Day Five
Campbellton 
November 25, 2003 

The hearings in Campbellton were well attended, but the Legislature had booked only a small meeting room. People spilled out into the halls trying to listen to the presentations, so the Conservation Council, on behalf of the Crown Lands Network, agreed to have the divider between its open house room and the room booked for the hearings opened to accommodate the overflow crowd.

André Arpin - Arpin Canoe Restigouche
Mr. Arpin, an ecotourism operator, expressed concern about the changes in the Restigouche River caused by clearcut logging. He said there is far too much water in the river in the early part of the year, which has forced him to shut down his ecotourism business. During the summer water levels are so low that you could walk along the river, making canoe tripping a challenge. He added that in some places cutting was taking place right down to the river's edge. He said the issue before the Committee was about our grandchildren, and this had to be kept in mind.
Mr. Arpin also raised concerns that the Jaakko Poyry recommendations would place far too much control in the hand of the large forestry companies who are interested in only a few types of trees. He pointed out that currently many areas are clearcut for pulp which if left longer would provide much higher value trees. Instead, these areas come back as low quality fibre which can only be used by the pulp and paper companies and stud mills.

[photo of Andre Arpin and Florian Levesque]

Florian Levesque - Balmoral
He raised concerns about the quality of the Jaakko Poyry study, and expressed surprise at its $500,000 cost. Mr. Levesque asked the Liberal members of the committee for any minutes of the meetings they had with the Irvings while being entertained at the company's salmon lodge. Scott Target responded that the meetings were not actually with Jim Irving himself. He said he met with David Coon of the Conservation Council and wood marketing boards as well, and went on to say that the location of his meetings is not relevant.
Mr. Levesque felt the focus of the hearings on wood supply is far too narrow. Habitat and the health of our forest ecosystems are important to a lot of people and there need to be hearings to consider these issues.
He felt that the current approach to Crown lands is destroying our future.

Pat McCarthy - Bowater Maritimes Inc.
Their newsprint mill is located in Dalhousie. He pointed out that they operate in a global environment so they make investments to be competitive which sometimes eliminated jobs, sometimes ownership changes, but the mill always remains. However, if more wood could be cut from Crown lands in the future then they could make further investments to expand their business. He argued that Jaakko Poyry's recommendations would provide more options for the future and asked the committee to address the interests of rural workers. Mr. McCarthy said that 45% of Bowater's mills comes from Quebec. He reiterated the big forestry demands that objectives for the amount of wood growing on Crown lands should be placed on the same level as environmental and conservation objectives.
Mr. McCarthy said one of the most important recommendations of the Jaakko Poyry report was to increase public participation. He noted that the Select Committee was a good start and more needed to be done. He characterized the Jaakko Poyry recommendations as the next step for government in reforming Crown lands policy following on the establishment of the protected natural areas in New Brunswick.
When asked about the potential for more work in the forestry industry, he said there are no guarantees for more jobs in the future as they compete in a global marketplace.

Felix Dubé - St. Quentin
Mr. Dubé said there is far too much clearcutting and it would be better for everyone if there was more of a focus on selective cutting. There is a big concern about biodiversity he said, and selective cutting would help conserve this. He argued for the creating of woodlot licences on Crown land which would give New Brunswickers the opportunity to earn a living from the Crown land. Local people would have an opportunity to work locally. A long-term license would be an incentive for the woodlot licence holder to invest in the land. He said we want long-term jobs and added-value.

Ed Perry, President, Federation of Woodlot Owners, opened with a brief history of woodlot owners and marketing boards. Fair and orderly management for woodlot owners is necessary. He stated that key to this is: Stability: cost and delivery schedule, prices negotiated and fair to both parties. Primary source of supply did this before 1992. Industry can go to Crown Lands, keep its mills full, giving them tremendous leverage when it comes to buying wood, that lever being Crown land which is owned by the people of NB. He recommended restoring primary source of supply to private woodlot owners, establishing meaningful negotiations, respect for contracts, and sustainable harvests by area.

Claude Pelletier, from the Office de ventes de produits forestiers de Madawaska (Office of sales of wood products), Edmunston gave an overview of small woodlot owners and the results of the silviculture program which produce sizable volumes of wood - noting that small woodlot owners furnish 25% of the wood used by industry. He indicated that he would like to see an investment of upwards of $15 Million yearly in this program.  Questioned by Mr. Targett about whether Mr. Perry would like to see private woodlot owners regulated by government, he responded that they already are. Mr. Targett suggested that any ideas specific to taxes and incentives for woodlot owners be copied to the members of the committee.

