Just A Short Intro

[Karen Wianecki <karen.wianecki@sympatico.ca>]

I am an environmental mediator, facilitator and adjudicator in Ontario.  I split my time between the Ministry of Natural Resources (Provincial Ontario Government) and a private practice devoted to dispute resolution and planning (resource management and municipal planning).  I have had the pleasure of working with Ontario's forest industry and resource-based tourism sector for the past four years - in Ontario, public involvement in forest management planning is prescribed by the Crown Forest Sustainability Act and the preparation of a forest management plan takes upwards of 27 months to complete.  I am particularly interested in this forum as I feel it holds real promise for a new way of doing business.  I have just completed the development of a public/private partnership approach to managing land use conflicts that arise in forest management planning and establishing one of the first rosters of dispute resolution professionals who are experienced in environmental issues management.  We have a small roster of 23 mediators and 10 arbitrators to handle disputes that arise across Ontario - it is a unique approach and one that has involved the stakeholders extensively.  I look forward, with interest, to following the discussion over the next ten days.