robert Vien

 

MNR: Glen McFarlane, Jim Duncan, Nikki Wood

 

Guests: Dean Cederwall, Forest Industry Liaison, MNR Region

 

Call to Order:

Bill Russell called the meeting to order at 6:50 p.m.

As there was new members at the meeting, Bill asked each person around the table to introduce themselves. He welcomed the new members and thanked them in advance for their time commitment to the LCC.

 

Summary of Action Items for This Meeting:

Action Item 02-09-01: The Bromley Lake protection prescription will be re-visited and discussed at the next meeting in March.

 

Review and Approval of January 14, 2008 Minutes:

 

Review and Approval of tonight’s agenda:

 

Letters/Correspondence

·         Bill Russell provided the LCC with an announcement from Northwatch that they had cancelled the February 7th Timmins Round Table meeting and have re-scheduled the meeting for February 22, 2009. The meeting will be held at the Mushkegowuk Council Hall located on 36 Birch Street south in Timmins. Registration for the meeting begins at 9:30 am. The session will include forest management direction for the Cochrane Area Forest, air quality concerns in Timmins, water source protection and local and regional environmental concerns and initiatives. This is an all day session adjourning at 4:00 pm.

·         The Source Water Protection Committee will be holding a public meeting at the McIntyre arena on March 17, 2009. More information will become available closer to the meeting date.

 

District Manager Update-Jim Duncan

·         Timmins District is dealing with several vacancies; we have been provided approval to fill the District land Use Planner position and are still waiting approval to fill the Area Biologist position for Timmins

·         There is a public open house scheduled for February 18, 2009 to be held in Gogama to provide the general public opportunity to review and comment on the proposed jack pine budworm spray scheduled for late June. The budworm infestation is in its third year. Approximately 2-3,000 ha. of the infested area will be allocated for harvesting; the rest of the area will be aerial sprayed with an insecticide called BT with the hopes to break up the infestation.

·         Timmins District is dealing with a snowmobile trail/forest industry conflict on the Grassy River Road. The Snowmobile Association has used the Grassy River road for several seasons as part of its main trunk trail on the provincial trail system. The forest industry has recently upgraded the Grassy River road along with the Papakomeka Road to provide for improved transportation routes connecting mills at Timmins, Elk Lake and Ostrom for wood flow. The road right of way is too steep and narrow in several locations to make it feasible to share the route with haul trucks and snowmobilers. The two users have found a short term solution, but the issue has to be addressed over the longer term. There is a similar issue taking place on the Star Lake Road where cottagers and the snowmobiles are using the same portion of the Star lake road which is causing health and safety issues for both parties. Snowmobile trails have traditionally been located on abandoned roads which were once used for forest management.  Currently, snowmobile clubs are contacted at the Annual Work Schedule stage to review operations and identify potential conflicts with existing trails. To date, this has taken place between some Forest Companies and the Snowmobile Clubs. MNR will be making contact with the Clubs to share information on existing trails and values and formalise the process in ensuring potential conflicts for road and trail use are addressed well before the winter season.

 

 

 

 

 

Proposed Competition for Crown Wood Supply in Ontario- Dean Cederwall

Dean provided the Timmins LCC members with a presentation on forest biofibre opportunities in Ontario (see attached presentation). The following represents some of the main points Dean made during his presentation:

·         There has been a heightened interest in the use of forest biofibre for the production of co-generation, bio fuels, ethanol and wood pellets

·         The increase costs of fossil fuels and electricity are driving the need for alternate sources

·         Forest SFLs are seeking out new direct sources of forest bio fibre; they are currently utilizing road side slash piles

·         In order to access and utilize more forest fibre there is the issue of fair allocation

·         The Forest Industry must be granted tenure by the Crown to harvest and utilize forest resources from public lands

·         Tenure can be granted by Forest Resource Licenses or by wood supply commitments

·         Currently an SFL Licence is a 20 year licence, an FRL is in most cases a 5 year licence and a wood supply commitment is usually a minister wood supply agreement to a specific mill.

