Episode 150: How Ontario Manages Forests And Herbicide Use

A spray plane over a cutover can spark instant outrage, but the real story sits in the details: what’s being sprayed, why it’s used, what gets protected, and what trade-offs we’re actually making. We start with a listener-driven question on Chaga tea extraction temperature and how to navigate conflicting claims you’ll see online, including why some articles warn against heat while many studies extract at boiling.

Then I’m joined by Asad, a professional forester working in Ontario, for a grounded tour of modern sustainable forest management. We talk about how forest management plans get built, what silviculture really means, and why different regions use different harvesting systems, from clearcutting that imitates natural fire disturbance in the boreal to selection harvesting that mirrors small-gap wind and disease events in the Great Lakes St Lawrence forest.

From there, we take on glyphosate and herbicide spraying head-on: why foresters use it for vegetation management, what happens to plants like wild blueberries, how buffers and targeting reduce exposure, and what we still don’t know, including questions listeners raise about wildlife, fungal communities, and even ticks. We also compare Ontario’s approach with Quebec’s herbicide ban on public forests, and we close by clarifying a concept that helps cut through the noise: hazard versus risk, and why different agencies can sound like they’re contradicting each other.

If you care about forestry, conservation, climate change, hunting and foraging, or just want clearer thinking around glyphosate in Canadian forests, this one is for you. Subscribe, share it with a friend who loves the outdoors, and leave a review with the biggest question you still have after listening.