The plan to destroy old growth forest near Temagami is not a done deal, said the Minister of Natural Resources.
In the wake of a Star story about his ministry’s plans to remove protections for stands of 300-year-old red pine around Wolf Lake in northern Ontario, Minister Michael Gravelle said he will decide soon whether the area will be opened up for increased mining.
“I will be speaking with my officials soon about that,” Gravelle said.
“There is no question that there is now an elevated interest in this issue,” he added, referring to the Star story.
The ministry wants to change the “forest reserve” designation for 340 hectares around Wolf Lake, located 50 kilometres from Temagami, to “general use,” which puts a greater focus on mining instead of forests and recreation.
The only company drilling in the region is Alberta’s Flag Resources, which has been delisted or forced to stop trading on stock exchanges across the country. It is currently not trading anywhere.
Flag Resources spokesperson Murdo McLeod said Monday he expects the company will begin drilling for gold in January.
Yesterday, Premier Dalton McGuinty said he has paddled the pristine lakes and rivers around Temagami, but was unaware of how threatened they are by his own government’s policy until he read the Star on Monday.
“I have in fact taken my boys — at the end of every summer we take a canoe trip and we’ve been to Temagami. It’s a great place, beautiful forests, great freshwater lakes — clean freshwater lakes – and it’s first I’ve learned about it this morning,” McGuinty told reporters at an Aurora high school.
“I want to make sure that we are striking the right balance when it comes to protecting a rich, natural resource like the forest and the lakes there and ensuring that northerners have an opportunity to grow their economy and to be employed,” he said.
The premier was noncommittal on whether he would intervene.
“I leave it to the ministers to make sure that we strike the right balance,” he said, referring to his two cabinet underlings overseeing the issue. “I’m not aware of all the details.”
The natural resources ministry said it thought it had worked out a compromise by giving a forest reserve designation to a larger area farther north.
But Ontario’s Environmental Commissioner Gord Miller and environmental groups, like Earthroots, say it is impossible to replicate the soaring old pines of Wolf Lake because they are North America’s largest remaining continuous forest of old-growth red pine.
Brian Back of Ottertooth.com, an environmental website, said any new mining will have a “massive impact” on the area’s fragile ecosystem.
Origin
Source: Star
In the wake of a Star story about his ministry’s plans to remove protections for stands of 300-year-old red pine around Wolf Lake in northern Ontario, Minister Michael Gravelle said he will decide soon whether the area will be opened up for increased mining.
“I will be speaking with my officials soon about that,” Gravelle said.
“There is no question that there is now an elevated interest in this issue,” he added, referring to the Star story.
The ministry wants to change the “forest reserve” designation for 340 hectares around Wolf Lake, located 50 kilometres from Temagami, to “general use,” which puts a greater focus on mining instead of forests and recreation.
The only company drilling in the region is Alberta’s Flag Resources, which has been delisted or forced to stop trading on stock exchanges across the country. It is currently not trading anywhere.
Flag Resources spokesperson Murdo McLeod said Monday he expects the company will begin drilling for gold in January.
Yesterday, Premier Dalton McGuinty said he has paddled the pristine lakes and rivers around Temagami, but was unaware of how threatened they are by his own government’s policy until he read the Star on Monday.
“I have in fact taken my boys — at the end of every summer we take a canoe trip and we’ve been to Temagami. It’s a great place, beautiful forests, great freshwater lakes — clean freshwater lakes – and it’s first I’ve learned about it this morning,” McGuinty told reporters at an Aurora high school.
“I want to make sure that we are striking the right balance when it comes to protecting a rich, natural resource like the forest and the lakes there and ensuring that northerners have an opportunity to grow their economy and to be employed,” he said.
The premier was noncommittal on whether he would intervene.
“I leave it to the ministers to make sure that we strike the right balance,” he said, referring to his two cabinet underlings overseeing the issue. “I’m not aware of all the details.”
The natural resources ministry said it thought it had worked out a compromise by giving a forest reserve designation to a larger area farther north.
But Ontario’s Environmental Commissioner Gord Miller and environmental groups, like Earthroots, say it is impossible to replicate the soaring old pines of Wolf Lake because they are North America’s largest remaining continuous forest of old-growth red pine.
Brian Back of Ottertooth.com, an environmental website, said any new mining will have a “massive impact” on the area’s fragile ecosystem.
Origin
Source: Star
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