Those who have visited my farm and observed the results of my efforts may be interested in the effect that I believe the new draft tree-cutting bylaw will have on my managed forest and others throughout Dufferin County. Fully 97% of Dufferin County’s extensive forests are owned by landowners outside the towns; three per cent are county forests, owned by the public and regularly harvested by the county forester for county profit.

Nearly all tree destruction in the county has occurred in the town of Orangeville, for such activities as re-paving a street, creating a concrete skateboard park and removing impediments to residential developments.

The Province controls gravel pits exclusively and will not deprive Highland Group of a highly profitable enterprise because of a county bylaw. Also, someone with more money than brains recently drove a snowmobile through some of my newly planted tree seedlings; it could not have been a farmer.

The county administrative officer, Linda Dean, is determined to “preserve the forest cover of the county,” and the county lawyers – Cassells Brock & Blackwell in Toronto – amended the latest draft to provide “the county with greater ability to control the destruction of Woodlands or Woodlots.” But they failed.

It is not landowners who are destroying trees. It is developers, foreign corporations and towns. But no Dufferin County town has passed a tree-cutting bylaw to curtail tree destruction within their borders.

Landowners have maintained their trees for well over 150 years. No tree-cutting bylaw is going to enhance their love of trees, but it will discourage any further labour and expense to nurture those trees. An open letter to Will the county now order farmers to cultivate trees, and jail those who do not?

A study by the University of Guelph concluded that farmers can derive more income per acre from tree harvests than from other crops; so economics suggest that farmers who plant trees and harvest them in a sustainable manner – i.e., not more than about 1% per year – can become more successful. Selfinterest, not a bylaw, will encourage tree growth in Dufferin County.

The tree-cutting bylaw should be deleted. Tell your councillor.

Charles Hooker RR # 2 Orangeville