• Crown Lands – The Undercover Story

    There is a series of short videos currently under production that explores the under belly of what is happening on Crown lands in NB. Wondering about the pre-Christmas news item about clearcutting all around the scout camp in the north of the province? And the protected area proposed for the Irving family fishing camp? Charles Thériault, the producer of the video series, doesn’t pull any punches. His interviews also include viewpoints from academic experts and ideas on how to do things differently. There is also a petition calling for a revamped Crown Lands and Forests Act. The series is called “Is Our Forest Really Ours?” Check it out
  • Crown lands overcut - Wood quotas must be reduced

    CCNB Action - Jim Irving, President of J.D. Irving Ltd., has been travelling the province seeking support from business audiences for keeping the wood allocations to mills at 2007 levels.  The problem, according to CCNB Action’s Executive Director David Coon, is the forest on Crown land has been overcut and can no longer sustain such high quotas.


    “The amount of wood cut from Crown land in 2006-2007 was double what was cut in 1966-1967.  We have seen the amount of wood cut from Crown lands on a five-year average increase by roughly 80%  over the past 40 years from 2.7 million cubic metres per year in the late 1960’s to almost 5 million cubic metres in the past decade ,” said Coon.    “The bottom line is we have overcut the public forest so wood quotas have got to be reduced in 2012,” he said.  “The good news is private woodlot owners across this province have plenty of wood to sell that can make up the difference and create work at the same time,” said Coon.

    Half of New Brunswick’s forest is found on Crown land, while 30% of the forest is owned by private woodlot owners.

    Five Year Average    //    Volume of Wood Cut from Crown Land (millions of cubic metres)*
    1967-1972                      2.7 million cubic metres
    1972-1977                      3.7 million cubic metres
    1977-1982                      3.1 million cubic metres
    1982-1987                      3.5 million cubic metres
    1987-1992                      4.4 million cubic metres
    1992-1997                      4.4 million cubic metres
    1997-2002                      4.9 million cubic metres
    2002-2007                      8.0 million cubic metres

    *Data from DNR’s Timber Utilization Survey

    -30-

    Contact:  David Coon, 458-8747

  • Forest bill threatens forest and obligates us to pay companies: CCNB

    The Conservation Council of New Brunswick is raising concerns with Bill 44, An Act to Amend the Crown Lands and Forest Act. The bill, which got Royal Assent today, June 10, amends the Act so that the government "shall compensate the licensee for other expenses of forest management in accordance with the regulations (Paragraph 38.2.b). The Act currently states that it "may reimburse the licensee for other expenses of forest management as may be provided for by regulation or by agreement."

    "We are concerned that changing the law to require the Minister to compensate forest companies opens the door wide open to pay pulp and paper companies for reductions in their wood allocations. Would this mean that we would be forced to pay companies for loss of revenue for environmental protection measures? Would this mean that the forest management requirement for wildlife habitat zones in which only selection cutting is permitted would make the licensee eligible to be compensated for the difference in cost between clearcutting and selection cutting? Would it mean that forestry companies could be compensated for the value of wood fibre unavailable to it?" stated David Coon, CCNB's Executive Director.

    The Department of Natural Resources will be reducing the annual allowable cut for softwoods and hardwoods on Crown lands in 2012 as the amount of softwood plantations were supposed to yield by now has not materialized, while hardwoods have been overcut.

    "It is rare that legislation actually removes the discretion of a Minister in New Brunswick, but that is what replacing the word 'may' with 'shall' accomplishes," stated Tracy Glynn, CCNB's Forest Campaigner.  "What is the justification for this?" Glynn asked. "We need to know what regulations are being contemplated."

    "Compensation is the holy grail that the Irving's have been seeking since they and other licensee's wrote the Minister demanding compensation back in 2001, which we obtained and leaked to the media. The resulting public outcry was deafening," added Coon. "Now we see compensation being written into the Crown Lands And Forest Act itself."

    Half of New Brunswick's forest is Crown land. The right to manage New Brunswick's 3.4 million hectares of publicly-held forests has been transferred to mostly multinational companies including J.D. Irving Ltd., Fornebu Lumber Company, Twin Rivers (formerly Fraser Papers) and AV Group (AV Nackawic/AV Cell).

