Timmins Local Citizens Committee

 

Minutes of October 14, 2009

 

October 14, 2009

LCC hours:  45 hours

Year to Date: 189

Total: 5713.4

 

Date:   October 14, 2009

 

Location: Ontario Government Complex, Fire Boardroom                                                             

Present: Gail Krawchuk, Rusty Fink, Ron Johnson, Lino Morandin, Barry Edwards, Melanie Johnson, Robert Calhoun, Andy Chartrand, Jenny Millson

 

Regrets: Kees Pols, Bill Russell, Allan Moyle, Kees Stryland, Scott Tam, Bob Bielek, Dave Stringer, Mark Joron, Gilbert Fortin

 

Absent:  George Sackenay, Rodney Wincikaby, James Naveau

 

MNR: Glen McFarlane, Nikki Wood, Randy Pickering

 

Guests: Don Bazeley, Tembec Inc., Nancy Daigle, Abitibi Inc., Gord King, MNDM&F

 

Call to Order:

Robert Calhoun called the meeting to order at 6:45 p.m.

 

Summary of Action Items for This Meeting:

Action Item 10-09-01: That the District Manager keeps the Timmins LCC informed about the cougar issue.

Action Item 10-09-02: The Timmins LCC will draft a LCC report for the Final Draft Contingency Plan

Action Item 10-09-03: Melanie Johnson will coordinate the input responses to pages 13,15 and 17 of the work book and submit them to Nikki Wood by October 27, 2009.

 

Review and Approval of September 10, 2009 Minutes:

  • Motion to accept- Jenny Millson
  • Seconded by- Andy Chartrand
  • Carried

Review and Approval of tonight’s agenda:

  • Motion to accept- Andy Chartrand
  • Seconded by- Ron Johnson
  • Carried

Letters/Correspondence

  • No letters or correspondence

 

District Manager Update- Randy Pickering

Randy provided the LCC members with an update as follows:

  • Timmins District has recently advertised for an Area Biologist; the competition is now closed. The next steps include screening applicants and setting up interviews.
  • The District is moving forward to advertise for an Area Supervisor for the Watershed Team located at the Gogama Area office followed by the filling of the Senior Forestry Specialist position in the Timmins office.
  • Joel Legasy is the present acting Area Supervisor in Gogama
  • Currently Timmins District is dealing with an issue regarding Gibson Lake cottagers and their reported sighting of a cougar within the Gibson Lake area. They are concerned that harvesting the forest in the vicinity of the cougar observation will negatively affect the cougar habitat. The Gibson Lake cottagers being represented by a lawyer have made allegations that the MNR and Forest Company were aware of the cougar sightings but chose to ignore them. The cottagers through their lawyer also indicate that the cougar is classed as a species at risk and all scheduled forest management activities must cease until a proper investigation takes place and an assessment as to whether the cougar habitat will be negatively affected. If this does not take place they will request a court order to stop the scheduled activities. The District is seeking advice from lawyers and has agreed to delay work until November 1st. The district office has only heard about the cougar sightings recently through this process. Cougar sightings in this particular area, were never reported to MNR in the past and were not brought up during the FMP process for the 2008 Nighthawk Forest FMP. Since this issue has risen, the MNR has set up motion sensor cameras in various locations throughout the area in the vicinity of Gibson Lake and the area has been scouted for signs of tracks, hair and scat.

A general discussion ensued and a question as to whether the MNR should put out a questionnaire to the public and hunters to look out for and report if they see any cougar signs in the area. The District Manager will make the final decision on the next steps and will keep the LCC informed as we move forward.

Action Item 10-09-01: That the District Manager keeps the Timmins LCC informed about the cougar issue.

 

Cochrane Area Forest Contingency Draft Plan Review- Nancy Daigle

Nancy provided the LCC members with a presentation on the Cochrane Area Forest Draft Plan. The following represents a synopsis of the main points

·         Currently the 2010 FMP is on hold pending the outcome of the caribou habitat issue

·         The Contingency Plan will represent a two year plan.

