Northern forest pact initiated Canadian groups aim to protect woodland

TORONTO – More than half of Canada’s vast northern forest, about 1 million square miles in all, would be exempt from logging and other industrial development under an agreement announced Monday by a coalition of native tribes, environmentalists and businesses.

The agreement, if adopted by the national and local governments, is aimed at protecting a largely pristine evergreen expanse that has large populations of bears, wolves, caribou and other species along with hundreds of native communities.

“By acting now, Canada can safeguard one of the world’s remaining large ecosystems while it is still for the most part ecologically intact,” said Cathy Wilkinson, director of the Canadian Boreal Initiative, a member of the coalition that crafted the agreement.

The Boreal Forest, as it’s known, is just below the Arctic Circle and stretches some 3,000 miles from the Yukon to the Atlantic Ocean. It is the largest intact forest ecosystem in the world and makes up roughly half of Canada’s territory.

Government approval of the accord is necessary because 90 percent of the forest is under public ownership, but Wilkinson said she was optimistic that officials would eventually adopt the agreement because it has the endorsement of groups that are normally opponents.

“This is meant as a starting point for conversation, but it’s being delivered on a silver platter and already involves a group of major players,” she said.

The deal worked out among the members of the coalition – which includes companies seeking to develop portions of the forest – would exempt half the total area of 2 million square miles from industrial activities, including logging and oil and gas exploration, while imposing strict regulations on the remainder of the ecosystem.

“This agreement demonstrates that those with very different interests in the forest can work together in the support of its future,” Wilkinson said.

Several of the largest companies working in the forest, including timber giant Weyerhaeuser Corp., are not part of the coalition and have not endorsed the agreement.