Public forest - CPAWS New Brunswick

Help protect New Brunswick’s forests!

New Brunswick’s Acadian Forests dominate our landscape. Their long-lived, towering trees keep our rivers cool and filter their waters. They provide homes for iconic Canadian species, including Canada lynx, American marten, flying squirrels, moose, deer, and once even caribou. Warblers, barred owls, hazelnuts, and fiddleheads have thrived in the midst of these giants. They protect us from extreme flooding, erosion, drought and heat stress. Our forests also provide a place for us to walk, hike, camp, and to simply get away to reflect and connect with nature.

New Brunswick currently protects less than 10% of our forests from development and industrial activity. That is way below the bare minimum needed to conserve our wildlife and wilderness values for the future. New Brunswick is lagging behind other provinces in Canada in the proportion of land we’ve protected. It’s nowhere near enough!

CPAWS had recommended that at least 17% of New Brunswick’s Crown land, including the largest patches of old forest, be designated by 2015 as permanently protected areas. We also asked the province to immediately take action to keep all of the Crown land they were conserving as old forests, wildlife habitat and riverbank buffers.

Forests need more protection

We need more forests protected and managed to help protect communities and wildlife. Forests need to be managed as healthy ecosystems that promote, among other things, biodiversity, ecological integrity, maintenance of values of importance to the public and Indigenous communities, and economic opportunities. A thriving forestry industry can exist without compromising environmental and social values.

CPAWS had recommended that at least 30% of New Brunswick’s Crown land, including the largest patches of old forest, be legally protected by 2030. We also asked the province to immediately take action to keep all of the Crown land they were conserving as old forests, wildlife habitat and riverbank buffers.

The Government of New Brunswick has committed to set a new and more ambitions protected areas target by the end of 2024, as of no new target for protection has been established.

What's Wrong

The provincial government created new Protected Natural Areas in 2014. This brought New Brunswick’s proportion of protected land up to 4.7% of the province. Since then, more areas have been added, so that we now have around 10% protected

At the same time, government removed conservation from more than one-quarter of our public land they used to manage to conserve fish, wildlife habitat and our rivers. The forestry industry has access to these previously conserved habitats for increased logging and clear-cutting. Researchers are very concerned that it will be difficult to conserve viable populations of all our wildlife under this plan.

The strategy puts at risk our cold-water rivers and their wild Atlantic salmon populations. Old forests in the headwaters of the Restigouche and Miramichi Rivers used to provide shady habitat, but now are open for increased clear-cutting.

At the same time, government will allow industry to double the amount of tree plantations, to occupy one-quarter of Crown forests. Tree plantations are NOT the same as old growth mixed forests, and take away habitat vital for the survival of native wildlife such as barred owls, flying squirrels and American marten.

For our forests to be resilient to climate change, we need to conserve diversity and natural forests. The current strategy is reducing natural diversity in forests and along waterways. This increases the risk new or increased pests and diseases, droughts, floods and fires will degrade our forests.

The majority of the public told the Select Committee on Wood Supply in 2004 they do not want government to sacrifice fish and wildlife habitat to increase wood supply. The Select Committee rejected industry’s request to put a cap on conservation zones, and instead recommended that government reduce the amount of clear-cutting.

A survey of New Brunswickers in 2014 found that a large majority place highest priority on protecting our forests to conserve fresh water, air and wildlife habitat. Our citizens expect government to stand up for core public values, and to conserve what remains of our natural forests.

The survey showed that people want more say in how government manages our forests. Government has still not implemented any consultation strategy to involve the public in shaping our forests’ future.

CPAWS is recommending that at least 30% of the province, including the largest patches of old forest, be designated by 2030 in permanent protected areas. These areas would prohibit logging and mining, and be open to outdoor recreation. This amount will align New Brunswick with Federal commitments.

CPAWS is recommending the province bring back conservation to the parts of Crown land they were conserving as old forests, wildlife habitat and riverbank buffers. What we have now is below the bare minimum required to conserve all the wildlife that need old forests.

If we take these steps, New Brunswick will be doing our fair share to protect wilderness areas and wildlife, and the significant tourism and ecotourism jobs that go with them. We will be protecting our forests to be resilient to climate change. This will conserve the richness of the forest, and help provide ecological services and resources we need (from river protection to timber).