The oldest game legislation in Ontario is that which provides for a wolf bounty. In 1793 the Parliament of Upper Canada passed an Act to encourage the destruction of bears and wolves in different parts of the Province. It was not until 1946 that the Game and Fisheries Department was merged with the Department of Lands and Forests. The amalgamation established for the first time, a unified responsibility for the administration and control of all living natural resources on Crown Lands, thus making it possible to plan their orderly development and effective future management in the interest of the community. Early legislation was directed largely at protecting game through controlling hunting by species, seasons and limits. In 1959 the Ontario Legislature passed the Wilderness Area Act which controlled public entry to the wilderness areas. In 1971 the Endangered Species Act was passed. The Act provides that regulations can be made declaring any species of fauna or flora threatened with extinction, an endangered species. It states that no person shall willfully kill, injure, interfere with or take or attempt to kill, injure, interfere with, or take any species of fauna or flora; or destroy or interfere with or attempt to destroy or interfere with the habitat of any species of fauna or flora declared in the regulations to be threatened with extinction. The introduction of the Crown Forest Sustainability Act in 1994, provides the first real opportunity to accomplish not only the management of wildlife, but the management of entire ecosystems on a longterm sustainable basis. Previous to this, legislation was lacking to enable successful and widespread management of wildlife species, and most legislation was directed towards game species or migratory birds.
CHAPTER 2 QUESTIONNAIRE Review of Forestry Legislation Policy and Management Guidelines An important part of this study was conducting a detailed questionnaire and interviews with 20 Forest Resource Managers, located throughout the Eastern Ontario Model Forest area. The main objective of the questionnaire and interviews was to obtain information to determine the extent to which legislation, policy, and management guidelines influence the management of forests on the ground and to document constraints to Sustainable Forest Resource Management, including gaps in information and the formatting of information. The average number of years experience in Forest Management work of those completing the questionnaire was 16.75 years. A breakdown by employer for those completing the questionnaire was as follows: Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources
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