NOMA opposed to Endangered Species Act

The Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association is going to bat for the Ontario forest industry.


It's launched a letter writing campaign to exempt the industry from more red tape under the Endangered Species Act.

NOMA President Anne Krassilowsky says that forest companies are already required to file to identify threatened and endangered species when they prepare a Forest Management Plan.

NOMA has launched an email writing campaign to lobby the government on the issue.

Boreal Forest to be protected in the North

Canada's top pulp and paper companies and environmental groups who spent years fighting them have united in an unlikely alliance to protect 72 million hectares of threatened boreal forests in northern Ontario, Manitoba, Alberta, and British Columbia.

Forest Products Association of Canada president Avrim Lazar says Canada's troubled forest industry will adapt to a marketplace that is getting "more environmentally progressive."

Lazar said the former foes were able to trust each other after realizing the importance of compromise -- that loggers need trees to make a living, but that endangered caribou need a habitat to live.

NorWOSSA Soccer on tap today

One final tune-up for Beaver Brae's boys and girls soccer teams before the NorWOSSA finals next week.

The Broncos are hosting Dryden and Fort Frances in the final round-robin games before the finals next week.

Both Beaver Brae's boys and girls team are in second place in the
standings after the first two mini-tournaments.

The Broncos girls have seven points with two wins, a tie and a loss.

The Beaver Brae Boys have four points with one win, two losses and
a tie.

The Broncos take on Dryden this morning at 9:00 at the Tom Nabb Soccer
Complex.

In a Funk over Cigarette Butts

No butts about it.


There are too many discarded cigarettes littering Kenora streets.

That was the message by the Kenora Business Improvement Zone to city
council this week.

Kerick Funk is president of the BIZ and says something needs to be done
to address the unsightly litter.

Funk says he would also like the city to take action on the issue and come up with a plan to removing cigarette butts from local streets and sidewalks.

Committees on the Chopping Block

A number of committees in Kenora are going the way of the dodo bird.


City council has approved the elimination of a dozen standing committees.

Chief Administrative officer Bill Presentanz says they decided to cull committees that had become dormant or which have seen their duties transferred to other committees.

Some of the committees on the chopping block are the Kenora Health Providers,
the Kenora Port Authority, the Native Street Patrol Advisory committee and
the Sign Committee.

Forest Tenure meetings this week

The Ontario Government's forest tenure reform will be the main topic of discussion at a pair of meetings

this week.

The first public hearing will take place in Thunder Bay today before moving to Dryden tomorrow.

Harold Wilson is the chief operating officer of the Northwestern Ontario Associated Chambers of Commerce and says they're not sure what to make of the new initiative.

The Ontario Forest Industries Association has been very vocal against the plan and feels it will jeopardize the future of the industry.