We are now faced with a new battle in saving the Rice Lake Road Corridor Forest also known as 'Clergue 190' currently being offered as salvage forest to Abitibi River Forest Management Inc. due to the ice storm damage of the 2022 ice storm.

**We ask that the MNRF amend the Forest Management Plan and abandon the harvest of Rice Lake Road Corridor Forest also known as 'Clergue 190'. ** (2024)

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WE NEED YOUR HELP. The more people who sign this petition, the more voices are counted and heard and the more our plea matters. SAVE RICE LAKE FOREST AND SAVE ALL FORESTS COMMUNITIES LIVE IN !!

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WE ARE A FOREST COMMUNITY.

The Save Rice Lake Forest movement was birthed from a passionate lake community determined to preserve the forests surrounding their homes.

Our flagship activism began with the beloved ‘Dundonald 120' as we tried our best to save it from being clear cut harvested.

Sadly, we lost this battle Thanksgiving Weekend 2020. While in our homes with our families, we could hear the bulldozers and harvsters cutting our beloved Century old forest block. 

It still gives me chills to think of that time. They were there for about two weeks just cutting down and destroying all the beautiful moss covered ground and trails we had walked on for decades.

 

RICE LAKE FOREST IS PRECIOUS.

Rice Lake Forest is a boreal mixed forest with the highly valuable 100year old Jackpine sought after to feed the American owned sawmill companies. Growing for the last century alongside birch, balsam and shrubs of all kinds, blueberries, wintergreen mint, wildlife including active raven/crow small stick nests, and many small wildlife and plant life Medicinals, flora and fauna, this forest is TREASURED by the local community of full-time residents & cottagers. It is a small forest, with two bodies of water, one smaller lake, and one wet land that has wild orchids and northern pitcher plants, turtles, among a well of other small species and plant life essential to forest regeneration and acts as a carbon sink for the environment. Furthermore, this beautiful century old forest is poised on a hill, and our homes and cottages as well as our wells and septic systems are downhill and therefore, our water supplies and our lake are threatened by the wrath of the environmental destruction and risk to our health and wellbeing clearcutting this forest would create, and could no longer protect us.

An emblem of lifestyle culture now present for over 4 generations, Rice Lake Forest has significant local and historical value, as a local lake that has given joy to so many residents, cottagers, campers, blueberry pickers, and visitors. We have been enjoying its beauty and embrace for a century, and we want our children, our grandchildren, our future generations to know and love and care for what we hold dear. We want them to also know the unique wonder of growing up in a forest, of coming to the lake in the forest, of walking our forest trails with us, and with their children in turn.

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Please SIGN THIS PETITION BECAUSE WE NEED YOUR HELP. The more people who sign, the more voices are counted and heard and the more our plea matters. SAVE RICE LAKE FOREST AND SAVE ALL FORESTS COMMUNITIES LIVE AND PLAY IN !!

Thank you for taking the time to read. Thank you for helping us save and protect the forests that surround us all. Peace

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WE ARE DETERMINED TO SAVE RICE LAKE FOREST for the following reasons, causes and concerns, and more : 

-       rails, backyard, our forest, historical significance, cultural significance;

-       water protection: our wells, our water table, prevention of soil erosion, spring flooding, pollution of our lake and drinking water; 

-       our wellbeing, personal health and lifestyle; 

-       our carbon sink residing in our living forest and bog; 

-       sound barrier protecting our property values surrounded by the Rice Lake forest, wind barrier, snow fence, 

-       community space, green space; safe trails for walking, for children, the elderly and for our pets; 

-       area of concerns -- one being the annual active crow’s nests, and bigger wild species that roam and live there too.

Our plants, our animals, bog intact, wild species, and many more species that provide medicinal benefits or are endangered, our forested drive home, to the lake, to the cottage. Connection to the waterways that our lake is connected to, that the forest is connected to, that surrounds and envelops us and more.... please add yours!!

Local snowmobile and side-by-side enthusiasts of the outdoors, trails, and ‘pleine aire’ rides, who ride in teams and groups and associations that maintain the trails and the Northern Life culture.

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WE NEED YOUR HELP. The more people who sign this petition, the more voices are counted and heard and the more our plea matters. 

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We see a future and a breadth of opportunities to keep this forest LIVING: 

-       as a Park, opportunities for education of the diversity of Canada's Boreal Forest, and education of WILD SPECIES, NATURE, the sharing of habitation and co-existing, as well as the therapeutic uses of the forest and the positive impacts on physical, mental and spiritual health.

-       Sharing of Forest Industry practices, why forestry is important in Canada, what community forests are and how they work

-       Education of wild species, biodiversity, environment and our place in it, how we are part of the ecosystem

-       Local tourist destination, bringing in tours and guides, walking and peaceful immersion in nature

-       Cottage industries based around forest products and foraging that benefit small business growth and entrepreneurship and a connection to our very own nature

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HELP PRESERVE THE BEAUTY OF RICE LAKE FOREST FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS. SIGN OUR PETITION NOW! 

The more people who sign this petition, the more voices are counted and heard and the more our plea matters. SAVE RICE LAKE FOREST AND SAVE ALL FORESTS COMMUNITIES LIVE AND PLAY IN !!

Thank you for taking the time to read. Thank you for helping us save and protect the forests that surround us all. Peace

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And, if you want to do more, let the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forests know what your forests mean to you. We URGE YOU to please email Al Winters, Manager, Land Use Planning and Strategic Issues Section, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry at: al.winters@ontario.ca

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SAVE RICE LAKE FOREST. PROTECT RICE LAKE FOREST!