Duane Woods of Chaleur Saw Mills, an independent sawmill owner, suggested the establishment of a long term vision and plan for forestry on Crown Lands, including funding for silviculture. One problem about silviculutre is the government signal there is are NO FUNDS available for silviculture. Small and medium sawmills need some stability: they are trying desperately to compete with against multinationals in NB and Québec and across the country. He cited the example of local hardware stores with inventories of wood from B.C. and described the demise of some sawmills which couldn't compete...did not have access to a long term supply of wood. Mr. Woods described some of the value-added wood businesses in the province, describing the need for a mix of softwoods to be grown in the province. He mentioned that where sawdust and bark used to thrown away, now it is all used in the production of energy, noting that Bathurst and Tracadie hospitals both use bark to heat and cool their buildings. He also noted that through the Jaakko-Poyry report, the wood supply will not increase for 35-45 years but that it is time to begin efforts to increase the yield of wood on Crown Lands.

Brenda Kelley - Bathurst Sustainable Development
Brenda Kelley recommended that recommendations of the Jaakko Poyry be rejected. She called for the forest industry to diversify into more value added products and allocate some of their current harvest for this purpose. She recommended that a multi-stakeholder group be established to develop an adaptation plan for the forest industry to diversify away from its heavy reliance on pulp. Ms. Kelley called for a policy that transferred some of the current annual allowable cut to community forestry to increase employment levels in remote rural communities.

Serge Laplante - Groupe Savoie
Mr. Laplante said their hardwood mills had lost ground to protected areas and sugar bushes. He spoke in support of a number of the Jaakko Poyry presentations but described it as being at one extreme of the spectrum. According to Laplante the question of wood supply is essential but the balance between softwood and hardwood must be maintained. The time has come to increase our investments in our forest, according to Mr. Laplante.

Marco Martin - North American Forest Products
Mr. Martin told the committee that they are competing in a world market. He said the Jaakko Poyry report is a major step forward for the industry. He noted that many environmental groups oppose its recommendations, but in his opinion there is nothing bad in it. While there will be no results from the Jaakko Poyry report for 50 years, he said he didn't know what they would do to address existing wood supply challenges other than to adapt.

Michael Lushington - Restigouche Naturalists Club, Dalhousie
Mr. Lushington described the Jaakko Poyry recommendations as a radical departure from New Brunswick's current approach to forest management on Crown lands, which the provincial government and industry already describe as the best in North America. What happens after the doubling of wood supply has been achieved? Does industry demand it be doubled again? At what point do we accept that we have reached maximum production? Growth beyond potential can only lead to collapse. Do we really want half the forests turned into plantations? How can this be sustained without massive increases in herbicide spraying? How can the Province's commitment to conserving biodiversity? Mr. Lushington said that such a massive shift to plantations is unsustainable. The Crown forests do not exist largely for industrial purposes, according to Mr. Lushington, but it is up to the people to direct what happens on Crown lands for today and for their grandchildren.

Maurice Légère - Upsalquitch Licence Public Advisory Committee
This committee was formed to advise Bowater on their forestry activities on the Upsalquitch Crown licence. He basically spoke in support of Bowater's presentation and the Jaakko Poyry recommendations.

Mayor James Blanchard - Dalhousie
Something must be done to increase the wood supply in New Brunswick because the Bowater mill in Dalhousie has always imported 45 percent of its wood fibre from Quebec. Dalhousie has had the mill in its town since 1930. He felt that with 28 percent of the Crown forest in special management areas, biodiversity is adequately protected. He said his town supports the intent of the Jaakko Poyry report to increase the wood supply to sustain their town, which has the fastest declining population in the province. While he said he wasn't familiar with all the details he supported the principle of the report.

Wayne Powers - RegéNord Ltd.
Among other things his company does contracting for planting and pre-commercial thinning. More investment in forestry would be helpful.

Jacques Levasseur from Cèdres Balmoral, a value-added sawmill business, stated that 70% of the wood they use comes from private woodlot owners. When asked about the presence of cedar, he said that for each cord purchased, $3 is reserved for the planting of cedar. He offered that we should invest in our private and public forests so they would be more productive.

Jeannette Desprès, Cocagne, made a short appeal "from an old woman who had nothing to give but good advice" to put better laws in place with regards to wood theft. In New York state, they added 3x the market value to any tree felled and going to mills to reduce theft (if an identified tree were found in a mill - the mill would pay).

Sinclair Walsh, a teacher from Dalhousie. We say that wood is our best export, no, he believes it is our youth.

Ken Bouchard, McKendrick Forest Workers Union
Mr. Bouchard described the 66 member cooperative and their vision : the forest may wear the many hats of their many users; he said that communities depend on the industry but that forests can be better managed for the benefits of hunters, fishermen, animals…He declared that there is a significant number of clear cuts that have not been improved afterwards, and that without environmental planning the soils are impoverished. He suggested that competent advisory committees should be formed and that we should study closely the problem of private woodlot overexploitation.

Clément Arpin, Arpin de Kedgewick, mentioned that he would speak, but that he had already been punished for speaking out his opinion in public. He suggested an effort should be put into adding value to our wood, or else our area will prove that we are 20 years behind in forestry. There are some types of wood which we should introduce to consumers such as beech and red maple.