Ontario Nature Blog

When Ontario’s Endangered Species Act (ESA) was brought into force in 2007, the Ministry of Natural Resources granted a one-year exemption to the forestry industry on the premise that industry needed time to develop a compliance framework. Since then, the forestry industry has claimed that the provincial Crown Forest Sustainability Act (CFSA), under which it ...

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I’ve been working to protect boreal caribou and their habitat for nearly 20 years. I’ve conducted field research, published peer-reviewed papers and talked to thousands of people about the plight of this majestic animal in Ontario. Over the years, boreal caribou have been subjected to an onslaught of legislative and policy decisions that have threatened ...

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The provincial government is proposing a new approach to getting species off the Species at Risk in Ontario (SARO) list. And it’s not by addressing threats, preventing further declines or implementing recovery measures. Nothing that involves real, on-the-ground improvements. Rather, it would simply require basing species assessments on how our most vulnerable plants and animals ...

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Citizens groups across Ontario are sounding the alarm about the provincial government’s plans to amend the Endangered Species Act, 2007 (ESA). Here’s what you need to know:  1. The overall direction of the ESA review is environmental deregulation. Don’t be fooled. Though the government claims that it wants to improve protections for species at risk, ...

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It is interesting how readily nature advocates can be dismissed as tree huggers or bleeding hearts – as if caring about our fellow creatures were somehow improper. Rachel Carson herself was belittled as being too sentimental and emotional – even hysterical – in her fight to raise awareness about the deadly impacts of pesticides on ...

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