Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I thank the Member for his comments in regards to the morel mushroom situation. Our plan A is to come forward in time for passage in the May/June session with a very small amendment to the existing Forestry Act that will
give us authority to manage the morel mushroom situation. At the same time, over the longer term, the plan is to come forward and bring renewal or redoing of the Forestry Act to bring it into the 21st century. That will be a longer term project that will take place in the life of the 18th Assembly.
Plan B is if we can’t get that small, modest amendment through in time, then we will look at a policy solution, working with other departments like ITI, in terms of managing the morel season for this coming year.
In regards to the Forest Management Agreement, they are up and running. We have put in hundreds of thousands of dollars to support both Fort Providence and Fort Resolution. We know that there are other interests now from other communities, Jean Marie River and Kakisa specifically as they see the evolution of the project with Aurora Wood Pellets take shape and see the potential opportunities and benefits there. We are collectively more experienced in how to manage these and how to negotiate those agreements, so we are, of course, willing and we will be talking to these other communities.
In regard to the transboundary water agreements, we have final documents, for the most part, with Alberta, and hopefully by the end of this week we’ll have concluded our final discussions with BC on the final wording to the various appendices and the intent document itself which is going to be a major achievement on behalf of this Assembly, a process that started back in 1997. We are also quite confident, having initiated these discussions with Saskatchewan, that before the end of the Assembly, as well, hopefully even before the May/June session we will have concluded an agreement with Saskatchewan. There is work underway at revitalizing and modernizing the Yukon agreement, which is currently the only one in existence under the Mackenzie River Basin Transboundary Agreement.
We share the Member’s concern and interest under the Land Use Sustainability Framework and the Dehcho Land Use Plan as a government working with the Dehcho to hopefully conclude the outstanding issues that are there. We have now concluded land use plans in the Gwich’in, the Sahtu and the Tlicho, and there has been, as the Member has pointed out, years of work, and we think we can get there if we continue to apply ourselves.
The fire season, as the deputy mentioned, we’ve been doing a major review in anticipation of the upcoming fire season. There were some issues with the fires, as the Member pointed out, between here and Providence. There was inconvenience of some road closures, but those were considered essential just for vehicle safety and to avoid any accidents and fire that could take an unpredictable
turn if there were people on the road and things didn’t quite work out according to plan.
As we move forward this year, as the deputy once again has already pointed out, we’re going to be making sure we have our troops mobilized and that we’re on this situation very early, based on last year’s experience. There are going to be assessments done of the snow load and moisture content and those types of things. We are in year four of a major drought. We don’t think the snow pack this year is going to be sufficient enough to really put a dent into the drought conditions that were in existence when winter set in, plus there were modest fall rains, so a lot will depend on what the spring brings us. I will maybe ask the deputy just to quickly touch on some of the work that’s been done and the amount of reviewing and consulting as a result of the last fire season in anticipation for the upcoming fire season.