Introduction

Proponent

Ministry of Natural Resources

Location

Ontario

Type

Forest management

Reference Number

01053

Contact

Environmental Approvals Branch, 416-314-8001
Toll free 1-800-461-6290

Current Status

Declaration order: revoked, August 25, 2015

Project Summary

Declaration order MNR-71 contains 55 conditions that Ministry of Natural Resources must adhere to in undertaking forest management. It covers the recurring forest management activities of building access roads, harvesting trees, renewing the forest, and conducting forest maintenance; and provides direction for the preparation, review and approval of forest management plans.

Project History

  • Declaration order (2013): revoked
    • Date submitted:  October 4, 2013
    • Expiry of public comment period:  November 18, 2013
    • Decision date: August 25, 2015

  • Declaration order (2007): granted
    • Date submitted:  October 31, 2006
    • Expiry of public comment period:  November 30, 2006
    • Decision date: March 21, 2007

  • Declaration order (2003): granted
    • Date submitted: March 13, 2003
    • Expiry of public comment period:  April 12, 2003
    • Decision date: June 25, 2003

  • Class environmental assessment: approved
    • Decision date: April 20, 1994

Declaration Order (2013)

Declaration Orders MNR-71 and MNR-74 are now revoked and replaced with consolidated Declaration Order MNR-75. For summary information and decision, please refer to EBR Registry Number 011-9374.

Declaration Order (2007)

For summary information, please refer to EBR Registry Number RA06E0012.

Declaration Order (2003)

The Ministry of Natural Resource’s (MNR's) timber management activities on Crown lands were approved under the Environmental Assessment Act in May 1994 following four and a half years of public hearings. The approval has a term of nine years, and is subject to 115 Terms and Conditions.

Condition 114 of the approval sets out a process for extension and amendment of the approval. It required MNR to provide a submission to the Minister of the Environment and the public in 2002. Upon submission of MNR's review, a sixty-day public and government review was provided for.

On July 17, 2002, MNR submitted the document entitled "A Review by the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) Regarding the Class Environmental Assessment for Timber Management on Crown Lands in Ontario" (the Review) to the Minister of the Environment.

The Review was made available to the public, stakeholders, Aboriginal people, and a Government Review Team for a 90-day comment period. The Ministry of the Environment (MOE) received approximately 155 written submissions during that time. MOE reviewed the comments made in those submissions, to assess outstanding concerns. On January 17, 2003, the Minister of the Environment extended the existing Class EA Approval without amendments until July 17, 2003, so that MOE staff could complete their review of MNR’s Review to determine if the Class EA Approval would be further extended, and what amendments were required to be made.

The Minister of the Environment determined that certain terms and conditions proposed by MNR in its Review required changes and that some additional conditions were required to be imposed. The changes and additional conditions were incorporated into a proposed Declaration Order. The Declaration Order was posted on the Environmental Registry for 30 days.

Approximately 600 comments from the public, stakeholders, Aboriginal people, and a Government Review Team were received and considered before the proposed Declaration Order was finalized and approved. On June 25, 2003, the Declaration Order was approved, with the concurrence of Cabinet, pursuant to section 3.2 of the Environmental Assessment Act and Order in Council 1389/2003. Several important changes were made to the Declaration Order in the areas of compliance inspections, scientific studies, and the provincial wood supply strategy.

The conditions of the Declaration Order clearly define broad direction for forest management planning and complement the forest management planning principles of the Crown Forest Sustainability Act, 1994 (CFSA). Detailed technical direction for forest management continues to be applied through the Forest Management Planning Manual regulated under the CFSA.

The Declaration Order also changes the name of the Timber Class EA approval to MNR’s Class Environmental Assessment Approval for Forest Management on Crown Lands in Ontario to strengthen the complementary relationship with the broader requirements for planning for forest sustainability of the CFSA.

The approved Declaration Order is posted on the Environmental Registry.