The following information is provided by the Partnership for Public Lands (Federation of Ontario Naturalists, World Wildlife Fund, and Wildlands League) to elaborate and clarify the information contained in the 1999 Ontario Forest Accord. It presents details concerning how each of the Accord's numbered points are understood and interpreted by the Partnership. The text in italics reflects the exact wording of the accord and the roman text in purple is our comments.

Commitments by members of the Forest Industry, the Partnership for Public Lands (as represented by the World Wildlife Fund, the Federation of Ontario Naturalists and the Wildlands League) and the Ministry of Natural Resources

The following commitments have been identified as elements of a mutually acceptable approach to the establishment of parks and protected areas in the Lands for Life planning area, while also considering the needs of the forest industry. The commitments reflect a consensus among the parties. There are a few commitments that only apply to one or two parties and these are clearly identified.

The commitments related to forestry are based on two fundamental premises:

- Unless otherwise agreed to the satisfaction of the parties, there would be no net increase in the cost of wood delivered to the mill and there would be no long term reduction in the supply of fibre necessary for processing on both a planning area and region basis, as a result of the establishment of new parksand protected areas; and
- the measures that are outlined, if fully implemented, will contribute to addressing the requirements of the first premise.

This commits the Partnership to the principle that the establishment of new protected areas through this accord will not directly cause reductions in fibre supply. This does not guarantee, however, that there will be no reduction in fibre supply due to other factors related to forest management.

The provisions of this Accord support the completion of a representative system of parks and protected areas encompassing 12% of the Lands for Life planning area complemented by a mechanism for limited expansion to address significant gaps in representation on a mutually agreed upon basis.

All parties acknowledge that the accord is written with the understanding that treaty and aboriginal rights must be respected and honoured. The parties also acknowledge that the land use decisions are without prejudice to land claims recognized by Ontario and Canada.

All parties agree to the following commitments:

1. Parks and protected areas resulting from the Lands for Life process will exclude logging, mining and hydro-electric development, with a regulatory context that provides permanence.

This statement confirms that all parks and protected areas must exclude commercial industrial activity as mandated by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and domestically by the WWF Endangered Spaces Campaign. This also means that they must be regulated under the Parks Act or Public Lands Act rather than receive less permanent protection such as Enhanced Management Areas or Areas of Concern.

2. Endorse general mapping of 12% of the whole planning areas (excluding the Great Lakes) as parks or regulated protected areas where there is no logging, mining or hydroelectric development and to provide interim land-use protection of those sites from commercial logging, mining and hydro-electric development until they are regulated.

This statement makes reference to the map that accompanied the Accord. The map shows the location of the new protected areas. Interim protection is to be to the same standard as regulated parks and conservation reserves. Note that the 12% figure excludes the logged and quarried portions of Algonquin Park. This 12% refers to 12% of all land in the Lands for Life area, not only Crown lands.

3. Support an increase to the existing representative parks and protected area system beyond the current 12%, within the approved framework of policies and standards and through jointly acceptable processes as outlined in other commitments stated in this document.

This statement makes a commitment to increase the amount of protected area beyond the 12% announced with the Accord (and shown on the map) using the procedures described in the rest of the Accord. This statement was very important to PPL as it recognizes that the system will need to become larger to be completed. The approved policies and standards refer to Provincial Park Policy, Nature's Best and other previous government policy commitments.

4. Significant changes in parks and protected area policies, legislation and permitted uses would occur only after prior public consultation and review.

This is a very important statement for PPL. It commits the signatories to the existing Provincial Parks policy until such time as it is reviewed and changed through a public process. The existing Provincial Parks Policy does not support several of the hunting and mining proposals being made on the Environmental Bill of Rights registry. The public comment for these proposals does not meet the requirements of the public consultation process as envisioned during the development of the Forest Accord.

5. Develop an Ontario forest science partnership in order to; develop and test a range of intensive forest management practices assess the impacts of intensive forest management on increased forest growth and yield assess the environmental impacts of intensive forest management direct science activities in support of Ontario's forest management planning requirements under the Timber Class Environmental Assessment and Crown Forest Sustainability Act.

