Province-wide co-operative wood allocation system in the works.

• Author: Stewart, Nick
• Position: NEWS - Sustainable Forest License - Ontario. Ministry of Natural Resources

The Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) is currently working to revamp how it allocates Crown land, a process which may end up including communities as a partner in the new model.

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Although officials are unsure about exact timelines, the MNR is pursuing a plan to eventually change all of the 47 sustainable forest licenses (SFL) in Ontario to multiparty or co-operative SFL systems.

"Everybody's on the drawing board, and it's just a matter of time before they all change," Dave Hayhurst, MNR's manager of wood allocation.

"It's going to take several years, as it's a big project."

Following recommendations from the 2005 Minister's Council Report on Forest Sector Competitiveness, the MNR is in the early stages of gathering information and working with potential stakeholders to begin discussions about moving to the cooperative system.

In the currently proposed SFL model, no potential party or stakeholder is being excluded, though it's too early to guess as to the exact composition of the final model, according to Hayhurst.

"When we initiate those discussions, we contact the local communities as well as the Aboriginal communities. Whoever forms the final shareholder company, we won't speculate there, but there really are no closed doors."

Many communities such as Timmins have expressed an interest in participating in the allocation process, but Hayhurst says the inclusion of communities in the co-operative SFL model would likely cost them time and money.

All parties in the co-operative SFL model would need to carry the financial burden of overseeing the management, liabilities and roads of the licensed forest area, which could be problematic for some cash-strapped communities. As an indication of its dedication to moving forward, Hayhurst says the MNR has recently hired a director, Lorne Morrow, to guide the process. Initially, Morrow will travel throughout the province to identify priority regions where the SFL system will be changed first, focusing on areas where communication and wood utilization can be streamlined.

Although he approves of the idea of a move to co-operative SFL models, Timmins Mayor Tom Laughren says he's insistent on ensuring that communities are part of the final SFL formula.

"We're not saying that we're in disagreement with them, but we just want to make sure that some of the concerns that we have from a small business perspective and a forestry perspective and value-added and so, on are heard to ensure...