Below are some excerpts from the Partnership's final report on the Lands for Life process.

INTRODUCTION
Ontario's publicly owned forests comprise 85% of the 113 million acres of land that stretch across Central and Northern Ontario. The south end of this vast region features the rocky lakeshores, sweeping pines and rich hardwood forests of what is known as cottage country. Further north, the granite of the Canadian Shield gives way to the clay plains, rocky plateaus and cliffs of the eastern and western boreal forest. Finally, in the far north, the forest itself begins to surrender the land to the open marshes and bogs of the Hudson and James Bay lowlands. The 32 natural regions that form this diverse landscape are the regions where commercial forestry is currently permitted in Ontario. Beauty and the beastiality.

The face of this area was changed dramatically on March 29, 1999 when the Ontario government announced the largest single increase in the province's protected-areas system in history. In a single step, 378 new parks and conservation reserves were created — an action that doubled the area protected and added six million acres to the province's network of protected areas.

But behind this single step, there was a tumultuous and often controversial two-year process — known as Lands for Life — that also represented one of the most sophisticated engagements of a public-policy process ever undertaken by the conservation community in Canada.

WHAT DID WE ACHIEVE?
— Six million acres added to the province's protected-areas system in 378 new parks and conservation reserves.

— Many significant sites protected, including the old-growth Great Lakes forests of the Algoma Highlands, the ancient pine forests of the Lower Spanish watershed, and important woodland caribou habitat in the Wabikimi and Lake Nipigon region.

— The joint (forest industry, ENGO, government) signing of the Ontario Forest Accord, which:

• lays out a framework for completion of the protected-areas system.
• sets standards for land-use planning and protected-areas system completion for northern areas currently off-limits to logging.
• includes a process to reform forest policy to better protect wildlife habitat
• establishes a tri-lateral board to oversee implementation of the Accord.

— The creation of the Living Legacy Trust, which has $30 million in capital funding to enhance the implementation of the steps agreed to in the Forest Accord, including new park establishment.

— A public re-engaged and concerned about the care of our forests along with increased capacity and experience within the conservation community itself.

New Protected Areas: The Partnership's first priority for the Lands for Life process was the completion of an ecologically representative system of protected areas in the region. Our conservation analysis determined that, at a minimum, such a system would cover 15-20% of the public lands in the area (variable by natural region). The Lands for Life process resulted in an immediate increase from 6% to 12% of the region being permanently protected from logging, mining and hydroelectric development. Сборные бассейны и строительство бассейнов для самой красивой дачи.

Future expansions to the system will occur through the implementation of the Ontario Forest Accord.

Sustainable Forest Landscapes: The Partnership for Public Lands wanted to ensure that connectivity between protected areas and the general health of the intervening landscape were enhanced by Lands for Life. Significant advances were made in this area, with some well-designed new linkages in the parks system, such as the string of protected areas running from the large Wabakimi Wilderness Park down through the Lake Nipigon corridor to the Lake Superior coast (see map and description).

Lands for Life also led to the establishment of 36 new waterway parks that will provide river-corridor linkages between core protected areas. The creation of the Great Lakes Heritage Coast designation recognizes and protects a key global asset. In addition, 3.7 million acres of new Enhanced Management Areas may provide useful buffering for many core protected areas.

On the broader landscape, the signing of the Forest Accord and the creation of the Ontario Forest Accord Advisory Board — which draws equal representation from the Partnership, the government and forest industry — has also opened new opportunities for the conservation community to steer forest-policy development.

THE LIVING LEGACY
The provincial government called the plan that resulted from the Lands for Life process "Ontario's Living Legacy." A government announcement has seldom rung more true - the 378 new parks and conservation reserves that are a central part of the Legacy are a gift to future generations. And now we also have a mechanism to establish additional protected areas in the future while addressing economic goals.

Completing the protected-areas system is critically important because too many of Ontario's ecosystems still lack protection. In addition, new industrial initiatives planned for the boreal forest will challenge our resolve and our resources to do right by nature.

First Nation's rights and aspirations must also be addressed in the development of long-term management plans for many of our new parks, while economic benefits for and real empowerment of these communities must inform the land-use planning process that will shortly unfold in the far northern reaches of the province.

PPL's new working relationship with the forest industry bodes well for finding solutions in a world where local meets global through the marketplace. We have found new mechanisms — preliminary as they may be - to jointly advance the goals of ecosystem sustainability and industry security. We will further develop this new approach and explore its possibilities in the months and years ahead.

As a Partnership, we are already learning from and building on the Lands for Life process, and we are committed to using our resources and knowledge to reach these new goals.

THANK YOU
Thank you to all staff and committee members who helped make the Partnership's efforts a success during Lands for Life. Your reward is in the results.

Thanks also to the hundreds of dedicated volunteers who put in countless hours in support of protecting Ontario's wilderness (there's just too many of you to mention by name). Without your efforts, we would not have more than 370 new parks and conservation reserves to celebrate today!

Thanks as well to all the artists and performers, who took time out from movie-making, recording, singing and dancing to support our cause. Your efforts made events like Wilderness Now! and the Portage for Wilderness memorable and fun.