Back to the Forest

I wrote about the opening shots here and here.  This week JDI announced that it is closing the Deersdale sawmill due to lack of wood supply. Deersdale is in the middle of NB, east of Juniper.  Here is a handy dandy map of where the Crown Land is in our fine province.

The Supreme Court of Canad 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 trustee.  The "public trust doctrine" handed down to us through English Common Law says that resourced of the commons are "gifts of nature's bounty" to benefit present and future generations."

Here is a handy dandy map from JDI's website about their operations.

The NB Federation of Woodlot Owners, which represents 30,000 people in New Brunswick, says that the price JDI is willing to pay from private woodlots is too low.  The Federation says its members are harvesting 72% less wood and revenues have fallen from a combined $100 million to a combined $30 million.

Here's what Ken Hardie has to say about Crown Lands and private woodlots in NB.

"Essentially Crown land is our biggest competitor in the marketplace, which fundamentally has been our fight for many years, is the fact that we're in competition with our own land, pubicly-owned land," he said, noting that they have been in discussion with the Department of Natural Resources on the issue.

"At this time there is some positive.  The department seems to be recognizing that in order for private woodlots to survive, maybe some Crown land needs to come off the market."