This section describes an identified need to further investigate a range of forest issues including intensive forestry and ongoing research and monitoring as required by the Class Environmental Assessment on Timber Management. It is expected that this Science Partnership will include academics, ENGOS, government and industry and will expand the discussion of these issues beyond the small MNR/industry group where they have been taking place to date.

6. Establish an Ontario Forest Accord Advisory Board (OFAAB) within the context of the Ministry's Advisory Committee structure to support the collaborative implementation of the 1999 Ontario Forest Accord. The Board would report to the Minister of Natural Resources and consist of appointed representatives of the forest industry, the environmental community and the MNR. The board would have the following mandate:

a) Help implement the recommendations and joint commitments made in the Accord, and develop and recommend further mitigation and transition strategies if required.
b) Monitor the achievement of ecological representation and parks targets. and develop procedures for achieving industry/environmental group/government resolution of shortfalls.
c) Help resolve disputes that arise related to the matters listed above, and other related matters referred to the Board by the Minister.
d) Develop methods to update and amend this accord to ensure that it remains current and can be responsive to future needs and emerging issues.

The OFAAB will also develop a strategy for additions to the parks and protected areas system through a jointly acceptable process that shares the benefits of increased productivity and contains some or all of the following elements:

a) Representation achievements and candidate site identification.
Within one year of signing the Ontario Forest Accord, OFAAB will develop a map of candidate sites to meet the earth and life science representation requirements, as well as transitional management measures for these sites. OFAAB's recommendations will be recognized by the affected companies in the context of their forest management plans.

b) Site Discussions
OFAAB will initiate discussions of specific sites on a mutually agreed upon basis between the affected company(s) and relevant conservation interests.

c) Develop Proposals
Proposals for new protected areas would be developed, including:
- candidate site identification
- candidate list of intensive forest management areas or other offsets
- scientific validation
- socio-economlc and environmental impact analysis

d) Review and acceptance by MNR
e) Public consultation including EBR posting.
f) Approval and implementation (within all applicable legislative requirements)

The Ontario Forest Accord Advisory Board (OFAAB) will oversee implementation of the Accord as described. Point 6a refers to the Accord contents and provides a mechanism to develop further wood supply mitigation and transition strategies to aid the implementation of the Accord. Such strategies may be necessary as boundaries are finalized (e.g. Algoma Highlands and Lower Spanish boundaries). 6b provides a role for OFAAB to monitor progress in completing the protected areas system and to determine the best way to find wood supply to make this happen. 6c and 6d are self-explanatory. The second part of this item explicitly ties future increases in wood harvest/availability to the establishment of protected areas. This is a significant positive change in how this issue is addressed. Several times in the past twenty years the MNR has conducted reviews of its Crown land wood supply,. Each time it has determined that more wood is available than the last time the inventory was done. Each time this has happened the newly discovered surplus has been assigned to new industrial capacity (eg. recent oriented strandboard mill developments). In future any new estimates of wood supply that determine that a surplus is available will require that a portion of this supply be used to help create new protected areas. Play bike games, bikes games online.

a) Representation achievements. This statement requires that mapping of potential new protected areas be completed by March 2000. These sites will be selected in manner that, once formally protected, will complete the representative protected areas system in the Area of the Undertaking. These sites will be mapped and the forest industry will include them in FMPs. The management of these sites will also be addressed by the OFAAB Board. Determintation of the completeness of the system will be judged by us using the World Wildlife Fund's ecological respresentation assessment framework.

b) Site Discussions. This statement requires that moving a site past the candidate stage requires the concurrence of the forest company and ENGOS.

c) Develop Proposals. Once a site discussion has begun it would follow this course of development.

7. Develop a process for sharing permanent increases in wood supply between additional protected areas and increased forest supply.

This statement makes more explicit the statement made in item 6 about sharing productivity gains between protected areas and industry. Such sharing has never before occurred but rather been used to provide the rationale for expanded industrial capacity.

8. Support the package of mitigation measures required to offset the impacts of the proposed parks and protected areas resulting from the Accord.

