First Nation airs forest harvesting concerns: Lack of information over history, use of herbicides dominate talks.

• Author: McKinley, Karen
• Position: FORESTRY

Talks over the next decade-long Sudbury Forest Management Plan have just begun with the Wahnapitae First Nation, but many are concerned over the community's lack of knowledge over their own forest and the benefits they are getting.

A meeting in the community on May 31 brought out around 20 people to the community's Maan Doosh Gamig gathering place, as well as many more watching on a live feed, to hear what Vermilion Forest Management and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry had to say about the upcoming 2020-2030 strategy.

"This is the very beginning. We are getting feedback from people that live here and are stakeholders," said Mark Lockhart, general manager of Vermilion Forest Management. "We are here to get feedback and answer any questions as best we can and take that feedback with us to start developing the plan."

The Sudbury Forest Management Area is roughly 11,000 square kilometres, about half of which, or about 5,430 square kilometres, is Crown Managed Area.

There is a planning committee that includes members of Indigenous and Metis communities, and some of them requested their own community meetings, including Wahnapitae First Nation.

Meetings have already been happening in other communities. Lockhart explained they start years ahead so they can get as much feedback as possible to come up with a plan that best suits people involved.

Almost immediately audience members in attendance and online were airing concerns over any hard data on the historical content of the forest, its health, the use of herbicides, and how much of the old growth will be protected.

Lockhart and Scott MacPherson, planning forester for Vermilion Forest Management, said what the company and the ministry had in their records was available online, as well as a PDF of the last 10-year plan.

He added the company has reached out to this and many other First Nation communities on a regular basis, and participate in different community open houses to ensure they are aware of the forest management activity in their area of interest. They also offer silviculture tours on a regular basis to the different communities.

Stephanie Recollet, environmental coordinator for Wahnapitae First Nation, said the main concern for the community is they have not been getting a lot of benefit from the forest.

"What the members are seeing is a lot of extraction, a lot of benefit for Ontario and for other governments and others, but for our people, this is our traditional land...