Day Six
Paquetville
November 26, 2003 

The Village of Paquetville asked for the creation of a Crown lands advisory board for their region. This advisory board would make recommendations to the Minister of Natural Resources about how best to manage the Crown lands in the region to maximize the benefits to the local communities. The recommendations would be based on local values and local priorities but would be developed within the context of the National Forest Strategy Framework.

They called for a productive forest that is diverse and healthy which is managed in ways that sustains high water quality and protects wildlife habitat. It was suggested that sustainable management should be focused on employment and sustainable incomes. It is important to involve the population in developing the management plan for Crown lands in their area. Funding should be provided for the Acadian Peninsula to establish such a Crown lands advisory board.

UNB Prof. Tom Erdle, Jennifer Dunlap and Bob Dick
from DNR are staff for the Select Commitee

Gérard Robichaud - UPM Kymmene
Mr. Robichaud repeated the industry line that the current policy for Crown lands of meeting the public objectives for its use before maximizing fibre production for private use is unacceptable. He called for a fibre supply goal to be established that would be give the same priority as the public objectives.  With respect to plantations, he didn't see any problem with establishing more plantations on Crown land because they are found on private land. What's the difference he asked?
Mr. Robichaud described 1982 as one of the most important years for the pulp and paper industry (the year of the Crown Lands and Forests Act). He suggested that community forests are not realistic because of their smaller size and reminded everyone that they supply many mills from their Crown land licences. He said that a community forest would be too small to permit ecosystem management and would make it difficult to get the wood certified. A goal for fibre production is necessary to give our small rural communities a future and to keep our youth from leaving the province. He suggested that the process used to decide the future of the former Tracadie Firing Range be used to reach agreement on the Jaakko Poyry recommendations.

Normand Leclerc - Leclerc Silviculture
Mr. Leclerc brought some of his workers who plant and thin. He has 95 employees, most of whom are from the Acadian Peninsula. Mr. Leclerc responded to concerns about monoculture, biodiversity, ecosystem health by saying we've got to try things to progress. He said more spending on silviculture will mean more jobs in silviculture.

Dennis McGraw - Moulin McGraw
Mr. McGraw is a sub-licensee to UPM. It's a family business that originally obtained its wood from private contractors, but now has an allocation from Crown lands that supplies 10% of his wood. They expanded their business in 1996 and would like to expand further but creditors are reluctant to lend money because their wood supply is not guaranteed. He supports the Jaakko Poyry report and noted that the forests are a renewable resource. If the recommendations are not adopted they will be facing a crisis in the next 10 years. He hopes that they will have a future and a third generation will be able to take over the mill. Their mill is the last mill in the Peninsula other than a pallet mill. They operate from September to December.

Armand Losier - Union of Carpenters, Millwrights & Allied Workers
Mr. Losier talked about the nature of wood cutters. He said it is important for them that the forest be in good health for the future of the workers and society. If we listen to certain people that don't want us to cut trees, then some will blow down. The Province must help the forest industry as they have helped other industries that have come and gone. The forest industry receives some assistance but creates jobs here in New Brunswick. Any money invested in this industry, is well invested. In his opinion the Jaakko Poyry report has been very well prepared and takes a long-term view. There shouldn't be more story, but define our objectives and sit down with the groups that use forest resources, so we can act now.

Gérard Noel - Logging Contractor
Noel was approached by UPM to come and speak to the Select Committee. No one is telling him what to say, and he was only familiar with the main points of Jaakko Poyry. He operated a porter for years, but when the industry started wanting tree length he and his brother bought a mechanical harvester. He has three employees that works for UPM. Monsieur Noel has close to $1 million invested in his equipment, and things are now quite difficult for him. He cannot afford to replace his equipment. He almost said no to UPM when they asked him to appear at the Select Committee. He believes that the wood supply can be doubled over the next 50 years, but didn't want it to go against the environment. He thought this could be achieved. He didn't see a problem, and felt there are a lot of people who are not well-informed. We shouldn't let the industry manage everything, he said. He noted that would not be a good thing. Perhaps the Crown lands should be given a rest from logging for a little while, he said.