·         The Plan will be based on the Long Term Management Direction Strategy for the 2010 plan.

·         Total land-base is 3,288,306ha; Total Crown Productive land-base is 2,438,253 ha; Total net available is 1,272,803 ha.

·         Mills historically receiving wood off the forest are Grant Forest Products, True North(formerly Norbord), Tembec mills in Cochrane, Kirkland Lake and LaSarre, Abitibi, Domtar in Timmins, Elk Lake , Espanola and Ostrom, Little John, Cheminis Lumber.

·         The Planning Team is made up of Tembec Inc., Abitibi-Bowater, MNR District represented from Cochrane, Timmins, Kirkland Lake including LCC reps and First Nations at the table

·         The Plan has 25 management objectives and 88 indicators

·         The harvest areas will be chosen to balance over the two years and represented to mirror the ten year harvest by forest unit

·         The available harvest area is broken down into 4 sub units and also between Tembec and Abitibi

·         The annual harvest area will be in the range of 38, 000ha annually

·         The expected forecast annual volumes of conifer is 3.7 million m3 and 5.05 million m3 of poplar

·         The new primary road corridors consist of Gemmel Road, Parallel Road, Pierre Lake Road, West Pierre Lake Road, Link Road and Ireland Road.

·         A road re-alignment is planned for Inglis Lake Road and Matachewan Road.

·         The Connaught/Evelyn tertiary road will be upgraded to a primary.

·         Approximately 34 new branch roads are proposed for construction.

·         Roads scheduled for decommissioning include Balsam S., Boundary, Harris lake, Muskeg, Park, Pioneer, Potter, Pouce, Sunset, Swartmenn Creek, and Swartman Lake Roads

·         All branch roads in the caribou areas will be decommissioned after operations.

·         Access restrictions on roads due to the Cochrane Remote Wilderness Strategy include Bateman Lake, South Bateman, Upland, Payntuouk, Emerald, Pinecone Roads.

·         There was good representation throughout the plan by the Kirkland Lake, Cochrane and Timmins LCC representatives at planning team meetings, and Information Centres

·         Concerns brought forward to date include:

§         Cochrane Air Service has concerns over allocations in their area of operation

§         Departure Lake cottagers are upset with harvest allocations in the vicinity of Departure Lake

§         A general trapper meeting is still required in Cochrane

§         Need to meet with individual trappers.

§         Citizens living on Municipal Road have concerns with access off the Municipal Road

·         Next steps include scheduled Information Centres  fromOct 19- Oct22nd in Cochrane, Smooth Rock Falls, Iroquois Falls and Timmins

·         First Nation Visits are scheduled for Oct 26th

·         The public review period is October 19th to November 17th.

·         Operations will start on April 1, 2010

A discussion pursued about the bump up procedure as it relates to the Contingency Plan. Basically a Contingency Plan can not be “bumped up” however any controversial areas cannot be carried in this plan. A number of questions were asked by the LCC members. They include:

·         Q: Are road culverts pulled to restrict wolves from travel?

·         A: No, culverts are pulled to restrict people from further road access. There are also a number of roads with access controls to restrict further road access. This is part of the Remote Wilderness Strategy.

·         Q: What is the planting stock forecast for the CAF forest?

·         A: In 2010-11 the CAF are forecasting 2,750,000 trees to be planted. In 2011-12 the CAF is forecasting 4,550,000 trees to be planted.

·         Q: The caribou issue is not resolved; hence the area will not be in the Contingency Plan; why is the Grindstone Road area included in the Contingency Plan?

·         A: The Grindstone issue has been resolved and the conditions applied to resolve that issue will be carried forward in the Contingency Plan.

Following the question period, the Planning Team has asked that a LCC report be drafted and provided to the Planning Team indicating the LCC’s involvement in the Plan to date and also the level of support the Timmins LCC has towards the Plan.

