Study “wake-up call” that forestry practices need to change: Corbett

Our Executive Director, Lois Corbett, says a comprehensive new study from Natural Resources Canada should be a wake-up call to the provincial government that the way we manage our forest needs to change, and fast.

The peer-reviewed study, led by Fredericton-based forest ecologist Anthony Taylor, found that climate change and global heating is likely to drastically reduce the number of balsam fir in our woods, a staple species for New Brunswick’s traditional pulp and paper industry. 

Published in the journal Forest Ecology Management, the study says there is only a 20 per cent chance that stands of balsam fir — New Brunswick’s provincial tree — will regenerate naturally in our woods by 2085. 

“It shows the old way of managing forests, especially Crown forests, isn’t going to work over the longer term,” Corbett told the Canadian Press for an article published in the Globe and Mail on Feb. 21

“Not only is the profit of large corporations at risk, but the sustainability of the forest itself, the species the forests protects and the jobs and the economy the forest creates are affected. It’s a cry for a large change in forestry management.”

If you don’t have a subscription to the Globe and Mail, you can read the full story here.

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