Brian Ward - Caraquet
He has recently purchased a woodlot, but had not seen the Jaakko Poyry report. He felt that the market is increasingly looking for high quality wood and that some of that wood is found on Crown lands. After clearcutting, it is lost. He said we need to maintain high quality wood on our lands and people need to work. Giving big companies guarantees is not the solution as we don't know what will happen in the future, he said. He suggested there needs to be far more selective cutting and reliance on natural regeneration. Plantations eliminate biodiversity and this is not a good thing, he said. He said we need to maximize what we can get out of a tree, and this is not being done. Monsieur Ward pointed out that we have resources here that are not readily available elsewhere in Canada. He spoke out against clearcutting because it destroys habitat and eliminates high value wood.

Roland Robichaud, Club des Nauralistes de la Péninsule Acadienne
Mr. Robichaud asked that the status quo be maintained in buffer zones along waterways and in other special management zones. He called for what remains of the Acadian forest to be sustained. He supported more selection harvesting and working with natural regeneration rather than clearcutting and establishing plantations. Mr. Robichaud says it would be illogical to grant wood supply guarantees. He pointed out that the big forestry companies wield much more influence than individual citizens.

Gaetan Pelletier - J.D. Irving Ltd.
Mr. Pelletier gave a power point presentation on Irving's approach to forest management on their own lands in the Black Brook region. It contains 210,000 ha: 37% plantations, 27% hardwoods, 16% mixed woods, 23% special management zones. This supports 158 jobs in harvesting, 127 jobs are in silviculture and research, and 33 jobs on staff. Most of these are seasonal which provides families with supplemental income. Harvest would be 150,000 m3 if did nothing. With silviculture the AACE gives them 210,000 m3. The softwood component of this area is largely balsam fir, which they are replacing with spruce plantations. They have changed the way the design plantation so that they area smaller, less geometric and retain some kind of standing trees to provide structure. He talked about the diversity that can be found in plantations after they have opened them up through thinning. He listed the critiques of plantations saying that some of those concerns are valid, so they established a scientific advisory committee in 1998. As a result they have encouraged and supported a considerable amount of ecological research in their plantations. He noted that they have established 8000 ha of reserves on their land in Black Brook in conjunction with the World Wildlife Fund. He said they have decided that they will never plant more than 50% of their Black Brook area for ecological reasons and because they want to maintain tolerant hardwoods. He did add that patches of retention of old growth offers areas for birds and other animals to maintain the presence of species. Keeping a "monoculture" discourages the presence of animals.

Daniel Noel - St. Rose, high-tech multi-task machine operator, he has a wide experience on many forest machinery. He has witnessed changes that have contributed to the improvement of forest harvesting…he has met with people from all kinds of countries, inspectors, people from Green Peace and others…Production is done according to the demands of the different industries…and pulp and paper mills. The wood is wisely used and the use is more and more oriented towards added value and a better product. He works for UPM Kymene. People think that once forests are cut they do not regenerate. But Mr. Noël assures us that it regenerates by itself or are replanted. We need a development plan on Crown land while paying our attention to DNR rules and to sustainable environment. The multitask machine can perform a variety of harvesting techniques : selective, progressive and others. Trees grow better where selective harvesting is chosen.

Michel Godin - he came here to talk about forest industry, he has been trained as a mechanical technician. He worked for Irving Company for 2 years, in saw-mills. He saw all kinds of types of wood harvesting, and he works now for UPM in their paper mill. He wants to keep on working since those are well remunerated jobs all year-long. Most jobs in the area come from the forest industry. He found that there were positive outcomes in Jaakko-Pöyry's report. His family exploits a 600 acre forest that has always been selectively harvested. According to him, selective harvesting and plantations are the best way to proceed. He neither commits himself in favour of the industry nor for the private woodlot owners. Clear cutting along river banks is unacceptable. He is positive that it is possible to reach an agreement that would please both sides.

