Letter to the editor

A9

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Speak Up

Mark Arseneault of the N.B. Forest Products Association attempts to discredit the Conservation Council in two letters to the editor last week by calling our statements inaccurate when in fact he is the one propagating the myth that we can't have both conservation and jobs.

By not conserving the diversity of a forest, we limit options for a diversity of jobs as well. Arseneault as well as J.D. Irving employees were quick to point out the loss of 3,600 jobs with the conservation option presented in the Erdle options report during forest information sessions held across the province last week.

However, the job estimates presented in the Erdle report were calculated based on figures from before the wave of mill closures. The job estimates are based on an incorrect assumption that high employment levels are produced from a high annual allowable cut; this has proven not to be the case.

The annual allowable cut has remained steady over the past few years and a record volume of timber has also been cut from Crown lands from 2006 to 2007, yet thousands of jobs were lost in the forestry sector. We clearly need a new path.

A new report called "Dollars and Sense" looks at the value of timber in old-growth forest in British Columbia. The report concludes that, "in 72 of 81 scenarios, increased forest conservation yields better economic returns than does status quo logging and limited conservation."

Don Roberts, the CIBC forest analyst contracted by Business New Brunswick, is making the controversial policy recommendation of scrapping appurtenancy rules — which means separating wood allocations from local mills or processing plants. Removing appurtenancy clauses would not only export raw resources from our communities, it would also export the processing jobs as well.

Unfortunately, industry is attacking the conservation option, using projected job losses as leverage, when really they only care about increasing profits by gaining access to coveted conservation areas where the last big old trees are found.

Tracy Glynn

Acadian Forest Campaign Coordinator,

Conservation Council of New Brunswick