    -30-

    David Coon, 458-8747
    Tracy Glynn, 458-8747
  • Forty-five Groups to Government: Don’t Sacrifice Conservation for Short-term Wood Supply

    Groupes qui appuient la déclaration pour la conservation des terres de la Couronne





    1. Atlantic Laboratory for Avian Research
    2. Atlantic Salmon Federation / Fédération du saumon de l'Atlantique
    3. Campaign for Pesticide Reduction, Quispamsis
    4. Canaan-Washademoak Watershed Association, Cambridge-Narrows
    5. Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society - New Brunswick Chapter / Société pour la nature et les parcs du Canada - Chapitre du N-B
    6. Centre culturel et sportif de Cormier Village
    7. Comité d'environnement de la Polyvalente W.-A.-Losier Tracadie-Sheila, Tracadie-Sheila
    8. Comité d'intervention de la mine d'or Elmtree, Alcida
    9. Comité VerTige, comité environnemental de l'École Mathieu-Martin, Dieppe
    10. Community Forests International, Sackville
    11. Conservation Council of New Brunswick Inc. / Conseil de conservation du Nouveau-Brunswick
    12. Cornhill Area Residents Association
    13. Eco-Action Mount Allison, Sackville
    14. Environnement Vie, Balmoral
    15. Falls Brook Centre, Knowlesville
    16. Fredericton Fish and Game, Fredericton
    17. Fredericton High School - Environmental Club
    18. Friends of Mount Carleton Provincial Park Inc. / Les Ami(s) du Parc du Mont Carleton, Plaster Rock
    19. Friends of Musquash
    20. Friends of Rockwood Park, Saint John
    21. Grand Manan Whale and Seabird Research Station / Centre de recherche sur la vie marine de Grand Manan
    22. Groupe de développement durable du Pays de Cocagne Sustainable Development Group Inc.
    23. Knowlesville Art and Nature Centre, Knowlesville
    24. Meduxnekeag River Association, Woodstock
    25. Nature Moncton
    26. Nature NB
    27. Nature Trust of New Brunswick / Fondation pour la protection des sites naturels du Nouveau-Brunswick
    28. NB Federation of Woodlot Owners / Fédération des propriétaires de lots boisés du Nouveau-Brunswick
    29. New Brunswick Community Land Trust / Société des Terres communautaires du N.-B.
    30. New Brunswick Salmon Council / Conseil du saumon Nouveau-Brunswick
    31. New Brunswick Wildlife Federation / Fédération de la Faune du Nouveau-Brunswick
    32. Our Environment, Our Choice, Kent County
    33. PANE, for a New Perspective on Energy / PANE, pour une nouvelle perspective sur l'énergie
    34. Post Carbon Greater Moncton / Grand Moncton Post Carbone
    35. Public for the Protection of the Forests of New Brunswick / Public pour la protection des forêts du Nouveau-Brunswick, Kent County
    36. Quality of Life Initiative, Southfield
    37. Ruffed Grouse Society of Canada
    38. Rural Research Centre, Truro, NS
    39. Saint John Chapter of the Council of Canadians, Saint John
    40. Saint John Local of Cinema Politica, Saint John
    41. Sentinelles Petitcodiac Riverkeepers
    42. Sierra Club Canada - Atlantic Chapter / Sierra Club du Canada – Section du Canada Atlantique
    43. STUdents for Sustainability, St. Thomas University, Fredericton
    44. Sustainable Energy Group, Woodstock
    45. Upper Miramichi Stewardship Alliance, Ludlow
  • NB Naturalist - Our Forests - Nos Forêts

    The special edition of the NB Naturalist -Our Forests - Nos Forêts, is available for free andentirely dedicated to our public forests—their role, the questions that have not been answered, and the potential problems this new plan poses for biodiversity, ecosystems, and the future of our forests. Contact Vanessa (executive.director@naturenb.ca) to get copies, or download a pdf at www.naturenb.ca.

