Documents required under the Crown Forest Sustainability Act (CFSA)
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Forest Management Plans
In Ontario, the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) ensures that Crown forests in a management unit designated under the CFSA are managed in a sustainable manner. Forest management planning requirements for Crown lands in Ontario are described in the Forest Management Planning Manual (FMPM). The FMPM requires a forest management plan to be consistent with higher-order provincial and regional land use and resource management policies and strategies.
A forest management plan is a comprehensive document prepared in an open and consultative fashion by a Registered Professional Forester (RPF) with the assistance of a multi-disciplinary planning team, local citizens committee, Aboriginal communities and input from interested members of the public. It sets out long-term management direction that includes objectives and strategies for the sustainable management of the Crown forest in a management unit. A forest management plan also provides details on the amount of, and locations for harvest, renewal and road construction activities that are planned to occur over a 10-year period.
In Ontario, forest resource disposition occurs after the sustainable supply of wood is determined for a management unit through the forest management planning process. Then, mill demand is assessed, and surplus and/or deficit situations are identified and addressed. The Provincial Wood Supply Strategy identifies critical wood supply issues and provides approaches (strategies) to address those issues. Then, forest industry companies gain access to Ontario’s forest resources (e.g. wood supply) primarily through socio-economic based policy instruments provided for under the Crown Forest Sustainability Act (CFSA) including forest resource supply agreements and licences.
Supply Agreements and Harvesting and Processing Licences
Responsibilities regarding supply agreements, and harvesting and processing licences under the CFSA are shared between MNR and the Ministry of Northern Development, Mines and Forestry (MNDMF). Under the CFSA supply agreements (section 25) and forest resource licences (sections 26 & 27) are legal documents that provide authority for forest products companies or individuals to harvest or use available forest resources from Ontario forest management units. The CFSA defines forest resources as “trees in a forest ecosystem, any other type of plant life prescribed by the regulations that is in a forest ecosystem, and parts of or residue from trees in a forest ecosystem”.
Supply Agreements
MNR and MNDMF enter into a supply agreement or grant forest resource licences in accordance with either a competitive process described in CFSA Section 24 or another process approved by Order-in-Council 993/95. Order-in-Council 993/95 issued under CFSA Section 24, describes the process whereby the Minister of Natural Resources or Minister of Northern Development, Mines and Forestry can make forest resources available without a competitive process, providing that at least one of the conditions outlined in the document are met.
Supply agreements are entered into by the MNDMF and another party whereby the Minister of Northern Development, Mines and Forestry agrees to supply a forest resource processing facility (e.g. sawmill, pulp and paper mill), with specific target volumes of forest resources from identified management units, for a specified period of time. The Minister can only enter into a supply agreement with the approval of the Lieutenant Governor in Council.
The purpose of a supply agreement is to provide security of forest resource supply to a mill and to outline the terms and conditions under which the forest resources will be made available. An important condition of all supply agreements is the volume of forest resources that will be made available is subject to availability determined through the forest management planning process.
Supply agreements are often entered into with forest products companies who do not hold Sustainable Forest Licences to enable them to access forest resources from the licence area of other companies.
Harvesting Licences
MNR and MNDMF may grant a forest resource licences to permit individuals or forest products companies to harvest available forest resources (e.g. cut trees) from forest management units in accordance with section 26 and 27 of the CFSA, the Forest Management Planning Manual, the Forest Operations and Silviculture Manual, the Forest Information Manual and the Scaling Manual. There are two types of forest resource licences - Sustainable Forest Licences and Forest Resource Licences.
Sustainable Forest Licences (Issued by MNDMF)
Sustainable Forest Licences (SFLs) are issued under Section 26 of the CFSA. They are long-term, renewable licences granted by the Minister of Northern Development, Mines and Forestry with the approval of the Lieutenant Governor In Council for a term of up to 20 years. SFLs are reviewed every five years and may be extended for an additional five years, providing that certain conditions are met.
A SFL is generally granted for all of the area in a management unit of Crown forest. While SFLs do not convey any rights to Crown land, they do give a licensee the right to harvest all species of trees found in a licensed area, subject to availability determined through the forest management planning process. The rights granted by a SFL are transferable with the written consent of the Minister, and SFLs may not be sold.
SFL holders bear significant management responsibilities imposed by the Crown. These include forest management planning; gathering forest information for the Crown; conducting operations in accordance with the Crown’s Forest Operations and Silviculture Manual, which includes constructing forest roads that serve the public at large, and regenerating the forest; and compliance planning and monitoring.
Forest Resource Licences (Issued by MNR)
Forest Resource Licences (FRLs) are issued under section 27 of the CFSA for a term of up to five years. FRLs can be extended for one additional year, but only under defined, special circumstances. While SFLs generally govern all of the area in a management unit of Crown forest, FRLs vary significantly in the area they cover. Normally, FRLs cover only portions of management units and may often overlap with an area covered by a SFL. While an FRL and a SFL may share portions of the same area, each licence holder will typically have the right to harvest different stands. Occasionally, the area covered by one FRL may also overlap with that of another. Again, different harvest rights are agreed upon by the licensees and Crown to avoid conflict.
While FRLs do not convey any rights to Crown land, they do allow for the harvest of certain amounts and species of forest resources. Where FRLs overlap, the most recent licensee has preference over earlier licence holders for the species and volumes outlined in the licences.
Processing Licences
Forest Resource Processing Facility Licences (Issued by MNDMF & MNR)
Forest resource processing facility licences are issued under section 54 of the CFSA and are required for all forest resource processing facilities (e.g. pulp and paper mills, sawmills) which consume more than 1,000 cubic metres of forest resources per year. A forest resource processing facility licence defines how a person can operate or construct a facility, increase the productive capacity of a facility or convert a facility to another type of facility. Before a facility licence can be issued, the Ontario government must be satisfied the facility has a sufficient supply of forest resources to operate.
Responsibilities regarding authorization for issuance of facility licences are shared between MNR and MNDMF as follows:
Facility Type | Description | Signing Authority |
|---|---|---|
| A | Pulp, Paper and Paperboard products - any size | MNDMF |
| B | Sawmill with capacity less than 25m3 per 8 hour shift | MNR |
| C | Sawmill with capacity from 25 to 200m3 per 8 hour shift | MNDMF |
| D | Sawmill with capacity more than 200m3 per 8 hour shift | MNDMF |
| E | Veneer mill - any size | MNDMF |
| F | Composite Panel or other Composite Solid Wood Processing Facility - any size | MNDMF |
| G | Whole Tree Chippers with capacity up to 5,000 m3/year | MNR |
| H | Whole Tree Chippers with capacity more than 5,000 m3/year | MNDMF |
| I | Firewood Processing Facility with capacity greater than 35 m3/year | MNR |
| J | Other Wood Fibre Product Facility - up to 5,000 m3/year | MNR |
| K | Other Wood Fibre Product Facility - more than 5,000 m3/year | MNDMF |
Licensed facilities are required to provide the government with annual summary statistics on wood consumption and production. This information is used by MNR and MNDMF to monitor wood flow.
