CONCERN OVER FUTURE OF FORESTS We are writing as 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, 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 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 per cent of the public forest. 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, 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. 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. (Signed) 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 - Telegraph-Journal , New Brunswick. Mar 7th 2014
Posted on: Sun, 09 Mar 2014 05:42:45 +0000
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