Temagami Old Growth: Pine, Politics and Public Policy‪.‬

Introduction and Background The renowned pinelands and waterways of northeastern Ontario's Temagami country (Figure 1) have been the setting for recurring conflicts about resource management for much of the past century (Hodgins and Benidickson 1989). Historically, local interests including the native community, the mineral and forest resource industries, and members of a large but diverse recreational constituency have clashed over such matters as the regulation of water levels, the location of forest access roads and timber cutting practices, mineral development, and shoreline or skyline protection. Local officials of the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) and its predecessors asserted ultimate authority over an area that, for much of the century, was designated as a forest reserve or provincial forest.