Environmental Commissioner Dianne Saxe is warning that forest fires will increase in severity and frequency across Canada, including in northern Ontario, as a result of climate change.
Saxe is the province's independent environmental watchdog, and her report, called the Environmental Protection Report, Small Steps Forward, was issued today in Toronto.
"We concluded that more forest fires must be allowed to burn in northern Ontario forests to prevent permanent ecological change and more catastrophic fires in the future," she reports.
There is movement in that direction as the MNRF’s new strategy includes increased flexibility for fire-response decision-making, which enables the ministry to assess each forest fire individually, regardless of its location, to determine the most appropriate response in order to safeguard human life, property and infrastructure, and maintain and enhance forest health.
"This is a good approach," says Saxe.
She says the MNRF needs to let forest fires burn or, where forest fires pose a risk to human values, conduct prescribed burns in advance.
"To this end, the MNRF must follow through on the new strategy’s commitment to build and maintain a workforce capable of executing prescribed burns, and should also create a team of dedicated burn personnel. Conducting more prescribed burns could help the ministry protect human values while promoting natural and necessary ecological processes."
Northern communities are also urged to increase their resistance and resilience to forest fires by preparing and implementing prevention and mitigation plans.
"The Ontario government, for its part, must ensure all communities near flammable forest become 'FireSmart' by making prevention and mitigation plans mandatory, and providing adequate funding to communities to develop and implement them."
Fire is an essential ecological process in Ontario’s boreal forest, which covers 50 per cent of the province.
"Current levels of fire protection are undesirable ecologically and may become impossible economically," Saxe warns.
Meanwhile, the North Bay district has had a total of 50 fires over the past year.
Of those:
- 49 fires were fully actioned
- One fire is currently active and is being managed according Ontario’s Wildland Fire Management Strategy: it is ‘Being Observed’ on an island situated on Lowery Lake, approximately 8 km west of Hwy 11 N
The MNRF has not conducted any Prescribed Burns this year in the Northeast Region.
