Syrup producers, woodlot owners decry lack of help after derecho

A handful of woodlot owners and maple syrup producers east of Ottawa say they've been left in a sticky spot without much government help after May'spowerful derechohit their trees especially hard.

Jules Rochon, a retired public servant and president of the eastern branch of theOntarioMaple Syrup Producers Association,operates a small-scale, 2,500-tap maple bush with his wife in Larose Forest, southeast of Hammond in Clarence-Rockland, Ont.

He said his familylost almost one-third of their trees during the windstormand since many were strong producers of sap, they'reworried theycould lose up to 40 per cent of the yield this coming spring.

So far, he's cut and piled 350 cords of wood from the fallen trees.

"Every one of those logs were giving me a litre of syrup every year. That's for the next 35 years that I will not have that revenue," Rochontold CBC Radio's Ottawa Morning last week.

Rochon saidhe feelsthe province has not been fair to the woodlot owners hit hard by the derecho.

Assessment teamsfrom the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing ruled that eastern Ontario did not qualify for disaster recovery assistance. In the province, only Uxbridgenear Toronto was deemed eligible.

After the floods in2017 and 2019the provincehelped some people who didn't have insurance, Rochonsaid. Afterthe ice storm in 1998, assistance programs were established inweeks.

"It's a small business, it's an essential service. We are providing food, why can we not be covered like theyare?" he said.

"It makes me feel like, OK, we're left alone here. I think Prescott-Russell is the black sheep of Ontario. No funds for us here."

Years to finish cleanup

Rochon and his partner havebeen leaning on family and friends to help clean up all the felled trees andsap tubing. He said if he'dbeen able tohire people, the work wouldbe done by now, and would like financial help to do that.

At the rate he's going, he saidit willtake many years to finish.

JeanSaint-Pierre isvice-president of Boiss Est, a French association of private woodlot owners in eastern Ontario.

He said about 400hectares of woodlotswere severely damagedin the derechoaround Alfred and Plantagenet, Ont., east of Ottawa.

"We feel that people are not listening. They don't seem to want to understand the impact of that derecho to hundreds of people and it is very unfortunate because we all need to help each other whenever there is a natural disaster that occurs," Saint-Pierre said.

The woodlots may be privately owned, he said, but they provide benefits for everyone by sequestering carbon, sustaining biodiversity, stabilizing the water table and more.

Forest cover in the region was already low at about 20 per cent, he said. Some woodlot owners have the means, equipmentand knowledge to fix up and reforest, but others don't, he added.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairssaidin a statement that farmerscan access business risk management programs through an agency called Agricorp.

Rochon said while syrup producers are mentioned by name in those risk management programs, the actual criteria for them to apply has notyet been developed.

He also saidproducers haveto be paying into the program beforean extreme weather event occurs to be eligible for assistance and thatisn't financially feasible for most smaller producers.

Glengarry-Prescott-Russell MPP Stphane Sarrazin did not respond to a request for comment.