Crown Lands and Forests Act

CALL TO ACTION! Stop Spraying NB

CALL TO ACTION!

SSNB has launched a new sign campaign to call out THREE NB politicians, who have to power to #StopSprayingNB, namely DNRE Minister Mike Holland, DOELG Minister Jeff Carr, and Premier Blaine Higgs.

Forestinf.ca has published the 2020 Forest Herbicide Spray Map,

#WheresJeff? #WheresBlaine? #WheresMike?

- We need you to pose in as many of your favourite clearcuts (preferably on Crown land) with our new signs.

- Choose which sign you would like to pose with (all three if you like or pose with a few friends).

- Please REUSE the signs by passing them on to friends to do the same photo-op, or return to us if not too much trouble. Of course you can put the sign on your property AFTERWARDS.

- Too far away for a sign pickup? We can send you the pdf so you can print your own paper signs at home. Please don’t sell these though.

- As a thanks for your participation we won’t charge you for the signs, but please remember that they cost us $14 each (incl tax). So please don’t waste them. DONATIONS WELCOME of course so we can buy more! (e-transfer to stopsprayinginnewbrunswick@gmail.com. EMAIL US YOUR PASSWORD! Or a cheque works too to our Petitcodiac mailing address 31 Main Street, Petitcodiac E4Z4L8.

- Please email stopsprayinginnewbrunswick@gmail.com if you have any questions, or if you want to participate in this campaign. We have signs in different parts of NB

MANY of our supportesr have picked up signs and have submitted photos on our public Facebook group.

FACTS NOT SPIN: These are the facts and promises we at SSNB have been given by DNRE minister Mike Holland, during two meetings Bruce Dryer and I had with Mr. Holland, his assistant DM Chris Ward and DOELG minister Jeff Carr, since March 2019:

- A very very small reduction of spraying in watersheds (121 hectares) is the only forest spraying reduction we saw in 2019.

We have been given 4 promises:

- 5% more conservation (the land parcels not decided yet) from a dismal 5% to 10% (still way below national suggested 17%). Feds will provide $9.3 million from the federal Canada Nature Fund to achieve its goal. NB ngo Nature Trust, started the lobbying for this and was joined by CCNB, NB chapter of CPAWS, NB Chapter of NCC, NATURENB.

- Enforcement of buffers promised with zero details.

- More intensive spraying promised to make up for the enforced buffers/increased conservation, which will result in no decrease in hectares sprayed.

- a promise that Irving will not receive greater alotment for the next 7 years, BUT Chris Ward mentioned in Feb’20 during the standing committee hearings that there are plans to increase plantations on crown land from 14% to 20%!

- We were never given any indication that more wood will be sourced from NB private woodlot owners.
CCNB statement in response to report released by the Office of the Chief Medical Officer of Health on glyphosate
FREDERICTON — Tracy Glynn, the forest program director of the Conservation Council of New Brunswick, issued the following statement about the report released today by the Office of the Chief Medical Officer of Health (OCMOH) on glyphosate.
The report confirms what we have long feared — that the forest industry uses more glyphosate in NB operations than any other province in Canada.

The report found that 40% of the forest land cut in NB in 2014 was sprayed with glyphosate compared to 28% in Ontario, 21% in Alberta, 18% in Manitoba and only 11% in Nova Scotia.

While 205,859 hectares were cut in Québec in the same year, no forest lands there were sprayed with glyphosate.

The analysis puts the key public policy question squarely back into the government’s hands. Namely, why, of all places in Canada, is NB spending so much taxpayer money on our companies’ spray programs when other jurisdictions, like Vermont and Québec, get on fine without it.

The report did discuss the human health risk associated with glyphosate. While it recognizes that there are many outstanding questions that need to be examined by Health Canada and its Pesticide Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) in its long overdue re-evaluation of the chemical, the report says human health risks can be reduced if its label restrictions are properly followed.

The OCMOH points out that public health agencies in Canada and elsewhere have adopted a “wait and see” approach. The PMRA is currently reassessing glyphosate. The review of glyphosate, not expected until 2017, was delayed due to what the OCMOH called “rapidly-evolving new information.”

Beyond the scope of the OCMOH’s report are other concerns related to glyphosate use in forestry that weigh heavily on the minds of New Brunswickers. These concerns need to be addressed by our provincial government and include the environmental impacts of the use of glyphosate on deer, moose and aquatic species, and on water quality.

