Algonquin left out in the cold - logging still allowed

Posted on October 26, 2005

New legislation vaults Ontario forward in parks protection

New parks legislation introduced in the Ontario Legislature yesterday will help ensure a healthy future for one of the province's greatest assets - our more than 600 provincial parks and conservation reserves.

"This legislation really sets Ontario on a new path toward meaningful long-term ecological stewardship of parks and conservation reserves," says Evan Ferrari, protected areas program director for CPAWS Wildlands League. "With its strong commitment to put nature first in parks management, the proposed Parks and Conservation Reserves Act takes Ontario from the back to the front of the pack in terms of protecting park wildlife and wilderness - natural assets that for far too long have had only paper-thin protection in this province." Ontario last revised the legislation governing its parks in the late 1950s when the province had only eight protected areas.

"The McGuinty government and Minister Ramsay have done a lot to modernize our approach to protecting nature in parks, not least by outlawing industrial uses like logging and mining within protected areas," Ferrari says. "But they've left out two important pieces - what happens when parks have 'bad neighbours' and logging in Algonquin park."

Damage to areas outside of parks can sometimes have a significant impact on what goes on inside parks. "There must be clear legislation around being good ecological neighbours to parks".

Ontario's oldest and best-loved park will still be open to logging and resource road building under the new legislation, which Ferrari says "is simply not good enough."

"This situation flies in the face of the legislation's commitment to put nature first in parks. Logging and parks simply don't mix. Industrial logging, no matter how well managed, has profound effects on ecosystems and species and does not belong in one of our highest profile parks," Ferrari states. CPAWS Wildlands League is calling on the Minister to order the Ontario Parks Board to immediately begin a review of the impacts of logging in Algonquin so that the public can understand what's really going on.

"This legislation could mark a major turning point for our parks system," Ferrari says. Requirements for mandatory management plans and clear and regular reporting on the health of the parks system and provisions for protecting aquatic areas are the kind of modern tools that park managers need in an era when parks are often the key to protecting biodiversity, endangered species and critical wildlife habitat, he notes.

"Let's finish the job by developing an appropriate plan to phase logging out of Algonquin while sustaining healthy communities and then we can truly celebrate this accomplishment," Ferrari concludes.

CPAWS Wildlands League has worked for over 6 years to change the 50 year old outdated legislation that currently exists.

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Link to Legislation http://www.ontla.on.ca/documents/Bills/38_Parliament/session2/b011_e.htm

Contact:
Evan Ferrari
Director of Parks and Protected Areas
CPAWS Wildlands League
Office 416-971-9453 xt 43
Cell 416-986-4147l