In this forest update, a heads up on how to mobilize for our forest in New Brunswick, analysis of Nova Scotia’s move towards FSC certification of its forest and news of trade action being taken against Irving Paper and other companies for putting cheap wood on the U.S. market. If in Fredericton, hope to see you tonight at TREEvia at 7:00pm at Dolan’s Pub! There is still room for more teams. Show up early to get a spot!
Supporting debate on our forest and new forest legislation
On Wednesday, February 18, 2015, David Coon, MLA for Fredericton South, introduced a bill to the Legislative Assembly called, An Act to Return to the Crown Certain Rights Related to Wood Supply and Forest Management. The Conservation Council of New Brunswick looks forward to the debate that will now occur over this bill. The bill attempts to reverse the 2014 forest strategy that New Brunswickers, including conservationists, scientists, economists, woodlot owners, hunters and diverse forest users, oppose; one reason being that it guarantees an unsustainable additional wood supply from the public forest to the big players in the forest industry.
The Conservation Council’s Executive Director Lois Corbett met with Natural Resources Minister Denis Landry on Feb. 26 to encourage the government to openly consult New Brunswickers on modern forest legislation, forging a better deal for private woodlot owners, and looking at developing a much better Crown forest management strategy to protect nature and serve all the public interests in preserving the Acadian forest in New Brunswick. Days later, representatives from several environmental groups, including the Conservation Council, met with Minister Landry in a meeting organized by the New Brunswick Environmental Network on March 3. The Conservation Council’s Tracy Glynn urged the Minister to support a community forest pilot project and a modernized Crown Forest and Sustainability Act. She shared the story of British Columbia, where the number of operating community forests have grown from 12 in 2002 to 57 today. The government of B.C. invested in their forest-dependent communities by implementing a Forestry Revitalization Plan, reallocating some timber to community forests and making changes to the Forest Act that allowed for community forests to not only survive but thrive. Forest Acts have been recently modernized in BC, Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia. New Brunswick had cutting-edge modern forest legislation in 1982 but that legislation is not working for us today. The way that our forest is managed needs to change.
Watch out for a letter that you can send to your MLA and a petition that you can circulate in your community. We’re asking our MLAs to support:
1. Modernizing forest legislation that protects our waters and wildlife, ensures transparent forest management and creates a wider range of forest-based jobs;
2. Giving back the primary source of supply to our mills to our woodlot owners who are struggling;
3. Abandoning the 2014 forest plan that New Brunswickers from diverse backgrounds, including conversationists, scientists, economists and woodlot owners, oppose;
4. Debate in the Legislature on the forest plan by supporting the second reading of David Coon’s forestry bill.
Nova Scotia’s forest to be FSC certified
Nova Scotia has announced that they are moving towards Forest Steward Certification (FSC) of its public forest. Chris Miller, national conservation biologist for the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) and board member of FSC Canada, and Matt Miller, forestry co-ordinator for the Ecology Action Centre, call it a ray of light amid Nova Scotia’s forestry gloom. In New Brunswick, our forest is certified under the forest industry’s preferred Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI). SFI allows herbicide spraying of clearcut lands to convert what was once natural and diverse forest areas to spruce, fir and pine plantations. Watch CBC’s Marketplace 2012 expose on SFI. Can we say it’s not worth the toilet paper it certifies?
Trade action against cheap Crown wood from New Brunswick
U.S. paper producers are taking trade action against Canadian competitors for dumping their product on their markets. The petition claims that the federal and provincial governments provide subsidies that include preferential loans, tax benefits, grant programs and cheap access to Crown land trees. Among the Canadian companies named in the petition: Irving Paper Ltd. New Brunswick woodlot owners have long argued that they can’t compete because of industry’s access to cheap Crown wood. One of the ways that forestry companies benefit from access to New Brunswick’s public forest is through funding of controversial silviculture practices, including herbicide spraying. According to data from Natural Resources, silviculture costs on Crown lands can exceed $1,000/ha. New Brunswickers continue to call for an end to herbicide spraying in the forest. We invite you to join us.
Conservation Council of New Brunswick /
Conseil de conservation du Nouveau-Brunswick
180 Saint John St.,
Fredericton, NB
E3B 4A9
Canada
Tel: 506 458-8747
Email: forest@conservationcouncil.ca
www.conservationcouncil.ca
www.acadianforest.ca
Facebook: Save the Acadian Forest
Twitter: @acadianforest