February 6th, 2009
Telegraph-JournalNew forestry plan will hurt woodlot owners, group says
Benjamin Shingler
FREDERICTON - The Liberal government's new plan for Crown lands will hurt struggling woodlot owners, says a representative of the group.
Ken Hardie, manager for New Brunswick Federation of Woodlot Owners, says the government should work more closely with private woodlot owners to meet additional demand, rather than making more Crown timber available for cutting.
The new forest management strategy will gradually make more wood on Crown land available for cutting over a 100-year period, and put less under conservation.
Hardie says the influx of additional wood will make it even more difficult for private woodlot owners to sell their lumber.
"Because Crown land wood is our biggest competitor and there is more of it available, what will happen to us?" said Hardie, who has owned a woodlot near Sussex for 27 years.
Natural Resources Minister Wally Stiles has vowed to work with private woodlot owners, particularly to meet a projected shortage in hardwood lumber.
Marc Arsenault, president of the New Brunswick Forest Products Association, agreed with Stiles, saying woodlot owners have an important part to play.
"The private woodlot owners will play an incredibly vital role," he said.
But Hardie said he's skeptical that will happen.
"Taken at face value, that's a very positive statement, because we have wood that's available," he said.
"But we have not seen very strong evidence that some in the industry really wants to be a partner with us."
In recent years, the province's 40,000 private woodlot owners have suffered from a sharp drop in demand with mills shutting down across the province.
Three or four years ago, sales from private woodlots exceeded $100 million. That number has dropped to $50 million.
The forestry industry traditionally gets about 30 per cent of its softwood lumber from private woodlots, but Arsenault said that number has dropped substantially recently.
"The value of wood is so low that it makes it difficult for a private woodlot owner to want to sell at that price," he said.
Arsenault said a steady flow of low-price Crown wood will help keep industry afloat during lean years, so that "when times turn around the private woodlot owners will have a place to sell their wood."
Jim Irving, president of J.D. Irving, Limited, the province's largest forestry company, said both industry and government need to work with woodlot owners to make sure they are successful.
"Woodlot owners are an essential part of the wood supply basket," he said.
"Now they're going through a difficult time just like everybody in the forest products industry. One of the things is the government has to make sure that they help them transition into a more a efficient model so they can be successful because it is difficult on them."
Hardie said the government needs to reverse last year's cuts to silviculture on private woodlots.
"We believe that if there was more money invested in silviculture right away, that would impact the economy," he said.
"There's a lot of talk about shovel-ready (projects), we talk about saw-ready."
But there is no sign that will happen anytime soon.
The premier has announced an additional $5 million in 2009-2010 for both softwood and hardwood silviculture on Crown lands. But provincial funding for silviculture on private woodlots was cut by $4 million in the last budget, down to $6 million.
Tory MLA Bruce Northrup, the Critic for Natural Resources, said more money should be put towards supporting silviculture on private woodlots, and that private woodlot owners should be taken into account as the government plans its forestry strategy.
"I don't they've really been invited to the table," said the MLA for Kings East.
"I really think the government missed the boat on this."
