Ontario Report
by William F. Murphy, RPF General Manager

Winter is slowly settling in with small amounts of snow accumulating in the northwest region of Ontario. It will be a while before Ontario succumbs to its onslaught. This is something that occurs every year and changes very little. 
The nursery growers are busy lifting and storing their seedlings in cold storage for the next spring plant. This is also something that is done each year but is steadily changing in its pattern. There are fewer trees to lift every year resulting in less trees being planted the following spring. Where is this leading? Companies are slowly shutting down or modifying their operations to make marginal profits or just break even. For the past 10-15 years, there has been a working relationship between forest companies and the growers and silviculture contractors. This is coming to an end. It is every man (company) for himself. 

We are back to the bidding systems for most companies, not that bidding is a bad thing. Regeneration dollars are already put into the renewal trust system up to 2 years in advance of the regeneration practices. Can we provide the same level of service to the forest through the bidding system, or does it have the potential to compromise the seedling quality and planting by placing the onus on the suppliers to provide the same or better stock and handling practice while being the lowest bidder? 

We talk of genetic gains and volume increases, yet we are compromising regeneration efforts that are modelled for a particular forest for the sake of the dividend. Why can’t we see past the dividends that need to be paid before the forest is regenerated? Some companies have been very loyal to their growers, their silviculture contractors, and suppliers, but that loyalty is dwindling. We see very few long-term contracts, but would these not provide reduction in prices over the long term? Natural regeneration definitely reduces costs in the short term; however, over the long term is it truly a cost saver?