January 31, 2009
Telegraph-JournalPremier unveils new plan for province's forests
Benjamin Shingler
FREDERICTON - Bowing to industry demands, Premier Shawn Graham's new plan for Crown forests expands the area available for plantations and slashes the proportion under conservation.
The Liberal leader says the new 100-year plan, to be implemented in 2012, is designed to balance economic and ecological priorities, but conservationists are calling it a missed opportunity to protect the environment.
Graham defended the plan, arguing that despite forestry's struggles, the industry continues to be a crucial part of the province's economy and must be supported.
"I believe that it's a balanced approach, that will assure a bright future for our forest industry and for the protection of our natural spaces," he said at a news conference at Fredericton's Delta Hotel, where he stressed the industry's importance to the province.
"We're working to diversify the economic base, but I can tell you forestry is one of the economic pillars. It has a traditional role to play and we're going to continue to invest in that."
The plan draws on a comprehensive report presented to the province last fall. The plan offered government suggestions on how to manage New Brunswick's three million hectares of Crown forest - an area that makes up slightly more than half of all the forest in the province.
David Coon, executive director of the Conservation Council, said the premier could have opted for a more environmentally friendly approach.
"He's chosen exploitation over conservation," Coon said following the announcement.
Under the plan, the area denoted as conservation forest will drop from 30 per cent to between 23 and 25 per cent. In conservation forests, clear-cutting is prohibited but some selective wood harvesting is permitted. By year 50 of the plan, 28 per cent of Crown land will be available for plantations.
The changes are projected to yield a 75-per-cent increase in all Crown wood supply in 50 years. Under the old model, government project about a 60-per-cent increase in softwood lumber by that time.
But Coon said aiming for an increase in wood supply doesn't make sense in the current market.
"We've got a lot of mills that are shut down, the demand for wood should be less," Coon said. "We should be taking that opportunity to slow down and follow a new course."
For forestry to be ecologically sustainable, Coon said, plantations should not exceed more than 15 per cent of the forest area, and the area of old forest should not fall below 40 per cent to avoid local extinctions - a number well below the government strategy to increase the plantation area to 28 per cent and slash old forest area to 31 per cent.
Mark Arsenault, president and CEO of the New Brunswick Forest Products Association, greeted the new plan favourably, but said it would present challenges to the industry in the short-term.
"We're looking at some reductions in wood and increasing costs. There will be less clear cutting so that means higher costs," he said.
"In these times, it's very challenging to try to make up that difference. But we will."
The premier also announced $5 million in additional funding in 2009-2010 for both softwood and hardwood silviculture on Crown lands. But following budget cuts last year, the total for next year will be nudged only slightly above this year's $20-million budget.
Graham called on the federal government to help boost that figure.
"The provincial government is doing its part," he said. "We need a response in a timely fashion from the federal government to know if they're willing to partner with us in silviculture activities in New Brunswick forests."