  • Scientists Concerned Upcoming New Brunswick Forestry Plan will Eliminate too Much Habitat

    Commentary - February 27, 2014
    Scientists Concerned Upcoming New Brunswick Forestry Plan will Eliminate too Much Habitat

    We are writing as a collective of concerned scientists and professionals who have spent many decades studying the needs of wildlife, healthy forests, and rivers in New Brunswick. Less than two years ago (March 2012), the Minister of Natural Resources announced a new 10-year Crown forest management plan that, while not acceptable to all, at least attempted to hold the line on keeping a minimum amount of habitat for wildlife, and appropriate buffers along rivers and streams. This was a plan that the Department developed after a year of consultation with wildlife researchers, forest companies, hunting and angling groups, environmental groups and First Nations. It was supposed to have set the amount of forest managed for conservation goals at 28% of the public forest. This was the bare minimum deemed necessary by government wildlife managers to make sure we have enough old forest to maintain healthy populations of our wildlife. The 2012 plan would have reduced clearcutting in certain Acadian mixed-forests, and reduced the amount of wood logged from hardwood stands to make sure there will be enough hardwoods to log in the future.

    We thought the 2012 plan was the path forward. Now we are deeply concerned to learn that a new plan has been in development behind the scenes, government is apparently ignoring previous recommendations from their own staff, and did not ask for input or feedback from wildlife researchers or others who could speak on behalf of the public’s stated priority values - water, wildlife and basic sustainability of the forest.

    The Premier in his 2014 State of the Province address, and Minister of Natural Resources in recent media interviews, both alluded to a new strategy that will allocate more wood to the province’s mills. Having not been part of the discussions that led to these decisions, we cannot be sure where this wood will come from. Since all Crown forest is already allocated, we are concerned the wood will come from buffer strips on brooks and wetlands, from deer yards, and from the small pockets of forest used to maintain wildlife and old forest. We are left to wonder if the wood will come from these previously conserved habitat areas, taking us below the minimums that are deemed necessary for wildlife and the health of our rivers. If this is what is being proposed, we believe it would be an irresponsible plan that will have serious negative consequences for the sustainability of our public forests for a long time to come.

    Roberta Clowater (Executive Director, Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society-NB Chapter); Dr. Tom Beckley (Professor, Forestry and Environmental Management, UNB); Dr. Tony Diamond (Research Professor of Wildlife Ecology, Biology Dep’t and Faculty of Forestry & Environmental Management, UNB); Dr. Graham Forbes (Director, New Brunswick Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Centre, Faculty of Forestry and Environmental Management, Faculty of Science, UNB); Dr. Roger Roy (Professor and Interim Director, School of Forestry, UdeM); Dr. Marc-André Villard (Professor, Biology, Université de Moncton).

    www.cpawsnb.org



  • Wildlife, forestry and conservation groups join with scientists and academics to call for new Crown Lands and Forests Act

    FREDERICTON — A broad range of public interest groups and experts in New Brunswick says new legislation is needed to ensure our public forests are being managed to meet the needs of all New Brunswickers.

    The group, which includes representatives from wildlife organizations, the scientific community, private woodlot owners, environmental and conservation organizations, is calling for the urgent development of a new Crown Lands and Forests Act.

    In a statement sent to the provincial government today, the group says the existing act, which came into law in 1980, fosters an outdated approach to forest management and fails to reflect the interests of the whole province. Forest management has become more complex, and New Brunswickers now expect forests to be managed for water, wildlife, recreation and other uses as well as jobs and revenue.

    The statement referenced Auditor General Kim MacPherson’s June 2015 report on forest management, which stated our public forest should be managed for economic, environmental and social values, and highlighted that the province has lost money from the management of public forests for at least the last five years.

