Member Profile
Art Shannon has 45+ years of experience in Ontario forestry in various roles. As a fifth generation horse logger, Art graduated from Sir Sanford Fleming College (1973) as a Forest Technician. Since the 1980s, Art has been an independent operator under his company’s’ name, Arbor North. His company was predominantly known and operated as a horse logging company, performing forest management work mainly on private woodlots and on crown as well. Using a hybridized horse logging system with the use of the horses in combination with a forwarder, and using his skills as a certified tree marker and a licensed log scaler, he has been committed to best management practices in woodlots throughout his career. Art has authored and instituted many forest management plans on private woodlots. Additionally, he has worked in Ontario Forestry in various capacities including permanent staff with the former OMNR (now MNRF), and with EB Eddy Forest Products. Throughout his busy career, Art took time out for pressing forest management issues. One area of concern for him was that the rights and interests of the independent operator be upheld. He championed the independent operators and for a total of eight years, he held the position of Independent Operator Director on Westwind Forest Stewardship Inc.. Art also was concerned about the lack of public awareness of good management in private woodlots. In the late 1990s and until the mid-2000s, Art sat as an Executive Committee Board Member of the Ontario Woodlot Association for ten years. Over the many years in his career, he has attended and presented at many conferences, workshops, and events, bringing the message to the public of the importance of good forest management. With the recent sale of his organic farm and as he heads into retirement, he wishes to utilize his years of varied experiences and deep knowledge of forestry in Ontario to continue to contribute to promoting good forest management and public awareness of the importance of a healthy forest.
