Whither Our Forests?
Recently I had the opportunity to take a tour back in the SouthEast on the Upsalquitch Licence. This tour was with the Bowater Forest Advisory Committee, on which I currently serve as Chair. Many of the committee members were present for the tour, and there were perhaps half a dozen Bowater employees. We also had representatives from Regenord, Ltee, a forestry consulting firm from Kedgwick that does considerable contract work for Bowater. Last, and very satisfyingly we had several people from the Fredericton office of the Department of Natural Resources and our newly minted Minister of that same department, Dalhousie/Restigouche East MLA Donald Arsenault. In all, it was a rather impressive group to have tramping about in the woods on a gray, late fall day.
We were all there in common cause, and that was to gain a better understanding of issues facing this particular forest company but also the industry as a whole. Everyone who has the slightest interest in the future of the Crown Land Forests in New Brunswick - regardless of where that interest lies - realizes that the forest itself is approaching something of a crisis state within the next few years. Critical decisions about the extent, the location, and the nature of the harvesting have to be made soon if that future is to have any sort of stability. There is no sense in lamenting the malpractices of the past; instead, they must be considered only in terms of what they can teach us and govern those decisions for the future. That was the message that seemed to resonate as we gathered to discuss this or that particular on each of the several scheduled stops on the tour.
I consider myself to be a naturalist, and that is the group whom I represent on the Advisory Committee. A few years ago, I would have been considered to be in an adversary position, but that old "we versus they" mentality has largely disappeared as all stakeholders realize that the long term health of the forest benefits everyone and that we can all work toward that goal more efficiently and effectively if we can find common ground. To hear foresters talking about the desirability of getting rid of such practices as herbicide spraying and large scale clearcutting is as encouraging to an old naturalist such as me as, I feel certain, my expressions of understanding of certain decisions are to those for whom the forest remains a financial resource.
Two things stand out in my mind as I think back to that day. One of them is the growing realization on the part of all the stakeholders in the Upsalquitch Licence is that Bowater and its predecessors have, on the whole, done a decent job in managing the forests of the licence. This is especially evident when one considers what is happening on other holdings, and how mismanagement there has created pressure on the government to consider forcing Bowater to "share" some of its allocations over the next couple of planning cycles what, unfortunately, seems to be a classic example of compensating those who have messed up by penalizing those who have been more prudent.
The other thing to stand out was my impression of Mr. Arsenault's demeanour that day. He presented himself simply as someone very willing to listen and learn. He made no pronouncements, demanded no front-and-centre positioning, and gave no impression that this was simply a chore to be performed. I thought that this is a very good sign. If he represents a new, young government that is willing to consider carefully before making decisions that may be politically expedient but ecologically disastrous, then there may be some hope that, indeed, we will have a forest to be proud of in twenty or fifty years time.
