Cut and Run: Kimberly-Clark's legacy of environmental devastation and social conflict in the Kenogami Forest

Based on government documents, independent audits, satellite mapping, and public records, this case study looks at the past, present, and future of the Kenogami Forest, a 2,000,000 hectare (4,940,000 acre) expanse in northern Ontario. Kenogami is a forest that Kimberly-Clark directly managed for decades, and a forest that remains one of its primary sources of tree pulp today.

Years of excessive clearcut logging, bad planning, failed regeneration, weak compliance with regulations, and lack of meaningful consultation with First Nations and workers have taken a serious toll on the Kenogami Forest. Since Kimberly-Clark started logging there in 1937, intact and oldgrowth forests have been lost, threatened species have disappeared, and local communities have become embroiled in conflict with industry, frustrated after years of being shut out of the planning, management, and economic benefits of the logging happening on their land.

If current plans are followed through, this situation will only get worse: clearcuts will degrade what remains of the forest’s intact areas, logging will target what remains of its old-growth, and the threatened woodland caribou will die-off in the area, unable to survive in Kenogami’s fragmented landscape.

The case of the Kenogami Forest sheds light on the stark contrast between Kimberly-Clark’s claims to sustainability and the reality of its operations on the ground. It shows that Kimberly-Clark has violated its long-held policy commitment not to use “environmentally significant” old-growth fibre in any of its consumer products. It shows that the company’s executives have made repeated, misleading statements by claiming, for example, that the Boreal Forest fibre used in Kimberly-Clark’s products comes primarily from “waste.” And it shows that the company’s current fibre procurement policy permits the purchase of fibre from intact and old-growth forests, including threatened species habitat and areas logged without the prior and informed consent of the Aboriginal communities whose territories are affected.

Because Kimberly-Clark continues to purchase the majority of the pulp produced at the Terrace Bay pulp mill—the mill that acts as the primary driver of logging in the Kenogami Forest—the company retains significant influence over the forest’s management. By increasing the amount of recycled content across its full line of products, the company could reduce the pressure on forests like Kenogami. And by adopting a policy that prohibits the use of fibre from endangered forests; that makes meaningful commitments to fibre certified by the Forest Stewardship Council; and that prohibits the use of fibre from areas logged without the prior and informed consent of local First Nations, it could ensure that the forestry operations it sourced from were truly sustainable ones.