Why Forestry Matters

 

Just Naturally Speaking                 by Betty Jean Brill  Nipigon  July 5, 2010

 

Why Forestry Matters

 

“We, Canadians, acknowledging that we are depositories of diverse social, cultural and natural riches are resolved to build a country that safeguards its natural environment and USES IT rationally and responsibly to ensure prosperity for generations to come.”

 

The Preamble (I) to A Renewed Canada, the Report of the Special Joint Committee of the Senate and the House of Commons, February 28, 1992. pp. 126-127. (the capitals are mine)

 

Let us flash back to 1944 when the Canadian Legion Educational Service was creating vocational courses for Service Personnel. One course they chose was “Forestry”.

 

“It is noteworthy that in every forest region there persists a forest industry, even though the first logging may go back three centuries.”(End quote from p. 65.)

 

They stress that logging should be considered a permanent occupation for Canadians.  To back that up they point out there is a growing school of thought that considers “ forest crops as renewable and therefore perpetual and it is essential that forests be so treated.”

(page 63)

 

Seventy years ago they were not thinking of their life cycle deep carbon footprint but they were well aware of just what logging meant.  They expressed it this way:

 

“ Logging comprises all the technique of harvesting timber for commercial use.  In general, the word is used to include the job of opening up an area of timber by roads, the making of such other improvements or structures as are required, the cutting of the timber, its assembly from stump to first point of transport, loading and hauling and dumping, and very often its delivery to the mill or market by the most favourable method.”

(page 61)

 

Forest products constituted our first major export.  They supplied cheap housing materials and fuel.  They helped the development of railways into new areas by providing freight more quickly than agriculture could.

 

“Logging shaped the national character of Canadians by demanding industry and courage, self-reliance and ingenuity.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In 1945 the Woodlands Section of Canadian Pulp and Paper Association, Montreal, published a little booklet called “Pointers to Woods Workers”.  Their preface was:

 

“Forest Conservation means careful, wise use of forests.  A woods worker’s part in this is of great importance to all, as the forest benefits everybody.  Take care of it.   Avoid waste.”

 

“Your work depends on the forest.  Treated well, it will continue to give work for generations.  Abused, the forest will not renew itself properly; even if it does come back it will be poor.”

 

“You can do a lot for forest conservation by preserving young growth of valuable kinds,  by being very careful with fire and by avoiding waste of good wood.”

 

In 1940 the merchantable accessible timber in Canada was estimated at a total (softwoods and hardwoods) of 211,656,000,000 cubic feet.  They figured another 100,000,000,000 cubic feet was rated not commercially accessible.

 

Flash forward to 2006.  The National Timber Inventory total tree volume on forest land was 47,957.07 million cubic metres.

 

Converting that to cubic feet we get 1,693,555,969,980 cubic feet.  Even if you dropped off a few lower age classes of trees, it looks like we still have more wood after seventy years of cutting than we had to start with.

 

Flash back to 1999, Philadelphia, The PEW Charitable Trusts: PEW Environmental Group:  They began to craft a strategy for Canada’s great boreal wilderness as part of their campaign to conserve intact old-growth forests.  They found Canada’s far reaching expanse of publicly owned forest and taiga a “ particularly ripe opportunity.”  Their Goal – one hundred million acres by the year 2010.

 

From 1999 to 2006 the PEW ‘ invested’ $35.4 million dollars in Canada.

 

They had 60,000,000 acres ‘protected’ by 2006.

 

They got their Goal, 100,000,000 acres ‘protected’ in 2007- three years ahead of schedule.

 

Basking in their success they had their campaign evaluated.  The evaluators asked Steve Kallick, the director of the Boreal Conservation Campaign, “How did you know what areas were important to protect?” He couldn’t answer because he had no idea scientifically why they did it. Unfazed, he said the evaluation had shown they needed to support better science.

 

 

How did this ‘foreign power’ manipulate our governments and industries into signing away our rights to use our natural resources in one hundred million acres of our boreal?  They explain it all on their websites. They developed and consistently projected a clear and compelling message that created a sense of urgency regarding the need to protect specific tracts of wilderness and then continued to extend their reach.

 

PEW takes credit for prompting the Manitoba government to create the ten million acre, pristine boreal forest World Heritage Site.

