Thirty-three acres of trees were cut down in Lambton County in 2022.
That from a report by Tim Payne, the county’s Woodlands Conservation Officer to Lambton County councillors.

Payne produces a yearly report on tree cutting in the county outlining how many landowners applied for permits and exemptions and laying out how many acres of woodland were actually affected.

The report shows in 2022 the county gave 21 exemptions to cut trees and in all 33 acres of trees were removed under those permits.

The county also gave permits for 50 sustainable harvests across the county in about 1,030 acres.

Dawn-Euphemia had the most applications for tree cutting – 28 or 30 per cent of all requests in the county. Seventeen woodlot owners looked for permits to cut trees according to their circumference. There were three permits for tree cutting because of pipelines.

Enniskillen was next with 18 applications or about 21 per cent of all applications.

Enniskillen was one of two communities where there were investigations into tree cutting after complaints. St Clair was the other. There were no charges laid.

Payne says 2022 year saw a decrease in total approvals, down 27 per cent from 2021.

Exemption approvals were also down 36 per cent. Contributing factors to the decrease, Payne said, would be the continued outreach and education of landowners.