The report points out the uncertainty surrounding glyphosate use world-wide. Some European countries, like France, Sweden, Italy and the Netherlands, are arguing for a complete ban of its use in both agriculture and forestry. We believe that this supports our recommendation that a prudent action would be to stop using it in forestry operations, especially since more responsible alternatives are available and their use, in fact, would create more jobs.

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Additional Information
- NB farmers use less glyphosate than those in other provinces, primarily due to the fact that NB grows fewer bushels of genetically modified corn and soybeans.
- Québec banned herbicide use in its forests in 2001 due to public concern over human health impacts of spraying. Vermont, which has a similar forest type to New Brunswick, also stopped using herbicides in their forests, almost two decades ago, in 1997.
- NB’s Auditor General recommended in her 2015 reportthat public forests should be managed for economic, environmental and social values, and highlighted that the province has lost money from the management of public forests for at least the last five years.
- To see where NB forest will be sprayed this summer, click here.
Crown Lands – The Undercover Story
There is a series of short videos currently under production that explores the under belly of what is happening on Crown lands in NB. Wondering about the pre-Christmas news item about clearcutting all around the scout camp in the north of the province? And the protected area proposed for the Irving family fishing camp? Charles Thériault, the producer of the video series, doesn’t pull any punches. His interviews also include viewpoints from academic experts and ideas on how to do things differently. There is also a petition calling for a revamped Crown Lands and Forests Act. The series is called “Is Our Forest Really Ours?” Check it out!
ELECTION TOOLS for SSNB supporters for NB ELECTION 2018!
1) DOWNLOAD this Quiz with 6 questions for your political candidates, to test and mark them on their knowledge of the #StopSprayingNB campaign and the issue:

QUIZ: SSNB’s Questions for Political Candidates 2018 and Quiz Marking tool
(version française ici)

2) Purchase: an Election Sign Topper ($7) for your existing SSNB sign, or buy a SIGN & Topper ($15) to place on your property so that political candidates and other voters are reminded about this campaign that is supported by a hand written petition drive with 35,000 signatories but was ignored by NB Govt.

Payment: email caroline@stopsprayingnb.ca to make payment and pick up arrangements. We have sign-selling volunteers all over NB!

For more information, check out www.stopsprayingnb.ca
Media release: SSNB seeks info on spraying costs to taxpayer
MEDIA RELEASE

SSNB files request for spraying costs
Fredericton – Feb. 5

Today, Stop Spraying New Brunswick, Inc. (SSNB) filed an official request seeking to learn how much the taxpayer pays to have forestry companies spray glyphosate-based herbicides on Crown forests.

“It’s important for the public to know how much they are subsidizing big forestry companies,” stated Vern Faulkner, a director with the non-profit advocacy group. The Right to Information and Privacy Protection Act request, better known as a freedom of information request, asks for total costs spent in 2015, 2016 and 2017.

New Brunswick's Crown Forests: A Priceless Trust - Betrayed

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This video examines the JD Irving and Government of New Brunswick
Crown Land Forestry Plan and explains why it must be stopped.

‪- produced by the Green Party of New Brunswick‬

OBITUARY OF THE ACADIAN FOREST
OBITUARY OF THE ACADIAN FOREST - With great sadness we mourn the sudden, tragic death of more than 12,600 acres/year of Acadian Forest which, until this year, had been placed in the care of its Trustee, the Province of New Brunswick, for heritage conservation purposes. The death was caused by a routine case of what the Province of New Brunswick calls “carefully managed clear cutting." The amount cut is equivalent to cutting Mactaquac Provincial Park 10 times every year and for the next 25 years.

This part of New Brunswick's forest had been entrusted to the Province for perpetual care by rural and urban residents alike for the benefit of all generations. Felled by the tens of thousands, primarily along rivers and streams, the premature and suspicious death means this forest will no longer be able to provide much needed water flow, temperature and flood control.

Along with more severe soil erosion and increased flooding in its communities, this tragic 'death by clear cutting' will further reduce fish populations, notably that of the pride of New Brunswick rivers, the Atlantic Salmon. As well, thousands of deer and countless other species of animals and plants associated with Old Growth Forests will now die because the shelter and food they need to survive that had been provided by the forest was, of course, also destroyed by the clear cut.

