The Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities says environmentalists ignore that climate change is a threat to the caribou. Instead FONOM and the Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association say these groups keep blaming the forest sector for the caribou drop. However both lobby groups say the caribou population has actually been rising thanks to sound practices. FONOM says instead of criticizing forestry, environmentalists should consider a research paper that says changes in winter temperatures could reduce caribou numbers by 2050. The lobby groups say the information is found in the research journal Rangifer and details how winter changes could cause a significant drop in the caribou population.
FONOM and NOMA both say the environmentalists conveniently ignore the work done by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry over more than 20 years. They say that the MNRF numbers show that caribou population drops have been minimal or non-existent over several decades. The lobby groups say instead of looking at these results, the environmental groups continue to try and shut down forestry which is both a renewable and sustainable industry.
They add that in the process these anti-forestry groups threaten the jobs of 57,000 men and women across northern and rural parts of the province. FONOM and NOMA say the amount of wood harvested each year is less than half a percent of the province’s Crown forests. They say this is a sustainable harvest. Both also point out that the bulk of the harvested trees are a climate-friendly material that contractors use to build homes in the GTA’s booming housing sector.
