Crown Lands at a Glance

Half of New Brunswick's forests are on Crown lands, encompassing more than three million hectares. Acadian forest is the dominant forest type in New Brunswick, rich in diversity including 39 species of native trees and more than 30,000 species of wildlife, fish and plants and insects. The wolf, wolverine and caribou have been eliminated from Crown lands. The eastern panther, Canada lynx, and at least 45 forest plants are threatened or endangered.

The headwaters of the Miramichi, Restigouche, Uspsalquitch, Nepisguit, and St. Croix Rivers have their source on Crown Lands and flow almost entirely through our public forests.

The provincial government has jurisdiction over the management of forest resources on Crown land¹ subject to aboriginal and treaty rights². As the Crown lands of New Brunswick were never ceded by treaty to the Crown, as was required under British law³, First Nations claim aboriginal title and will press this claim.

The Supreme Court of Canada holds that New Brunswick's Crown lands are held by the Province of New Brunswick for the benefit of the people of New Brunswick, not as their owner but as their trustee⁴. The "public trust doctrine" handed down to us through English Common Law says the resources of the commons are "gifts of nature's bounty" to benefit present and future generations.

As trustee of our forest commons, the Crown lands, the provincial government is obliged to maintain their inherent value for all people, including those not yet born. Where the government fails in its trusteeship, citizens have a right to defend this public trust.

How Much Money Do We Earn from Timber Royalites?

The New Brunswick government earns $60.5 million per year from royalties paid for the timber that is cut from Crown land.

How Many Mills in New Brunswick?

• 10 Pulp and Paper Mills

• 80 Sawmills, Veneer Mills, Fencing and Shingle Mills

How Much Wood Do The Mills Consume in a Year?

• 9.0 million cubic metres of softwood

• 2.9 million cubic metres of hardwood

Where are Jobs Headed in the Forestry Industry

Unlike most of Canada, in New Brunswick the number of direct jobs in the forestry industry have been declining for every 1000 cubic metres of wood that is harvested.

What Percentage of the Mills' Wood Supply is Purchased from Crown Lands?

• 39% of the mills' softwood (3.5 million cubic metres) 
  is purchased from the Crown

• 48% of the mill's hardwood (1.4 million cubic metres) 
  is purchased from the Crown

Where Else Do the Mills Obtain Wood?

Some companies own vast tracts of forest land in New Brunswick and elsewhere which supply wood to their mills. They also buy wood privately from woodlot owners and logging contractors.

What Trees Do The Mills Use?

95% of the softwood used by mills is either balsam fir, black, white or red spruce, or jack pine.

What Other Trees Grow on Crown Land?

Eastern Hemlock, Eastern White Cedar, White Pine, Red Pine and Tamarack, Sugar Maple, Yellow Birch, Beech, White, Black and Red Ash, Black Cherry, Red and Bur Oak, White Elm, Basswood, Ironwood, Black Willow, Butternut, Poplar, Red Maple, Silver Maple, Service Berry, White and Grey Birch.

Who Holds Licences to Log and Manage Crown Lands?

Who Gets to Log on Crown Land?

Only those people working for logging contractors hired by one of the six companies with licences to Crown land timber or members of First Nations communities with treaty rights to cut wood for personal use or to earn a moderate livelihood.

Land Use on Crown Lands

Area of Crown Timber Licences Under Special Management

Area of Crown Timber Licences Under Intensive Management

What are New Brunswick's Major Natural Forest Types?⁵ 

Appalachian Hardwood Forests
These hardwood forests are found on uplands in Western New Brunswick and consist of sugar maple, beech, yellow birch, white ash, ironwood and can also include basswood and butternut.

Floodplain Forests
These hardwood forests are found on floodplains in the St. John River wateshed and consist of silver maple, red maple, American elm, bur oak, red and black ash and sometimes balsam poplar.

Ridgetop Forests
These hardwood forests are found in the uplands of the northwestern and central New Brunswick and Albert County. They consist of beech, sugar maple, yellow birch, white ash and ironwood, but may include some balsam fir, red spruce, hemlock, white spruce and white pine.

Enduring Forersts
These upland mixed wood forests once dominated southwestern and northern New Brunswick and commonly consist of sugar maple, yellow birch, red spruce and beech with some balsam fir.

Fire Forests
These mixed wood forests are common in eastern New Brunswick and consist of either jack pine, poplar and black spruce mixed with red maple, white birch and grey birch; or of white pine, red oak and red pine where soils are well-drained.

Orchid Forests
These mixed wood forests are scattered across the province and consist of cedar, black ash, red maple and sometimes black spruce, and of course several orchid species .

Bog Forests
These are boreal-type forests found near peat-bogs most commonly in eastern New Brunswick and consist of black spruce and tamarack with some red maple and balsam fir.

Fog Forests
New Brunswick's coastal forests are boreal-like consisting of white spruce and balsam fir along with some white birch and red maple. Along the Fundy Coast red spruce is common.

Snow Forests
These mossy forests are found in the Appalachian Mountains of north central New Brunswick and consist of balsam fir, black spruce, white spruce and a scattering of white birch.

Shade Forests
These long-lived, perpetually dark coniferous forests are most common in eastern New Brunswick and consist of red spruce, white pine and eastern hemlock with balsam fir and a small amount of sugar maple, beech and yellow birch.

[1] Constitution Act 1982, Section 92a
[2] Constitution Act 1982, Section 35
[3] Royal Proclamation of 1763 and subsequent treaties
[4] Supreme Court Decision R. v. Robertson (1882) 6 S.C.R. 52
[5] Adapated from Loo, J. and N. Ives, The Acadian Forest : Historical Condition and Human Impacts, Canadian Forest Service, Natural Resources Canada