Outaouais forest management table appoints representatives for 2023-2025
Greg Newing
Twenty-two representatives from diverse organizations, businesses, and associations with interests in the region’s public forests (crown land forests) were appointed or had their candidacy accepted to the Regional Table for Integrated Resource and Territory Management of the Outaouais (TRGIRTO) for the 2023-2025 period.
TRGIRTO works with the provincial government to develop plans, called Integrated Forest Management Plans (PAFI), for managing public forests in an effort to ensure that the interests and concerns of all stakeholders are taken into account. “When you’re taking about public forest, you’re talking about the people either working in the forest or who are interested in it from an environmental perspective. You have your outfitters, you have your ATV and snowmobile trail users, you have those who have a lease on public land along with the forestry industry,” explained Deb Powell who represents the organization Pontiac Environmental Protection on the TRGIRTO. While no new representatives were added to TRGIRTO this year, the table has brought in several new organizations in recent years including the regional maple syrup producer’s association, Syndicat de producteurs acéricole Outaouais-Laurentides as its newest member.
Examples of issues discussed at the table range from scheduling logging and hunting activities, to road construction projects, to climate change related goals and objectives. Concerns raised by TRGIRTO have also led to several recent studies such as one on the effect of forestry operations on nesting birds and another on the impact of heavy machinery on forest soils. TGIRTO coordinator Charles Blais confirmed with the Journal that a new plan for sustainable management which sets key goals and strategies and fixes annual limits on wood harvesting will be adopted this April.
While PAFIs are carried out by the provincial government, suggestions and concerns raised by TRGIRTO allow forest management to be responsive to each region, “The table is able to bring local or regional concerns to the government. Our forest is not the same of what they have in Abitibi, we have a unique forest here with its own unique challenges,” said Powell.
How to get involved
The MRC of Pontiac hosted public consultations over the past several months which informed TRGIRTO’s planning and discussion. Regular notifications for upcoming consultations can be found on TRGIRTO’s website at https://trgirto.ca and are also published in the Journal. TRGIRTO’s website also includes up to date information on forestry operations and an interactive map of all public forests in the Outaouais.
Residents can also send questions, ideas and concerns directly to TRGIRTO representatives which can be found in the “Interest Groups and Membership” section under “About Us” on the TRGIRTO website. For further information or questions TRGIRTO can be contacted directly through the contact form on the website by clicking “About us” and then “Contact us”.
Photo credit: TRGIRTO. Image 2 Photo Credit: TRGIRTO.
Photo caption: TRGIRTO Logo.