9. Support the concept of long term continuity and security of wood fibre supply as well as the need of the forest industry to have certainty for the investments that it makes.

10. Agreement that the long term delivered wood costs and volumes available for industrial use will not be negatively affected by the Accord.

8-10. These statements reflect the Partnership for Public Lands support of the mitigation and community support measures that we used to achieve the 12% protection level as illustrated on the map that accompanied the Accord. The provincial government has committed $30 million to this effort and will establish a Living Legacy Trust to supervise disbursement. WWF and FON will have the authority to nominate members to one of its seven positions. The Terms of Reference of the Trust indicate that the following projects will be funded. I) compensation for forest industry capital losses (roads, bridges etc.) That result from new protected areas, ii) funds to move roads to avoid newly protected areas, iii) data collection and E.A. planning for new protected areas and resource planning for the area north of the Area of the Undertaking. These funds ($ million) will involve and benefit First Nation communities, iv) data collection and research to promote increased utilization of wood, produce more accurate growth and yield information and investigate intensive silvicultural practices v) hiring of new silvicultural workers vi) increase strategic information on the potential for value-added manufacturing of wood products, vii) conduct ecological research on fish and wildlife habitat and population linkages, viii) develop a framework for an ecological approach to fish and wildlife management planning, and ix) provide habitat improvements which will benefit small rural communities. Design your invention. Outsourcing CAD design service. 3D model design service.

These statements commit the Partnership to the principle that the establishment of new protected areas through this accord will not directly cause reductions in fibre supply. This does not guarantee, however, that there will be no reduction in fibre supply due to other factors related to forest management.

11. Implement measures directed at improving the utilization of Crown timber and increasing the volume/or quality of Crown timber over the long term. The measures will include:
- semi-commercial thinnings
- improvement cuts in degraded hardwood forests
- salvage cuts in low volume or quality stands that are not currently harvested
Cutting sites will be identified and approved in the Annual Work Schedule.

This section describes the areas where it was determined that the greatest gains in wood supply could be obtained without increases in the total amount of forest harvested or in the level of ecological impact. The Annual Work Schedule is the one-year operating plan within a five year Forest Management Plan.

12. MNR's wood measurement system will not apply to volumes less than the minimum top diameter as prescribed in the regulated Scaling Manual of Ontario.

This statement recognizes that the forest companies will not have to pay the same rate of stumpage for small tops of trees as they do for the lower, more marketable sections of the tree.

13. Establish incentives in relation to extraordinary expenditures on intensive forest management to grow Crown timber.

This statement recognizes that there may be a need to establish financial or non-monetary incentives to encourage investment in silvicultural expenditures beyond those required by existing silvicultural rules.

14. Participate in the designation of intensive forest management areas (special supply areas) in forest management plans. In the initial phase of intensive forest management areas designation and implementation, these areas will be limited to a mutually acceptable portion of the landscape.

This statement recognizes that there will be areas designated that will have priority given to forest production. Such areas exist currently but are not recognized on maps or in forest management plans (e.g. Sultan area in Spanish Forest). The area in which this will be permitted to occur will be determined through a public forum and will consider ecological and landscape issues such as the nature of the forestry to be practised and its proximity to other landscape values. The agreement required on the portion of the landscape to be designated for intensive forest management is intended to apply to all stages of implementation - the current wording of the Accord does not fully reflect the agreement of the parties.

15. MNR will make best efforts, together with the forest industry and the environmental groups to obtain appropriate modifications to the Timber Class E.A. and the Crown Forest Sustainability Act and its regulations, in order to permit intensive forest management practices (pending more precise definition of specific requirements) and the lengthening of the term of forest management plans.

16. The requirements of the Crown Forest Sustainability Act such as diversity will continue to be applied to the extensively managed portions of the SFL's but recognize that special provisions may be required for the intensive forest management areas.

