(File photo/paNOW Staff)

By Alex Rodgerson

Forestry News

Province set to review new management plan for Island Forests

Mar 2, 2022 | 12:12 PM

There are concerns about how much timber could soon be coming from forests around Prince Albert.

The four island forests — Canwood, Nisbet, Fort-a-la-Corne and Torch River provincial forests – cover more than half a million acres and are in the northern portion of the agricultural zone. The management plan to guide the future protection and logging of the forests was released for public consultation back in October 2021, seven years after studies by the provincial Forest Service began.

The 2021 plan considers significant reductions in wood supply due to recent wildfires and the need to remove some land from the forested land base. In addition, it recommends a 37 per cent reduction in the allowable cut from what was proposed in the old plan from 2016.

If Environment Minister Warren Kaeding approves the revised Island Forest Management Plan 2021 with the alternate scenario, the province said it will be possible to switch to the alternate scenario plan at any time if the market demand for wood increases. Instead of allowing for a sustainable level of cut over the next twenty years, as determined by the Forest Service, the alternate scenario plan will also allow for 44 per cent more to be cut per year.

While no public consultation for the plan was allowed due to the pandemic, some Saskatchewan residents weighed in regarding what they believe the future should hold for the four Island Forests. Rick Closs, member of the Saskatchewan Forest Protection Network, said in a release that public feedback on the plan has been mixed.

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“There is wide support for the good work the Forest Service has done in developing the revised Forest Management Plan, but serious concern about the addition of an ‘alternate scenario’ that would dramatically increase both the amount of wood and the area of forest available to harvest if a market for it materializes,” Closs said. “This alternate scenario goes against the science that supports the rest of the revised plan and puts the ecological, cultural, historic and recreational values of these special forests at risk.”

According to the feedback – which will be presented along with the plan to Minister Kaeding during his review – the public value the Island Forests for its ecological, historic, cultural, and recreational amenities. A formal decision from Saskatchewan’s Ministry of Environment is expected in the coming months.

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Alex.rodgerson@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @princealbertnow