    The group says new forest legislation should:

    (1) State clear principles for managing public forests to protect the range of life in the forest, nature’s benefits, a wide variety of sustainable, forest-based business opportunities, and recreational values all in the context of climate change;

    (2) Clarify and reinstate government as the trustee responsible to the public for the stewardship of Crown lands;

    (3) Ensure transparency in setting forestry goals and objectives, and in achieving them, including a robust system of public involvement and consultation throughout the process;

    (4) Respect the Peace and Friendship Treaties and establish mechanisms for consultation through free, prior, and informed consent with indigenous peoples;

    (5) Support diversification and value-added processing within New Brunswick’s forest products sector; and,

    (6) Ensure that private woodlots provide a proportional share of the wood supply and promote productivity from private woodlots through stronger management, pricing and marketing measures.

    Read the group’s statement and background information here.

    -30-

    “Our membership is convinced that opening more conservation land to harvesting of trees in sensitive, stream buffers could endanger vulnerable Atlantic salmon populations by damaging the habitats upon which they depend. It is appalling that such a sweeping change to the forest management regime was forced upon us without any discussion with the concerned watershed groups and conservation groups.   We have deepened our commitment to work cooperatively with the provincial government, First Nations, the forest industry, scientists, conservation organizations and other interest groups to better manage our Crown resources,” says Debbie Norton, President of NB Salmon Council.

    “What’s really significant here is the broad range of people who are coming together and saying, ‘this act doesn’t work for us anymore — it doesn’t work for the good of the province. Our forests are very special to New Brunswickers, so when this many people and different types of experts are saying something is broken, it’s time to fix it,” says Lois Corbett, Executive Director of the Conservation Council of New Brunswick.

    “Naturalists from across New Brunswick are very concerned about the lack of attention the province pays to wildlife and habitat in our public forests. We see the consequences of this every day, we are ready to work with government in developing a new act that better protects New Brunswick nature,” says Vanessa Roy-McDougall, Executive Director of Nature NB.

    “NB lags behind all provinces in Canada except PEI when it comes to protecting nature. New legislation could carefully craft new directives about how to balance investments in forest conservation and other economic interests,” says Roberta Clowater, Executive Director of Canadians Parks and Wilderness – New Brunswick.

    “The fundamental flaw in the act is that industrial consumers of wood were made managers of crown land and not customers, there are conflicts of interest, that can only be resolved by creating a new CFLA.Wood lot owners believe that the people harvesting crown wood should have a common interest with us in getting fair market value for  logs and other forest products. It is time to correct the mistakes of the past for the good of all N.B.,” says Andrew Clark of the New Brunswick Federation of Woodlot Owners.

    “The New Brunswick Wildlife Federation supports the use of public forests in the province to provide a variety of social and economic benefits. However, those uses should not compromise the integrity of natural habitats and biodiversity,” says Charles LeBlanc, President of the New Brunswick Wildlife Federation.

    For more information or to arrange an interview, contact:

    Jon MacNeill, Conservation Council of New Brunswick: 458-8747 | 261-1353 | jon.macneill@conservationcouncil.ca  

    Sabine Dietz, Nature NB: 536-1260 | 536-7560 | sabine.dietz@bellaliant.net (bilingual)

    Andrew Clark, New Brunswick Federation of Woodlot Owners: 459-2990 | 324-3380 | andrewclark@xplornet.com

    Peter J Cronin, NB Salmon Council: 444-9012 | 238-4616 | pjcronin18@gmail.com

    Roberta Clowater, Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, NB Chapter: 452-9902 | rclowater@cpaws.org

    Rod Currie, New Brunswick Wildlife Federation: 458-5643 | racurrie@nb.sympatico.ca
  • Would you consider having your group co-sign the letter below to the Mi'kmaq and Maliseet Chiefs

    Please let Jean Louis Deveau (deveaujl@gmail.com) know  if your organization is willing to co-sign this letter.  

    Dear Chief [_________________]:

    We, the undersigned, are requesting that the Maliseet and Mi’kmaq chiefs not support a proposal to develop a snowmobile hub at Mount Carleton Provincial Park.  The snowmobile hub is a decoy for a much bigger issue which is that public officials appear not be adhering to Mount Carleton’s previously established and adopted zoning system and the 2014 Parks Act. In 1980, a zoning plan was developed for the park, defining what could and could not be done based on the level of protection needed for each of the five zones attributed to this park.  
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