International Day of Forests 2017
Bad forest management and practices affect us
That's why last fall Green Party leader David Coon, MLA for Fredericton South, pushed forward the principles of a new Forest Sustainability Act in the Legislative Assembly. These principles would benefit not just a few but all New Brunswickers, and would respect our treaty relationships with indigenous peoples.
A diverse forest can keep water clean and wildlife plentiful, create forest-related jobs and best cope with consequences from a changing climate. Current unscientific and unsustainable harvesting practices cannot continue, David says. We are massively subsidizing the forest industry, and getting little in return.
Greens want to:
-
Restore the status of private woodlots as the primary source of wood supply to mills.
-
Replace the Crown Lands and Forests Act with a Crown Land and Forest Sustainability Act. The Act would create a new management structure that respects our treaty relationship with First Nations.
-
Work with forest-based communities, linking access to forest resources to local regions while protecting water, fish, and wildlife.
-
Implement a plan to protect and restore Acadian forest biodiversity, ending logging in any remaining old growth forest.
-
Provide for the creation of community Forest licenses, as has been done in BC, adjacent to and within municipalities and First nations.
-
Stop tax-payer funded glyphosate spraying on NB crown land forests ($2.2M/year), and a return to employing silviculture workers to do the thinning on soft-wood plantations.