·         A new commitment can only be made through a competitive process with exceptions in the case of economical opportunity for Aboriginals, address supply shortfalls for existing mills, support objectives in an FMP and to satisfy legal commitments

·         Forest bio fibre can be defined as unused merchantable trees, unmerchantable trees, undersized material (tops and branches) and salvaged areas affected by insect, disease or fire.

·         The Crown forest Biofibre directive will provide commitment to forest sustainability, improve utilization of forest resources, evaluate best end use, implement a bio fibre pricing strategy, identify opportunities for aboriginals, support a healthy forest sector and create new investments and new jobs.

·         Currently the price has been set at $1.32m3 for merchantable fibre and $0.00m3 for unmerchantable fibre as a minimum. The price has been set for 10 years to be reviewed after 5 years.

·         MNR is currently working on a three stage approach for the competitive process.

·         Stage 1 includes an expression of interest request; stage 2 includes a competitive process for wood supply; stage 3 includes a wood supply agreement.

·         A staged approach is necessary to ensure new investments, better utilization of available fibre, support a new bio economy, support value added products, supports Ontario Power Generation process, cleaner greener energy, reduce carbon footprint, reduce management fees and silviculture costs, support aboriginal benefits and healthier forest sector.

·         MNR is interested in a wide variety of bio fibre uses, not just pellet making exercise.

·         There is a considerable amount of unused wood supply in Ontario that should be made available to support new investment.

·         MNR is expecting Stage 1 submission for expression of interest closing date is March 3, 2009.

Following the presentation there was a general discussion about local bio fibre being used for co-generation and also questions and answers:

·         Q- How long does a mill have to be closed before they lose their wood supply?

·         A- There is no clear answer; wood supplies are based on a number of factors. There are many details to work through.

·         Q- Does a Company need to submit a proposal to use their wood supply?

·         A- Yes, they need to submit a proposal as this would be a new use.

·         Q- Would fast growing species be beneficial wood fibre?

·         A- Yes, species like hybrid poplar would be good

·         Q- Will all fibre be taken from the land base thereby impacting the nutrient cycle?

·         A- No, downed woody debris and slash will remain on site to ensure FMP objectives for sustainable forestry.

 

Bromley Lake Discussion- Glen McFarlane

Glen provided the Timmins LCC members with a synopsis of the Bromley Lake proposed protection prescription for the Bromley Lake area. The following represents the main points:

·         A large area will be allocated for harvest adjacent to the Bromley lake/Nat River complex for both the RMF forest and the Gordon Cosen Forest.

·         Bromley Lake is classified as a designated tourism lake in the District land Use guidelines (DLUG).

·         The proposed prescription is designed to protect remote tourism values as stated in the DLUG and follows the advice of management guidelines for forestry and resource based tourism (OMNR 2001).

·         The prescription includes:

§         The area will be harvested over the shortest time frame (4-5 years)

§         A 120 metre treed reserve will be left for aesthetic purposes along the Nat River and the shore of Bromley lake

§         Area will be harvested in the winter only where harvest and road construction activities may only take place between Nov 1st and April 15th

§         Sections of the operational roads will be de-commissioned in strategic areas to restrict access once all renewal work has been completed

§         Temporary water crossings will be removed once all renewal work has been completed

§         Recommended that signs be erected to restrict public access on roads for the purpose of access to the Nat River and Bromley Lake.

§         Traditional access to the Kukatush road will remain open to the public.

§         Natural regeneration methods are the preferred renewal option. Artificial treatment may be required and may consist of aerial seeding, artificial tree planting, chemical aerial site preparation and or tending.

Following the presentation, there was some discussion regarding the proposed prescription.  It was agreed by LCC members to re-visit this subject at the next meeting in March.

Action Item 02-09-01: The Bromley Lake protection prescription will be re-visited and discussed at the next meeting in March.