Action Item 10-09-02: The Timmins LCC will draft a LCC report for the Final Draft Contingency Plan

 

Timmins LCC Resolution regarding the Cochrane Area Forest 2 Year Draft Contingency Plan-Rusty Fink

Rusty Fink, who has temporarily replaced Kees Stryland as Timmins LCC representative to The CAF planning Team tabled a resolution:

·         “The Timmins LCC is generally satisfied with the Cochrane Area Forest 2 Year Draft Contingency Forest Management Plan as presented. It is understood that the LCC review and comments have not been completed or incorporated and will therefore lead to certain modifications to the draft plan as it moves forward”

Moved: Rusty Fink

Seconded- Jenny Millson

All in favour-Carried

 

 

 

 

MNDMF Questionnaire-Forest Resources Tenure-Gord King

Gord provided the LCC members with a presentation on Ontario’s Forest, Ontario’s Future with the commitment to review the provincial forest tenure and pricing system and explore options to improve the design. He presented the following information:

  • The province is reviewing the tenure and pricing system to improve on the economic climate for forest product businesses to succeed
  • Ensure that the Crown forest continues to be renewed
  • Encourage forest sector investment
  • The focus of the review is around maintaining healthy forests, modernising licensing and improving pricing systems
  • Our present system has 46 management units; Forest renewal and forest futures funds are dedicated to support renewal and protection of these units and the funds are directly related to harvest levels and can be directly affected by down turning markets.
  • Licensing and allocation of wood is made available through a number of ways. Sustainable Forest Licences are long term licences usually 20 year tenure and audited every 5 years through an independent agency. A forest management plan is required. A Forest Resource Licence provides no direct management responsibilities; usually a FRL agrees to share responsibilities and costs with the SFL for roads and renewal. Supply Agreements provide for a longer term with no direct management responsibilities but are provided a committed volume of wood fibre.
  • The current pricing system is based on sound economic principles and follows the market trends; the pricing system does not reflect local and regional differences in supply and demand and reduced harvest levels have a direct effect on funds available for forest renewal activities.
  • In the province, 30 million m3 of wood fibre is available for production; currently 12-14 million m3 are being utilized
  • The review is segmented into 4 phases
    • Phase 1 includes tenure and pricing discussion paper, consultation, technical analysis
    • Phase 2-develop options and recommendations
    • Phase 3- Approval of preferred model
    • Phase 4- Implementation of preferred model
  • Phase 1 Tenure and Pricing Discussion paper has been launched and public sessions have taken place in late September (Timmins September 22nd); Aboriginal involvement is broken into 3 phases including Aboriginal regional sessions, Aboriginal round tables and individual Aboriginal communities.
  • The timelines for the review and selection of a preferred option is June 2010. The input deadline from the public regarding the modernizing of the Forest Tenure and Pricing system is October 27, 2009.

A round table discussion pursued following Gord’s presentation; with the impending deadline the LCC members discussed a reasonable strategy in which to complete the Tenure and Pricing work book and meet the deadline of October 27th. It was agreed by the members to focus on page 13, 15 and 17 of the work book and provide input to those sections. Melanie Johnson agreed to coordinate the responses on behalf of the members through the Internet. She will provide each section to the LCC distribution list and collect the responses in order to meet the impending deadline.

Q- Are there any tenure and pricing models out there that we can adopt?

A- There are few models out there that have we should review such as the BC, Quebec and Algonquin Authority models that offer changes.

Action Item 10-09-03: Melanie Johnson will coordinate the input responses to pages 13,15 and 17 of the work book and submit them to Nikki Wood by October 27, 2009.

 

Due to the time left in the meeting, the Status of Action Items and Round Table Discussion were postponed to the next meeting.

 

Motion to adjourn- Melanie Johnson

Carried-All

 

 

The meeting adjourned at 9:00 pm

           

Next Meeting

 

Next meeting scheduled for November 12, 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