 

The Ivey Foundation (London, Ontario) takes credit for the creation and passing of the Species At Risk Act last year.  Their boast is that the foundation has an excellent political reach which it is not afraid to use.

 

The Ivey Foundation is one of the ENGO signatories of the Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement of May 18, 2010.

 

PEW is one of the nine Environmental Non-Governmental Organizations that signed the Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement of May 18, 2010 – 29 million hectares and counting.

 

Counting- an additional 200 million acres of Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec are expected to be designated as parks and refuges pending the fulfillment of previously made commitments.

 

Two interesting covenants that charitable organizations have to sign in the U.S.A.:

4.a. The corporation shall not lobby, carry on propaganda or other wise attempt to influence legislation…

4.b. Cannot participate in any political campaign on behalf of or in opposition of any candidate for public office.

 

Maybe these covenants have no repercussions if used in a foreign land, but what about Ivey?  What about ForestEthics and their fomenting intolerance of resource industries?

 

Michael:

Was it really cooperation between the forest industries and the environmental groups when the ENGOs used language such as:

Leverage existing government legislation.

Influence upcoming regulations.

Transform attitudes and behaviour  to create conditions for positive government action.

Fiscal policy used as a strategic way to influence public and corporate decisions in support of conservation.

Act strategically to set legal precedents.

Discourage buyers.

National Focus to drive the process…ie., the FPAC to an agreement in exchange for supply certainty.

 

 

 

How we did in 2024

 Pageviews for the Blog  to date   385415

That's up from 293469 in Dec 2023

571 Posts

Thank you all for reading our Nipigon area history since we began in 2011.

Our film "Destination Nipigon" by Thunderstryker films was shown at Dec 1, film festival in the Thunder Bay auditorium and well received .

It was a hot summer and the air conditioning unit was on the fritz so that limited the time visitors took to look at our displays.

We did have a fisherman who drove all the way from West Tennessee to see our World Record Brook Trout display (and me).  A nice surprise.

Nipigon Historical Museum as Art Gallery

 

Nipigon Historical Museum

As

An Art Gallery

Have you ever thought that?

During the two weeks

July 16 – 27

We will show you that we are.

Our summer staff can tour you around as our “art’ is everywhere.

With over 20 artists represented, plus  Those who walked this earth

“Before Present”

Even a superbly crafted stone tool is seen by us  today as a “work of art”, whereas 5000 years ago it was “Life or Death” to the maker.

For those who think they’ve seen it all, we have a Surprise:

A two week loan of a Super Dooper  painting to lure you back in.

 

POETRY IN MOTION

Ode to the Nipigon has been made into a Silent Movie style with black and white photos of the river given ACTION.

Done by Thunderstryker Films

2 versions  one with music and the other with voice.

If you can access Nipigon History facebook page  you can watch and listen to  my poem.

See the Nipigon River Rapids that were, seethe and boil and the waterfalls, now gone, plunge  !

Nipigon Museum hours 2024 summer

 Nipigon Historical Museum will be open July and August 2024

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday 9 AM to 5 PM

Saturday 10 AM til 4 PM

This is the 20th Year  For the Nipigon Museum at this location  on Front Street Nipigon

Admission is Silver Collection...whatever you consider your visit worth.  If you are short of funds no problem you are welcome to come in and visit us FREE.

We have books and post cards and posters for sale.

Thank You Readers 2023

 As of Christmas Day 2023 we have reached 293,469 Pageviews

That's about 60,000 Pageviews for the year added..

CLARA PATON

 

Clara Patton (Randall)

Born -----------------------1925

 

Father: Roy Randall,

Mother: Melvin Theresa

Sister: Dorothy Randall (Salo)

Date: February 7^th 2006

 

What brought your father to Nipigon?

My father was a black smith and had to find work. We came in 1939; I don’t know if he came in 1939 as he was already here when my mother sister and I came.  He may have been here in 1938 I don’t know.

 

You came here from?

Okay where were we living oh Mafeking Manitoba. Oh and we lived in Barrows too, we lived in Barrows before that maybe that’s where we moved from, probably that’s where we moved from.

 

Who came with you?

Mother and Dorothy.

 

What was your Mother’s name?

Melvina Theresa

 

How old were you when you came to Nipigon?

