Experts, wood exporters try to tally trees lost during Ontario ice storm

For those living in the community of Peterborough, Ont., the deafening sound of chainsaws seems to billow from every corner.

“If you drive around the city, it’s carnage. There’s debris down everywhere,” said Evan Noland.

The arborist, and owner of New Growth Tree Care, hasn’t had a chance to breathe since March 28 — the day a devastating ice storm came crashing through the province, and lasted more than two days.

Weighed down by almost 20 mm of ice buildup, trees and power lines started tumbling at alarming rates in northern, southern, and eastern parts of Ontario — wreaking havoc on property and wildlife, and plunging hundreds of thousands in the dark.

As of early Friday evening, close to 121,000 Hydro One customers were still without power.

“This is probably the worst (damage) I’ve seen,” said Noland, whose been in the tree business for almost a decade.

“The 2022 derecho — that was a pretty bad storm. But honestly, it doesn’t even compare to what I see now. There’s people that have come up from as far as Timiskaming — that’s five hours away — to respond and help.”

With tree limbs strewn around hundreds of sidewalks in the city, the number of trees lost may seem immense.

But experts say quantifying the disaster doesn’t come that easy.

“Working with municipalities, private land owners, the provincial government to really understand the full extent — I would say it could take a couple of years,” Jessica Kaknevicius, CEO of Forests Canada, told Global News.

“I think what (crews) are really focused on right now is safety. Trees and forest that do not pose an immediate danger will likely be left until the summer for people to reassess the full damage.”

Still, Kaknevicius says this ice storm is one of the most powerful she’s seen in recent years — after that of 1998.

“I would say, in Southern Ontario, we really can’t afford to lose more forest cover here. We should really be looking at new and innovative ways to keep what we have, and restore what was lost,” she said.

Such losses could have serious consequences in urban areas, said Kaknevicius.

Tree canopies help block a lot of rainfall from reaching the ground. For communities with less trees, the risk of flooding increases.

With the absence of trees’ shade, temperatures may also increase in surrounding areas, and snow may melt at a higher speed, saturating the ground.

Among thousands rushing to calculate their potential losses, business owners like Shannon Porter have had their long-term business deals uprooted.

“It’s extremely dangerous to access woodlots right now. There’s a lot of branches and limbs hanging up in the trees,” said Porter, owner of Porter Lumber in Port Dover, Ont.

Porter says peak season for harvesting lumber is during the winter. But now, thousands of trees that were meant to be harvested late this year have come crashing down way too early.

Worried the wood might decay if they wait too long, suppliers may be forced to sell the brush within the next few weeks, which will reduce its price point significantly.

Further to that, trees that have damaged branches but are still standing upright will now have their lifespan cut down to about a year, before the quality of the wood declines, said Porter.

“This is probably one of the worst times to be harvesting those trees,” he said.

Porter’s logging business serves international clients, including those in Michigan and Pennsylvania.

He says he was already concerned about the possibility of the United States imposing tariffs on Canadian lumber.

Now, this potential drop in the value of his product is adding more uncertainty to his finances.

“The way it looks right now, looking at our industry,  if (the United States) were to tariff our stuff, it would shut everybody down,” he said.

In a statement Friday, Natural Resources Canada told Global News that it does not track national numbers on destroyed forest cover following inclement weather events.

“Abiotic damage, such as ice storms, are mapped by some provinces, but not by others,” the statement reads.

However, researchers have been able to estimate damage done by other disasters in recent years, like the 2023 wildfires in British Columbia.

18 million hectares of trees were lost, according to Forests Canada, which could equate to upwards of 30 billion trees.

While these numbers may sound devastating, Kaknevicius says the state of Canada’s canopy doesn’t look bleak.

“Trees are really resilient and can rebound. I don’t think the situation is dire, but I do think we really need to be mindful with what we’re doing with our forests and landscapes, and working together with Indigenous communities to improve long-term forest health,” she said.

Both Kaknevicius and Porter say only time will tell how Ontario’s green infrastructure will fare in the next few months.

But as the cleanup continues in many communities, and the risk of more inclement weather remains on the horizon, Noland says property owners should not take matters into their own hands.

“Call a professional to assess the situation. It’s not worth risking your life if you don’t know what you’re doing, ” he said.