I just recieved this e-mail, and I hope that it is current so that there is time to let our voices be heards. I appologize if I am repeating someone elses posting.

Dear friends across Ontario,


Our government is going to let a mining company destroy part of Temagami's magical old growth forest. We've rallied to protect it once before, and targeting a key minister now could save this forest for good. Sign the petition by clicking below and share widely:

Our government is going to let a mining exploration company destroy part of Temagami's magical old growth forest and I need your help to stop them.

Ontario's Premier reversed plans to remove forest reserve status from Wolf Lake in Temagami after thousands of Canadians wrote him letters. But now Minister Bartolucci has signed a 21 year lease with an Alberta mining company, right in the middle of the forest preserve. Exploration and mining could devastate the area. The move is crazy, but technically legal. Our only hope is to come together and pressure Bartolucci to buy out the lease and end the mining threat.

I want my two daughters and their kids to know the joy and wonder of canoeing through Wolf Lake, witness its old growth and drink its crystal clear blue water. Hundreds of others like me would like to do the same. Let's pressure pressure Bartolucci, and win, just like we won against Premier McGuinty. Join me in this call. When 20,000 of us join together, Avaaz will take out ads in Bartolucci's election riding and call him out for this forest destruction. Sign by clicking below and then pass this along to your friends and family:

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/petition/Sa ... ab&v=18248

In 1999, the government of Ontario promised to protect the 300 year old Wolf Lake ancient pines located in the famous greater Temagami canoeing area northeast of Sudbury. But they have failed to act on that promise. Instead they signed a new 21 year lease with a mining company, opening this area up to potential total destruction. Experts say it's not even that great a mining resource but that hasn't held back the company.

Mining exploration at Wolf Lake has already destroyed popular campsites, carved heavy machinery tracks through the old growth, knocked down ancient pines, and run oily drill rigs through pristine creeks. But we have a chance to stop this new attack on our wilderness before it is too late.

Click below to join me in saving this amazing part of Ontario's landscape and in preserving this magical place for generations to come. Click below to sign, then forward widely.

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/petition/Sa ... ab&v=18248

With hope,

Jackie with the Avaaz team

PS: I started this petition on Avaaz's new Community Petitions Site, it's quick and easy to start a petition on any issue you care about, click here: http://avaaz.org/en/petition/start_a_petition/?bv18248


More Information

Ontario breaks Temagami pledge (The Star)
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article ... ami-pledge

Wolf Lake Coalition info site
http://www.savewolflake.org

Temagami’s Wolf Lake threatened by proposed gold mine (Council of Canadians)
http://canadians.org/blog/?p=12789

Area needs permanent protection (The Sudbury Star)
http://www.thesudburystar.com/2012/02/0 ... protection

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"I've never met a river I didn't like. The experience is what we remember and the challenges make for great memories". Me

I signed...and shared the link!

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Dave

"The way of a canoe is the way of the wilderness, and of a freedom almost forgotten." Sigurd Olson, 1956

The petition page is still not appearing on my machine so I might send an email to the MNR minister.

<begin Obama-like speech>

Sometimes, we, as responsible Canadians creating a future for our children's children... (cripes, come down to earth)

A problem with old growth red pine is that the stands often depended on ground fires to eliminate the more shade-tolerant competition from becoming established underneath. IIRC, the Ottertooth website does mention the need for burns.

In areas where there is recreation, allowing fires to burn can be a problem for safety reasons, and for those that see fires destroying their recreational values. This red pine stand is twice the size of High Park in Toronto, which is being burned regularly to maintain the black oak savannah there, so if there is enough will in Temagami, maybe the red pines can be maintained.

...over and out.

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Yes that is true, and a walk through the Wolf Lake old growth indicates there have been a number of fires over the years.... perhaps that is why the trees are still there in significant numbers.
Also, the geography of the area, with high open, sparsely treed quartzite hills surrounding the area lakes, is not conducive to allowing these small ground fires, needed to clear out the undergrowth, to be become wildfires.

Mac, red pine stands in their natural state may have had ground fires often, before fire suppression began... the study below, done at the Opeongo Lookout just east of the access point, estimates a fire interval from fire scars on old pines, the average time between fires ranging from 17 to 27 years.

http://nrs.fs.fed.us/pubs/jrnl/1995/nc_ ... te_006.pdf

He states that humans must have been responsible for starting some of the fires, but at a high point like the Opeongo Lookout, lightning strikes must have occurred as well .

For anybody not having seen fire scars on red pines, a google photo... the duff layer of pine needles at the base is building up again, ready to be burned off.

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I think by now anyone who is somewhat knowledgeable in the environment of the shield country understands the natural significance of burns.

If they decided to do a regular burn - I think it could be managed. A time could be designated and everyone stays out of the area for a week. We are putting up with the schedule of the hunt, and thus prove that in principle such time periods can be managed.

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“What is the good of having a nice house without a decent planet to put it on?” - Thoreau

There are numerous red pine trees at Wolf Lake with this type of scar, indicating they have suffered fire damage at some point in their lives.
As a non-forester it is difficult to determine how long ago the damage occurred. I suspect in the case of Wolf Lake, it would predate the period of intense fire supression activity.
Intense fire supression has been underway for some time now, probably since the 1960's or perhaps earlier. More recently supression efforts have been even more focussed as MNR has been proactive at jumping on small fires before they have a chance to get to be bigger ones. This could effect the future of the old growth red pine as Frozentripper has pointed out in his earlier post. Not all fires get supressed, so a fire at Wolf Lake in the old growth may be allowed to burn out the duff layer and take out the undergrowth, allowing the red pine to sustain themselves.

Then again climate change could wipe them out.

Erhard,



Pine forests especially, are very flammable... in northern boreal forests, jack pines are fire-adapted, and in the boreal-deciduous transition south, it's red pines co-existing with fires.

Red pines are valuable for a variety of reasons and prescribed burns have been researched for ways of maintaining red pines in red pine forests (otherwise other more shade-tolerant trees will move in to replace the red pines)... this study describes some of the benefits and problems with prescribed burns.



http://nrs.fs.fed.us/pubs/gtr/gtr_nc129.pdf



Mac,



I haven't seen the Wolf lake forest myself... in the absence of fire, shade-tolerant balsam firs often start to grow underneath, and that spells death eventually for the pine forest since red pine seeds won't be able to grow through the duff layer, and any seedlings that do grow won't survive the shade created by the firs.

Google photo again, of balsam firs invading a red pine stand. The old growth pines at Wolf lake should be large enough to survive a burn to prevent this from happening.

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