Ontario's Old-Growth Forests

by Henry, Michael

• ISBN13: 9781550415803
• ISBN10: 1550415808
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-05-01
• Publisher: Fitzhenry & Whiteside Ltd

Summary

Who would have thought that dwarf cedar trees growing on the Niagara Escarpment could live to be nearly 2000 years old. Or that the small bonsai cedars lining the shorelines of the Canadian shield measure their ages in centuries. Old growth pine trees in Temagami are often over 10 stories tall, but these are young sprouts compared to trees of yesteryear which were as much as 20 stories high. Ontario's old growth forests are fantastical and mysterious, but who knows where to find one. Most people in this province live within an hour's drive of an old growth forest, but do not know it.The ecology of these stands is engrossing. Fire scars on these trees, for example, provide an indisputable record of forest fire activity in Ontario. Small hemlock saplings, over 100 years old, have been growing at infinitesimal rates, waiting for a gap to open in the forest canopy.

Author Biography

Michael Henry studied botany in university and spent a decade doing scientific research in Ontario’s old-growth forests with the organization Ancient Forest Exploration & Research. He has visited more of Ontario’s old-growth forests than most people alive today, and has written reports, trail guides and magazine articles on the topic. He designed and constructed the Blueberry Lake Ecology Trails in Temagami, Ontario. While he is a passionate advocate for forests, he has also selectively logged trees from a woodlot in southern Quebec, and enjoys woodworking. For the past several years he has been building straw bale homes with Camel’s Back Construction based near his home in Peterborough, Ontario.

 

Dr. Peter Quinby is Chair of Ancient Forest Exploration & Research, a charitable NGO that he created in 1992 with a mandate to conduct research and educational activities focusing on the ecology and protection of natural forested landscapes in Ontario. His connection to Ontario’s old-growth forests began at the age of six months when his parents took him to their cottage in Algonquin Park for his first of many summers there. He has written numerous journal articles, technical reports, and educational pieces. He is most familiar with the forested landscapes of Algonquin and Temagami, located in central Ontario. He has held positions at a number of universities including the University of Pittsburgh and Wilfrid Laurier University. Currently, he is employed as a senior environmental scientist with Knight Piesold Ltd. in North Bay, Ontario, where he works primarily on environmental impact assessment projects in the Canadian arctic.

 

Contributors

Brian Back is a dirt-eating, leech-loving, wilderness canoeist. He is a Neanderthal from North Bay, in Northern Ontario, now living the life of a geek in Wisconsin, where he operates Ottertooth.com, and writes about the North—his credits include newspapers, magazines and two books. As a long-time Canadian environmentalist, in 1986 he co-founded the Temagami Wilderness Society, which became Canada’s largest single-issue environment group, and served as its executive director for six years. In 1991, he founded Earthroots, to tackle wilderness and forest issues, and worked with the Crees of northern Quebec in their successful opposition to the Great Whale River dam project. He has served on the board of environment groups on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border.

Patrick Henry is a photographer and Web master who studied environmental biology for his undergraduate degree. His sense of aesthetic combined with technical excellence and understanding of ecosystem functioning blend to create his fantastic photos, which appear in many places throughout this book.

Thomas Lee is an old hand in old-growth forests. He studied environmental science at Trent University, and worked with Ancient Forest Exploration & Research from 1993 through 2001 studying and mapping old-growth forests. Tom has since gone on to 3D modelling and Web site design work, including the Ontario Parks Campsite 24 educational Web site. Tom brought this expertise to bear on the maps featured in this book, and he is responsible for many of the design elements of these maps.

Dr. Steve Newmaster is a cryptogamic botanist specializing in bryophytes (mosses and hepatics) and author of more than 50 publications including the Flora Ontario, botanical field guides (e.g., Wetland plants of Ontario), book chapters, journal articles, and government reports on biodiversity, ecosystem management and conservation. He is currently working on the Flora of North America (FNA) Project, and he is a professor at the University of Guelph. His research program, the “Floristic Diversity Research Group” (FDRG) is situated within the Biodiversity Institute of the Ontario Herbarium. Currently the FDRG is conducting research in plant diversity, developing a molecular identification system for plants (DNA barcoding), discovering new plant species, studying the ethnobotany of the “Irulas” in Tamil Nadu, India, the “Tayal” people in Taiwan and exploring floristic diversity in the Andes to Amazon watershed of Peru.

Dr. James Schaefer is Associate Professor of Biology at Trent University. His research interests are centred on the demography and habitat selection of large mammals in northern environments. Much of his recent work, both theoretical and applied, has focussed on threatened populations of woodland caribou in the Boreal Forest. At Trent University, he teaches Introductory Ecology, as well as Mammalogy and Conservation Biology.

Mark Stabb is a biologist, writer and conservationist who currently works for the Nature Conservancy of Canada. Mark previously worked for ten years as a biologist and park planner with the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and also ran his own freelance consulting business focusing on ecological training and habitat conservation projects. Mark lives on the Oak Ridges Moraine in Uxbridge, Ontario with his wife Caroline and daughters Sophie and Anna.

Dr. Ian Thompson is a scientist with the Canadian federal government specialising in forest wildlife. He has written extensively on forest management and biodiversity issues and was a lead author of the forest work program for the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity.

Hap Wilson has been a wilderness adventurer and guide for over 30 years. A self-taught writer, artist, and photographer. He is also one of Canada’s best-known canoeists and the author of a number of books including, Canoeing, Kayaking and Hiking Temagami and Missinaibi: Journey to the Northern Sky; From Lake Superior to James Bay By Canoe. Wilson was the personal skills trainer for actor Pierce Brosnan in the Attenborough movie Grey Owl. Wilson received the prestigious “Bill Mason Award” for lifetime achievement in river conservation, June 2007, and just completed a 200 km. sustainable trail system for Canada’s first J.W. Marriott resort hotel, located in Muskoka, Ontario. He lives with his two children in the lake districts of Muskoka and Temagami, Ontario.