15-16. This section states that the Timber Management Class E.A. and the Crown Forest Sustainability Act (CFSA) may need to be revised to permit intensive forest management. The Timber E.A. is a legally binding decision of the Environmental Assessment Board and is in effect until 2003. The CFSA replaces the Crown Timber Act and describes how forest planning and harvest must occur on public lands. The CFSA rules incorporate the requirements of the E.A. PPL believes that altering these documents is not likely to be necessary to accommodate the type of forestry that we contemplate occurring within intensive forestry areas. However, we agreed that there may be sections of the E.A. or CFSA that may need amendment, subject to the determination of what those sections may be and of acceptance of the ecological sustainability of forestry practices that would require any such changes. Villaware V268-32 Meat Grinder

17. MNR will continue to be responsible for forest protection measures and will assign a higher priority to forest protection measures necessary to protect intensive forest management areas.

This statement means that MNR will continue to put out fires in any areas that are designated for intensive forestry. This effort will be an extension of the efforts they currently make to put out fires elsewhere on Crown and private land.

18. The parties will publicly acknowledge the substantial area of forest land that is not available for forest harvesting outside of the protected area designation, and that the distribution and values of such areas should be documented.

This statement refers to areas such as forest reserves along river or around lakes, wetlands etc. and says that these areas serve an ecological function. It is true that they are important and must be protected through proper application of guidelines.

19. MNR will implement compensation for capital investments for permanent infrastructure and processing assets directly related to regulated land withdrawals as a result of the Lands for Life process and any future unilateral withdrawals. Compensation issues will only be considered after all mitigation and transition strategies have been exhausted. The amount of compensation. if any. determined shall be defined in the sequence as follows:
- Notification to the affected party of the withdrawal of regulated areas from the SFL
- Mitigation and transition strategies developed by MNR and the affected companies. resulting in a written report to the party.
- Notification by the affected party to the Deputy Minister that a capital investment loss remains unmitigated
- Evaluation and validation of the party (ies) claim by a qualified. independent. mutually agreed-upon expert resulting in a detailed report to the Deputy Minister.
- The Deputy Minister responds as to the actions or compensations deemed reasonable and appropriate in light of the report.
- Failing agreement to the Deputy Minister's response, the issue will be referred to arbitration for recommendations to the minister, whose decision would be final.
- The Minister will accept reasonable requests for compensation recommended by the arbitrator
- None of the above infringes upon the rights of the affected party to seek a civil remedy in the courts. For several years collectors of American silver eagle have speculated.

This section provides assurance to the forest industry and communities that future protection of Crown land will consider the impacts on the capital investments of industry. This is the case today and it makes sense that such impacts be avoided wherever possible. This section also sets out a mechanism to consider compensation to specific companies for the loss of capital investments such as roads or mill capacity affected by a new protected area. This has occurred in the past on a case by case basis.

20. Where linear shaped parks and protected areas resulting from this process are planned, provision will be made for the timely implementation of a limited number of crossings to provide access to timber harvest areas that would otherwise be uneconomical to access. Prior to December 31, 1999, crossing locations will be identified as part of the planning for the new parks and protected areas resulting from these discussions. Once the new protected areas are in regulation, decisions on crossing issues will normally be made as part of the management planning for parks and protected areas. In all cases, an evaluation of the area will be carried out by MNR to ensure that the identified values of that area will be protected. MNR will require removal of roads and bridges when no longer needed by the forest industry.

This section provides a mechanism to determine the future road-crossing needs of the forest industry during the protected area boundary finalization process.

21. MNR will work with the forest industry and the Partnership for Public Lands to reinstate to the land base available for forestry use any deferred park, study and protected areas that are not selected in the current round of discussions, except for areas mutually agreed upon as candidates for future protection. Any future significant withdrawals or changes in land use designation will only occur after public consultation, with provision for involvement of the parties.

This section is self-explanatory.

22. There will be a recognition of the costs. benefits and impacts associated with intensive forest management activities.

This section recognizes the need to carefully evaluate any move to designate forest areas for intensive forestry.

23. The parties will encourage and support international forest certification activities undertaken by the companies.

This statement recognizes that companies that support protected areas and sound forest harvest and planning practices should be encouraged to seek independent third-party certification of their forest management practices.