The Acadian Forest is survived by a very distant relative, the Tree Plantation, unable to provide the same type of life-giving function of its now dead relative. Meanwhile, yet another 'unnatural death by clear cut' in New Brunswick is prompting calls for an inquest into what has been called the reckless endangerment of all the New Brunswick Forests by their Trustee, the Province. In a stunning admission, the Province of New Brunswick has admitted to openly colluding with serial clear cutters. Adding to the concern is the fact that the Forest estate was stripped of assets by 'serial clear cutters' before its death and so left nothing to the residents of New Brunswick.

The dead forest, more than 10,000 years old and now gone forever, was predeceased by northern cod stocks off the Atlantic coast who also fell victim to "careful management" by their Trustees.

In lieu of flowers and other tokens of mourning for this beloved member of New Brunswick's Natural Family, letters, e-mails, tweets and other expressions of outrage directed to Premier Brian Gallant, Natural Resources Minister Denis Landry, and your MLA are requested.

Rest in peace Acadian Forest.
Spray – Coming to a Clearcut Near You!

How far is it from your home to the nearest clearcut? And is that clearcut on the list to be sprayed this year? You can check out the online map and zero in on this piece of information if you want. But, let me warn you, you really don’t want to know. For me, the spray planes will be about 2 km away. And the runoff from the sprayed area will go downhill into the brook that runs right by me and hey, guess what else, water from the brook irrigates my vegetable garden. Hmmm…..yum. Not to mention any aerial drift that makes it my way.

Never mind! The government’s new report on glyphosate didn’t look at New Brunswickers’ health data although they acknowledge that there are outstanding health questions. And, according to our 2014 forest strategy, we don’t seem to be worried about the health of all the other species who used to live in the once-upon-a-time-woods-but-now-a-clearcut.

One of the more amazing things about this whole scenario is that we pay for the spray with our tax dollars. The Auditor-General, in her 2015 report, criticized the government for losing $53.67 million in the last 5 years on its forest operations due to silviculture costs, including spraying. She didn’t have anything good to say about clearcuts and recommended that we do less, not more. She noted that selective and partial cutting methods are recognized as the best management practices and they also protect water, wildlife habitat and preserve biodiversity.

What is the connection between clearcuts and spray? Clearcuts are sprayed with herbicides and then they are planted in softwood trees. In NB, the natural forest includes both hardwood and softwood trees. After a cut, both types of trees will grow back on their own from the seeds and seedlings that are in the area naturally. Herbicides kill hardwoods, but not softwoods. Softwoods make better lumber so the goal of spraying is to kill the hardwoods - dead in their tracks.

And what happens in other places? According to the government’s report, glyphosate use here is different from everywhere else. Worldwide, 90% of glyphosate is used in agriculture. In NB, 61% is used in forestry, 27% industrial (think NB Power and DTI), and 11% is agriculture. The report found that 40% of the forest land cut in NB in 2014 was sprayed with glyphosate. The Canadian average is 11%. And Quebec, which cut almost 3 times more woods than NB, did not spray at all!

Imagine what might happen if we stopped paying the forest companies to dump this poison on our heads? Would that improve our province’s financial bottomline? Could those millions of dollars be better spent on health and education? I think so!

More info

Link to the GeoNB online spraying map (When you get into GeoNB, click the okay button on the bottom right. If you click on the hyperlink, you get a forest company perspective video. Once you are on the map, to see the planned spray areas you will need to zoom in and wait a bit.)

Link to government report on glyphosate and responses from environmental organizations

Link to November 2015 Statement from groups calling for a new Crown Lands and Forests Act

Link to Stop Spraying NB

Link to Conservation Council of NB
SSNB (StopSprayingNB) Petition Submission/ Présentation de la pétition SSNB
SSNB needs your support us as we step forward to let our voices be heard. Join us at the Legislature for the submission of the SSNB petition signatories. Bring your loud voice and all the signs, noisemakers and conviction you can muster.
Wildlife, forestry and conservation groups join with scientists and academics to call for new Crown Lands and Forests Act
FREDERICTON — A broad range of public interest groups and experts in New Brunswick says new legislation is needed to ensure our public forests are being managed to meet the needs of all New Brunswickers.

The group, which includes representatives from wildlife organizations, the scientific community, private woodlot owners, environmental and conservation organizations, is calling for the urgent development of a new Crown Lands and Forests Act.

In a statement sent to the provincial government today, the group says the existing act, which came into law in 1980, fosters an outdated approach to forest management and fails to reflect the interests of the whole province. Forest management has become more complex, and New Brunswickers now expect forests to be managed for water, wildlife, recreation and other uses as well as jobs and revenue.

The statement referenced Auditor General Kim MacPherson’s June 2015 report on forest management, which stated our public forest should be managed for economic, environmental and social values, and highlighted that the province has lost money from the management of public forests for at least the last five years.

The group says new forest legislation should:

(1) State clear principles for managing public forests to protect the range of life in the forest, nature’s benefits, a wide variety of sustainable, forest-based business opportunities, and recreational values all in the context of climate change;

(2) Clarify and reinstate government as the trustee responsible to the public for the stewardship of Crown lands;

(3) Ensure transparency in setting forestry goals and objectives, and in achieving them, including a robust system of public involvement and consultation throughout the process;

(4) Respect the Peace and Friendship Treaties and establish mechanisms for consultation through free, prior, and informed consent with indigenous peoples;

(5) Support diversification and value-added processing within New Brunswick’s forest products sector; and,

(6) Ensure that private woodlots provide a proportional share of the wood supply and promote productivity from private woodlots through stronger management, pricing and marketing measures.

Read the group’s statement and background information here.

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“Our membership is convinced that opening more conservation land to harvesting of trees in sensitive, stream buffers could endanger vulnerable Atlantic salmon populations by damaging the habitats upon which they depend. It is appalling that such a sweeping change to the forest management regime was forced upon us without any discussion with the concerned watershed groups and conservation groups. We have deepened our commitment to work cooperatively with the provincial government, First Nations, the forest industry, scientists, conservation organizations and other interest groups to better manage our Crown resources,” says Debbie Norton, President of NB Salmon Council.

“What’s really significant here is the broad range of people who are coming together and saying, ‘this act doesn’t work for us anymore — it doesn’t work for the good of the province. Our forests are very special to New Brunswickers, so when this many people and different types of experts are saying something is broken, it’s time to fix it,” says Lois Corbett, Executive Director of the Conservation Council of New Brunswick.

“Naturalists from across New Brunswick are very concerned about the lack of attention the province pays to wildlife and habitat in our public forests. We see the consequences of this every day, we are ready to work with government in developing a new act that better protects New Brunswick nature,” says Vanessa Roy-McDougall, Executive Director of Nature NB.

“NB lags behind all provinces in Canada except PEI when it comes to protecting nature. New legislation could carefully craft new directives about how to balance investments in forest conservation and other economic interests,” says Roberta Clowater, Executive Director of Canadians Parks and Wilderness – New Brunswick.

“The fundamental flaw in the act is that industrial consumers of wood were made managers of crown land and not customers, there are conflicts of interest, that can only be resolved by creating a new CFLA.Wood lot owners believe that the people harvesting crown wood should have a common interest with us in getting fair market value for logs and other forest products. It is time to correct the mistakes of the past for the good of all N.B.,” says Andrew Clark of the New Brunswick Federation of Woodlot Owners.

“The New Brunswick Wildlife Federation supports the use of public forests in the province to provide a variety of social and economic benefits. However, those uses should not compromise the integrity of natural habitats and biodiversity,” says Charles LeBlanc, President of the New Brunswick Wildlife Federation.

For more information or to arrange an interview, contact:

Jon MacNeill, Conservation Council of New Brunswick: 458-8747 | 261-1353 | jon.macneill@conservationcouncil.ca

Sabine Dietz, Nature NB: 536-1260 | 536-7560 | sabine.dietz@bellaliant.net (bilingual)

Andrew Clark, New Brunswick Federation of Woodlot Owners: 459-2990 | 324-3380 | andrewclark@xplornet.com

Peter J Cronin, NB Salmon Council: 444-9012 | 238-4616 | pjcronin18@gmail.com

Roberta Clowater, Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, NB Chapter: 452-9902 | rclowater@cpaws.org

Rod Currie, New Brunswick Wildlife Federation: 458-5643 | racurrie@nb.sympatico.ca