Program Policy documents:
- Forest Resource Assessment Policy
- Provincial Wood Supply Strategy
- Old Growth Policy for Ontario's Forests
- Forest Compliance Strategy (the strategy is located within the Forest Compliance Handbook - pages 16 to 22)
Program Policy
More Information
Program policy is set out in policies and/or strategies that address a specific program area (e.g. forests, wildlife, parks, fisheries etc.). They provide direction and interpretation for resource management to achieve specific program goals. Program policies and strategies support the direction established in legislation, strategic policies and other government direction. They often affect stakeholders directly and may be contentious.
Current Forest Program Policies and Strategies
Forest Resource Assessment Policy
The Forest Resource Assessment Policy (FRAP) provides a framework and criteria for the assessment of Ontario’s Crown lands. Assessments of Ontario’s forests support the definition, maintenance and restoration of desired forest condition and benefits at the local management unit level while recognizing regional and provincial interests in the long-term health of Ontario’s forests and availability of forest resources.
FRAP supports directions in the Policy Framework for Sustainable Forests for ensuring that desired future conditions are defined and that actions taken are compatible with maintaining and restoring this condition and the implementation of the provisions in the Crown Forest Sustainability Act for the determining forest sustainability and managing Ontario’s Crown forests in a sustainable manner.
Provincial Wood Supply Strategy
The Provincial Wood Supply Strategy is a consolidated wood supply report and plan of action required under the Forest Resource Assessment Policy. Its primary purpose is to identify critical wood supply issues and provide strategies to address those issues. The document compares supply forecasts from approved forest management plans, aggregated to a regional level, against the current level of industrial demand in order to quantify potential shortages and surpluses. This information is examined in the context of the overall wood supply and demand situation in the Boreal and Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Forests to identify the critical wood supply issues. The strategies are recommended to help address these wood supply issues.
Old Growth Policy for Ontario’s Crown Forests
The Old Growth Policy for Ontario's Crown Forests provides provincial direction for identifying and conserving old growth forest conditions and values for all forest communities present in Ontario’s Crown forests. The policy directs that old growth forest conditions will be identified using the Old Growth Forest Definitions for Ontario technical report. The strategy directs how MNR will ensure that old growth forest conditions and values are present across Ontario’s Crown forest lands for conserving biological diversity at levels that maintain or restore ecological processes, while allowing for sustainable development now and in the future.
Forest Compliance Srategy
The Forest Compliance Strategy guides policy development, provides direction for compliance and describes how compliance will be achieved. The Strategy encompasses all legislation and policy pertaining to operations in Crown forests with some of the strategies and actions being appropriate to guide private land forestry.
