Forest Practices in Ontario
Forest practices in Ontario are regulated by the Ministry of Natural Resources. 
Technical standards and guidelines are statements that lead or direct a course of action. They are designed to assist resource managers in establishing and delivering programs.
Forest management guides contain rules, technical considerations for specific activities and guidelines for best management practices. The ministry’s policy and regulatory framework ensures that Ontario’s forest ecosystems are managed sustainably and is responsive and relevant to current public values. This includes a commitment to consult with stakeholder groups and citizens interested in the future health of Ontario’s natural resources and the environment.
Ontario’s sustainable forest management system is subject to one of the most comprehensive and public environmental assessments in North America. Provincial legislation requires that all forest companies in Ontario meet rigorous sustainable forest management planning and implementation conditions to maintain the right to harvest.
Ontario’s forest policy framework and legal authority is influenced by a number of factors including:
- provincial obligations such as the Ministry of Natural Resources’ Statement of Environmental Values under the Environmental Bill of Rights;
- the Ministry’s Forest Management Class Environmental Assessment approval under the Environmental Assessment Act; and
- national commitments set out in the National Forest Strategy and Action Plan.
Within this framework the ministry sets strategic and administrative policy direction. Forest practices at the field level are influenced by the technical standards, guidelines and operational procedures which the ministry develops.
Ensuring That Good Forest Practices Are Implemented
Forest management operations are monitored to assess compliance with the province’s policy and regulatory framework and to evaluate progress and results. The three types of monitoring used are effectiveness, effects and compliance. Effectiveness monitoring assesses how effective the forest policy framework is at meeting its objectives. Effects monitoring assesses the impacts of operations on various aspects of the forest ecosystem through long-term studies. Compliance monitoring is conducted to 
ensure that the MNR and the forest industry carry out operations according to plans, regulations, and required standards.
Forest management operations are also audited through independent forest audits that provide independent published assessments of forestry practices across the province. Independent forest audits have been conducted since 1996. The overwhelming majority of these audits have found that forests are well managed. The results of the independent audits are tabled annually in the Ontario Legislature. Companies that hold sustainable forest licences are subject to an independent forest audit every five years. The audits assess compliance with legislation, regulations, policies and licence requirements, and also assess the effectiveness of the implementation of plans and operations.
In addition to audits and certification programs, both the ministry and the forest industry carry out routine compliance inspections. The forest industry is required to report the results of its compliance inspections to MNR.
MNR conducts inspections to verify all instances of non-compliance reported by companies, and also carries out random and other planned inspections of forest operations.
Of the 8,069 inspections done across the province in 2004-05, companies conducted 6,500 and the ministry conducted 1,569. The vast majority (93.8 per cent) of the inspections reported compliant operations.
A total of 454 remedial actions were applied by the ministry. These included warnings, stop-work orders, and administrative penalties.
Forest Certification
Forest certification, a separate but related process, is a market-oriented means of promoting sustainable forest management, in which an independent third party evaluates forest management systems according to external pre-established standards.
Certification allows anyone purchasing Ontario wood products to do so with confidence that the province’s forestry practices meet a certain minimum standard set by the certification organization. Companies applying for certification must demonstrate that they are complying with the identified standards.
Ontario’s world-class forest management system (which includes an independent forest audit) readily lends itself to the certification standards of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) and the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) – all of which are used to independently verify sustainable forest management.
Ontario has 24.9 million hectares of certified forests, representing 18 per cent of the certified forests in Canada.
