The Ministry of Natural Resources is a government agency of the Canadian province of Ontario that is responsible for managing and protecting its natural resources. Its offices are divided into Northwestern, Northeastern and Southern Ontario districts, headquartered in Thunder Bay, Timmins and Peterborough, respectively.

The current Minister of Natural Resources is Donna Cansfield.

Responsibilities:

MNR is responsible for managing the natural resources of Ontario: animals, plants, aquatic species, etc. A few examples of MNR's responsibilities include: running and maintaining provincial parks, issuing hunting and fishing licenses, enforcing hunting and fishing rules, forest fire management/suppression, and monitoring of endangered species. It also maintains databases (eg: Area of Natural and Scientific Interest) and spatial information as management and planning tools.

Forest Firefighting

The MNR has equipment to deal with forest fires in Ontario. From time to time the MNR lends out their aircraft to other jurisdictions dealing with forest fires.

Current

• 9 Bombardier Canadair CL-415 - firefighting
• 4 Bell 206 L-1 Long Ranger II
• 4 Eurocopter 350-B2s
• de Havilland Twin Otters - firefighting
• 2 Beachcraft King Air 350

Retired

• 14 HS-2L Flying Boats
• de Havilland Moth
• Vickers Vedette
• 4 Hamilton mono seaplanes
• 4 Fairchild 71 cabin monoplanes
• Fairchild KR-34
• 4 Buhl CA-6 Air Sedans
• Stinson Reliant
• Beechcraft Dove
• CS2F-1 Grumman Tracker - firefighting
• 9 Bombardier Canadair CL-215 - firefighting
• 1 BK-117 twin engine helicopter
• 4 de Havilland Turbo Beavers - firefighting

Organization:

MNR is organized into divisions; within each division are sections, branches, and units. As of Apr 2006, the organization is::

• Field Services Division
• Aboriginal Affairs Unit
• Aviation and Forest Fire Management Unit
• Enforcement Unit
• Forests Division
• Forest Management Branch
• Industry Relations Branch
• Natural Resources Management
• Fish and Wildlife Branch
• Lands and Waters Branch
• Ontario Parks
• Science and Information Resources Division
• Applied Research and Development Branch
• Geographic Information Branch
• Science and Information Branch]
• Corporate Management Division
• Finance and Business Services Branch
• Human Resources Branch
• Policy and Planning Coordination Branch

OMNR Image Gallery

External links

• Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources website