Protected Natural Areas of New Brunswick
New Brunswick's protected areas were first created in New Brunswick in May 2001, following a years-long debate throughout the province. At the time, 10 areas of size were designated as protected, and since then, others have been added to the list, now numbering 61 in total. The total amount of lan protected under the act is 158,713 hectares (2.1% of New Brunswick's 7 million hectare landbase).
The Protected Natural Areas Act allowed for the creation of 2 categories of protected areas, called Class I and Class II. Areas in both categories are protected from all forms of development, including construction, road building, mining, and forestry. Class I areas, of which there are 4 small ones, are areas which are deemed very sensitive and are therefore restricted areas requiring provincial permits to enter. Class II areas remain open to recreational activities, fishing and hunting.
Issues
Although the number of areas protected seems large, our protected areas system remains inadequate. Areas have been protected for the urpose of protecting the ecosystems or environmental features within them. However, to do this well, the area needs to be large enough to contain these features, as well as enough area around them to buffer them from human activities. Some scientists state that protected areas should be a minimum of 25,000 hectares in size. In New Brunswick we have 7 protected areas which are greater than 10,000 hectares, 2 of which are greater than 25,000 hectares. 50 protected areas are less than 1000 hectares in size, with the smallest being 3.5 hectares in size.