 

 

 

Forest Management Planning Update-RMF- Bob Bielek

Bob provided the Timmins LCC members with an update on the RMF 2009 Plan as follows:

·         The review of the draft plan has been completed and 300 alterations will require to be addressed.

·         The Planning Team are still working with various stakeholders to address and resolve their concerns.

·         The Plan is currently in a public 60 day review period which ends on March 29, 2009

 

 

Cochrane Area Forest LTMD- Nikki Wood

Nikki provided the Timmins LCC members with a presentation of the Cochrane Area Forest LTMD which had presented by the CAF planning Team at Iroquois Falls the week before on February 4, 2009. The following represents the main points:

·         CAF land base encompasses 3,585,882 ha.

·         Land base consists of 3 clay belt sub units and 1 boreal forest sub unit

·         All inputs are designed by sub unit and roll up to make the CAF forest

·         Within the forest there are approximately 35,850 ha of poplar decline.

·         Approximately 1,272,803 ha net area is available for planning in term 1.

·         The mills traditionally receiving wood off this forest include Grant Forest Products, True North Hardwood, Tembec Cochrane and Timmins, Abitibi Bowater, Domtar Timmins, Espanola, Elk Lake, Ostrum, Rosco, Wahgoshig, Cheminis, Little John.

·         A total of 23 objectives have been incorporated including LCC comments from Timmins LCC.

·         Silviculture system proposed includes natural, extensive, basic, intensive and elite management; Intensive and elite options will be used on productive sites on all weather roads near mills with the intent to grow more wood on less ground.

·         Poplar decline areas will require a regeneration strategy to renew 500 ha per year (challenge is cost)

·         Total silviculture expenditures to be 5.6 million annually

·         Caribou core area protected is 789,442 ha. in which 350,419 ha will also support marten core areas.

·         There are 106 marten core areas totalling 486,207 ha.

·         The development of the Management Strategy included 4 natural benchmark runs, 44 individual scoping runs, 20 grouped scoping runs and 2 Current Industrial Demand runs.

·         There were 33 Management Strategy Scoping runs.

·         The preferred Management Strategy is PMS-MS33 which provides for 70 % of natural which is 90% of the maximum target of 78%. There is some spatial regulation by sub unit 40% natural; poplar decline harvest is limited to 500 ha per year; provides harvest levels on sub units related to past levels; favourable comparison to max even flow; harvest recipe is implementable.

·         The harvest areas will be selected to match allowable harvest area (AHA); the allocations will be spread out across the forest allocated by sub unit; assign blocks to ensure economic feasibility to reduce by-pass.

·         9 new primary roads proposed.

·         The EBR has been updated; there is a 30 day public review of the LTMD beginning on February 20th

·         The review of proposed operations is scheduled for the beginning of May.

 

Forest Management Planning Team Update-CAF- Kees Stryland

Kees provided the Timmins LCC members with an update on the CAF plan. He provided the following points:

·         The CAF Planning Team presented the LTMD to the Regional Director in Cochrane on February 9, 2009.

·         The public advertisement for the LTMD will be posted in the newspapers on February 20, 2009.

·         Please take the time to review the LTMD and provide comments to the Planning Team.

 

Round Table Issues/Discussion-All

·         Very interesting discussion

·         Good meeting

·         People are interested in obtaining maps of the Cochrane Area Forest

·         Lakehead University have invited LCC members to a workshop dealing with forest sustainability. This event is scheduled to take place on March 4-5, 2009.

·         Bill asked that new members provide their E-mail address to Gail in order to be put on the LCC distribution list

 

 

The meeting adjourned at 9:00 pm

            Motion to adjourn- Allan Moyle

            Carried-All

 

Next Meeting

 

Next meeting scheduled for March 11, 2009 at the Fire Boardroom of the Ontario Government Complex. Please contact Gail Krawchuk at gga@ntl.sympatico.ca if you cannot attend.

 

 

Minutes taken by:                                                    Minutes approved by:

 

 

 

……………………                                                    …………………………

Gail Krawchuk                                                          Bill Russell

LCC Secretary                                                          Chair