Jaakko Pöyry Study in New Brunswick

slowzuki · November 14, 2003, 04:28:32 PM

Any one following this in New Brunswick, I am currently reading the study http://www.gnb.ca/0078/reports/jpmc.asp

It is a little contraversial as it was commisioned by a large lumber/pulp company then the government was dragged into help pay for it.

The basics of it are: we a short on wood supply so more public land should be opened to harvesting, when harvested they should be replaced with plantings (doesn't distinctly say monoculture but there are nothing but monoculture plantings in the province)

The current situation here is that the market price of pulp and lumber is low, so mills are closing. People think if more wood is brought to market at lower prices, their mills will be able to compete.

I have problems with the study.
1. A lot of loggers here are very small outfits and can't get in on the bidding to harvest public land. Basically only the largest companies can get onto public land.
2. As the prices drop, the private woodlot owner is hurt.
3. Mono culture replanting is undoubtably what will happen, replacing our mixed Acadian forest. It is already hard to find many native hardwoods that were plentiful.
4. How does a shortage in woodsupply correct itself by more logging? Are we overharvesting? Are our replanting and thinning operations not producing the results we need?

I'll have to finish reading the report before I comment further.

slowzuki · November 14, 2003, 04:53:20 PM

After reading it myself, basically the study says open up more public land to forestry and managment because private owners and corperations haven't managed their lan well and the wood supply is shrinking.

I would prefer to see more incentives to improve management of current "working" land than open up new land.

I'm curious as most of the readers seem to be western and the forests are *very* different on the coasts. Maybe some european point of views will show up too.
Ken

theonlybull · November 27, 2003, 03:48:11 PM

slow, i haven't had a chance to read that report, but being from the marintimes, i know what your talking about ( and the company your refering to). the monoculture plantings are killing the forrest, they cannot resist infestaions of any kind.
mostly, they are down to the private land owner, who will not sell thier resources, because they don't like the way the big companies "manage" the wood lots...

they replant what they have to, in what sells the best. everything else(including private land) gets flattened, and usually a mess is left behind.

Scott · November 28, 2003, 06:54:59 AM

I agree with both of your veiws. The proposed plan will only help the company that sponsors it and will likely put other mills and loggers into a far worse position. I find our forestry laws and harvesting regulations are either non existant or not enforced. A lot contractors do some pretty disgusting work around here, theyre real butchers.