An Evaluation of Crown Forest Management in Ontario from a Free Market Environmentalist Approach

Abstract

This paper analyzes the forestry and logging industry in Crown forests in Ontario. We present historical trends on harvested areas, employment, revenue collected by the province, biophysical impacts, and revenue from the industry. We discuss the institutional context of Crown forest management in Ontario which includes a description of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF) and NGOs such as the Sustainable Forestry Initiative and the Forest Stewardship Council. We conclude that the current management of Crown forests in Ontario is not achieving maximum potential, as we found that there is a decline in employment and revenue from the industry. We recommend a Free Market Environmentalist (FME) approach to Crown forest management in Ontario. This approach involves common property management and the establishment of Forest Trusts. Current management does not take into account externalities that FME would, which could enhance potential in order to achieve maximum employment and revenue. There is a lack of biophysical data being collected to document the impact on key wildlife species and there is a lack of transparency regarding the management of crown forests by the MNRF. The Haliburton forest was used as case study which emulates an example of a FME approach.