Well I was born in 1925 that would make me 14, Dorothy was born in 1934 that would make Dorothy five.

 

Where did you live?

First we lived down by the CN tracks, over there under the bridge in a shack. I don’t know how long we were there I don’t remember being there in the winter so I think we moved before winter.

 

Did your Dad work for someone?

Well he came here to look for work he was a blacksmith he’d have to work in the bush he worked for Don Clark that I can remember.

 

You know that house where a Borsk girl lives (Marcia) that is where Don Clark lived.

 

 Then I don’t know who he (Dad) worked for after but he worked on the boats down there at the dock. Dad always wore an engineer cap. Mac McCullough would be an operator and Carl Ringham would be a machine operator. We are looking at an old picture of a boat and a few men, one that is Clara’s Dad.

 

Did you go to school?

I went to school in Mafeking but didn’t go to school when I came to Nipigon. I stayed home and worked, did the work in the house.

 

 Mother did leather work and she made jackets. She had to use sinue and square needles they were triangular had three sides she did bead work too. She was a very talented seamstress.

 

Was you Mom Native?

Yes she was, she was my adoptive mother and so was my natural mother native. She was dark so she had to have some native in her she came from Treherne Manitoba. Her last name was Bruce.

 

I worked at Zeckner’s and I was a cookie out at a camp in the Black Sturgeon some place for one winter then came back to Nipigon.

 

How did you meet your husband?

Oh he came back from the army. I guess I used to go down and visit Mrs. Patton before that. They lived down there in the area where Smutylo’s(101Railway) live. There used to be quite a few houses in that area. There was Gordon’s she used to be a nurse. His name was Stan Gordon I can remember his name but I can’t remember her name.

 

 I can remember Clyde and I were married already. Clyde’s Dad his name was John and his Mom;s name was Emma. Mrs. Patton and her sister came to Canada, they I guess the family couldn’t look after them in England so in those days I guess they were shipped to other places, kids were. Her last name I think was Stern. The sister I think her name was Ann; Clydes sister was named after her.

 

 Clyde’s sister Ann lived in Cameron Falls her husband worked for the hydro then he was transferred to Oakville and he committed suicide. We used to go visit them in Cameroon Falls they had a house there everybody rented, Ontario Hydro built houses out there.

 

Tell us about work Clara?

I started at Bell in 52 I remember because I got married in 52. Dorothy Dumas was the chief operator it was Bell telephone at the time and I don’t know what it was before. Yaw I know Vera Atkinson we worked together. Dorothy Dumas used to live in the house across from Silvia Lamay the big house like the story and one half, I don’t who lives there now.  I guess when they finished with operators at Bell that is when they went to automatic.

          Once we were done at Bell I went to work at Zechner’s.

                                  

 I think I was hired in 1975 at the plywood mill I can’t remember; I had my accident in 1979. I went back after my accident I had a hook still have it in the drawer I don’t use it any more though I don’t need it.

 

You retired in?

 

 

What was it like down town?

Of coarse all the bars were booming there was the Nipigon Inn, International, the Ovillio and The Normandie. That’s where we went a lot when Clyde was living the Normandie. Clyde and I and the Rasks, we chummed around quite a bit. Pete Prete owned the Normandie at the time.

 

 

 

What Year did Clyde die?

I don’t remember I know he was in that bedroom in there and he was not feeling good. I guess he lay down and I heard a noise or something and I called the doctor because he would not answer me.  I forget who the doctor was a tall skinny guy probably Workington, he lived some place up there (points up towards McKirdy. Probably it was Dr. Workinton because Dr. Harvey was here at the time. Then they took him to the hospital and I drove there and they looked at him and he had a ruptured artery going into the stomach or something. They could not fix him. They took him up town and I drove behind and by six in the morning he was gone. I drove up by myself then Archie and Dorothy came up because I called them.

They came and then Dorothy drove my car and Archie drove whatever they had. I think it was 1975 when he died.

 

Claira lives at 126 Seventh Street Nipigon with her dog Ashleigh. Claira also owns a camp at Stewart Lake where she spends most of the summer.

 

Claira has two nephews and one niece through her sister Dorothy (gone) and bother in law Archie Salo. They are Ron and Jim Salo and Lori (Salo) Davies. Claira also has relatives in Manitoba through her biological mother.