24. MNR. the forest industry and the partnership for Public Lands will support initiatives directed toward the orderly development of areas north of the area of the undertaking (the area which was considered in the Class Environmental Assessment for Timber Management of Crown Lands) on a best efforts basis and as quickly as possible, subject to the following conditions:
- Full agreement of affected First Nations communities
- Permitting commercial forest management on lands north of the area of the undertaking, subject to obtaining the concurrence of the Minister of the Environment to provide coverage modeled after the coverage of the Timber Class EA terms and conditions and
- Recognition and regulation of parks and protected areas on these lands.

This section discusses future plans for the area north of the Lands for Life area. Negotiations between First Nations, the Ontario government, and the forest industry have been underway for some time now. First Nations want development for the jobs it will provide and the forest industry and government seek resources to provide revenue. This section commits the government to establishing parks and protected areas as part of this process. This agreement is important because in the past new areas were opened to development without consideration of ecological values or the need to establish protected areas before resource extraction begins. This agreement would also extend the coverage of the E.A. to areas north of the currently harvested portion of the province. Such a move will require the agreement of the Ministry of Environment.

25. MNR will look favorably upon redistributing wood flows among mills within the licensed fibre commitments made to a company, where such redistribution does not result in an unacceptable socio economic impact to affected communities.

This statement reflects the need to re-distribute wood flow or products to different areas as a result of the establishment of the new protected areas.

26. MNR will consider species substitution as a mitigation tool when requested by the forest industry. where short term or long term surplus volumes of a tree species can be made available to mills that will experience wood supply losses related to these land use decisions.

This statement is related to that above. It states that MNR will investigate giving a mill a different species if they lose access to the one that they are currently losing as a result of new protected areas being established.

27. MNR, the forest industry and the Partnership for Public Lands will support an expeditious independent and transparent review of the guidelines which are applied within the forest management planning process. with a target of completion within six months, with a goal of ensuring the guidelines fulfil their intended purpose in an effective and efficient manner.

This statement commits the Ontario government to lead a review of forest management guidelines. This review has long been needed and was one of the findings of an Ministry of Natural Resources investigation. This investigation was requested by Wildlands League and Sierra Legal Defence Fund as the result of our investigation of logging activity in the Algoma Highlands. The MNR investigation found that many of the current guidelines are confusing and contradictory. Such confusion makes the proper use of guidelines difficult for forest staff and the public and also reduces their effectiveness at protecting ecological values.. Review of these guidelines is intended to make them more effective and easier to use.

28. MNR and SFL holders will review the lands classified as NSR (Not Sufficiently Regenerated) so as to promote forest renewal and improve the accuracy of wood supply forecasts.

NSR lands are forest areas that have been logged in the past but have not received a site inspection to determine what type of forest has grown back. In many regions there are a large area of land classified as NSR and this reduces the accuracy of calculations of total forest land that is available for harvest now and in the future. MNR and industry must expend resources to ensure that field staff can visit these sites to properly classify them. Forest lands that have forest growing on them can be added to the inventory and those that do not can receive plantings or other treatment.

29. MNR and the forest industry will support the principle that the increased costs and lost volumes incurred by the forest industry as a result of resource (tourism) stewardship agreements which provide tourism protection in excess of that resulting from the normal application of tourism guidelines will be the basis for calculating a charge to the beneficiary to offset the forest industry's costs or losses. The Partnership for Public Lands agrees that they will not oppose the beneficiary pay concept for resource stewardship agreements.

This statement reflects the nature of the negotiations between the tourism industry, the forest industry and the government. These agreements will be completed within the framework of Resource Stewardship Agreements. PPL did not oppose this as it reflects the progress that these groups have made to resolve outstanding issues.

30. MNR will involve the forest industry in any subsequent related discussions that could significantly affect wood supply and the environmental sector in any discussions that could significantly affect the proposed protected areas.

This statement commits the government to inform PPL about any plans that they have that will affect protected areas and to inform the forest industry regarding plans that impact wood supply.

31. MNR will arrange meetings with Ministers of other Ministries to assist the industry in addressing its current issues and concerns.

This statement is self explanatory.

For the complete Forest Accord, visit the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources accord page.