Andre Robichaud, Neguac, forest technician. He has worked for Irving for years. He never heard anything about the public hearings except once in the newspaper. Jaakko-Pöyry's report is important and could help the well-being of New Brunswickers. It aims mainly at increasing the production of coniferous trees. Could it be that the industry's demands go beyond the capacity of the forest?…we want more products so that we produce more. Let's not forget that each year, road construction, paths of all kinds, electricity lines, reduce more and more the forest surface. Crown land lots have built roads-5% of which are used for exploitation. The Finnish report asks us to exploit our forest even more. Ten years ago, it had been planned that there would be a production increase by year 2010. One has to be careful not to be choked by an excessive demand. One has to guarantee our survival, in that sense, it is an essential tool for our economy, but we should not do it at the price of the other values of the province : one has to take into account the smaller players : the flora, fauna, and recreational activities etc. We must also think of industries, the mills which use different sorts of wood. Medium and small industries are also very important for local economies. Another thing, buffer zones, we should be proud, we are ahead in New Brunswick, the distances to be protected were established scientifically, 30 meters and 150 meters are not numbers thrown up in the air, and corridor for animals that makes sense also. Wet lands are protected, else where it's not but we can't come back on this. Another thing is hard wood, we must not forget that the scenario is not there to maximise hard wood production. But there are people who would like to use hard wood. That report speaks only of fir and spruce plantations. Where is our Acadian forest going? We are looking for diversification, the population is for an acadian forest. The report also speaks of courses on natural resources. Forestry is very important, we must benefit from it in the short and long term and we must take into account social and environmental values. But if we are so good in forest management, why was there an article in Acadie Nouvelle that was saying that we could not wait and that we should adopt the report before 2004?

Paul Orser - Miramichi, Manager of fibre sourcing for UPM Kymene and woodlot owner, a UNB forestry engineering grad in 1981, Master's in Business Administration from University of Western Ontario in mid 80s. He spent some time in Finland, where people understand planting. Hired as a silviculture forester in 1982 in Charlotte County, he has since had a lot of experience around the province and worked with a very long list of people. The point of the history he recounted was to make the point that we should cherish the forest industry for all the benefits it brings to New Brunswick. Most of the people he works with are hardworking New Brunswickers. He supported the recommendation that there be a timber supply objective. For the benefits the industry provides, there needs to be more silviculture funding invested in both private and public lands. He spoke of duplication and needing to be streamlined or better use of employees, both at DNR and in UPM Kymene. Wood shortage - yes, there is enough wood around even if we have to get it from Nova Scotia or Scotland or elsewhere. We shouldn't have to fight amongst ourselves to sustain this resource for everyone.

Beth McLaughlin - SOS Eau Water Sankwan, Moncton
She spoke about the life forces of the forest. Standing forests are essential to water quality and water quantity. She suggested that selective cutting is consistent with both objectives for increasing wood supply and conserving biodiversity. Ms. McLaughlin pointed out that there is a requirement for waste paper to be used by pulp and paper mills in the United States and suggested that more of this should be done here to reduce our demand on the forest for fibre. She said industry should be required to plan for more partial harvesting. Ms. McLaughlin objected to the recommendation of Jaakko Poyry to increase cutting in buffer zones. She mentioned that so many people love this province and love the forest, and that young people want to stay here. She suggested that we invest in local industry in our own people, and in DNR. We need to make room for all people on Crown land.

Normand Haché - Bathurst - Has spoken of restoration and preservation of Crown lands. There is a risk to look at wood supply, but if it is done we should have a more global approach. It is important to integrate the principle of sustainability, that is to think about the implications of our actions for generations to come. Forest industry changes a lot, it has elaborated codes, norms and management policies. The objective of my presentation is to present forest practices that preserve soils for social, environmental and sustainable functions. To manage forest for their sustainability is a basic principle in Canada. Forest plays several roles for our quality of life : it absorbs CO2, it prevents erosion, it moderates temperatures, it maintains both quality and quantity of water. Mr. Haché has offered a scientific explanation of the nutritive elements necessary to maintain soil quality in spite of stresses caused acid rains and other chemicals according to regions. Therefore we must think of soil mineralization before we plant any trees and it should be natural biological products that are introduced in the soils not chemical products.