J.D. Irving Statement Regarding NB Crown Allocations and Private Wood

CANADA (News release) -- The Province's initiative to increase efficiency and accountability in the New Brunswick private wood market is something we fully support as well as increased transparency on Crown land. This is the right thing to do for New Brunswickers. Private woodlot owners and producers are vital partners in sustaining mills and thousands of jobs across New Brunswick.

Wood is the ultimate renewable resource. Global demand for products made from wood is expected to grow 30% per year as people focus on low carbon solutions to fight climate change, green building products that sequester carbon and a shift away from single use plastics. New Brunswick is ideally positioned to meet this demand with sustainably managed and resilient forests. After close to 40 years of tree planting and over $450 million in silviculture investments on Crown land, New Brunswick's Crown wood supply could be sustainably increased. We believe New Brunswicker's deserve to see the maximum environmental and economic benefits on their investment.

While other jurisdictions are facing shrinking wood supplies, curtailments and job losses, New Brunswick's time has come. It has an increasing conservation forest, a growing wood supply, an industry willing to invest, and a forest resource that is absorbing more carbon than it emits. It is rare that a sector delivers climate change benefits, jobs, conservation areas and investment with local suppliers. New Brunswick's diverse forests do this on private and Crown land.

We believe that New Brunswick will be presented with opportunities to grow the Provincial economy in the next five years. Wood is good and New Brunswick should celebrate all that our diverse forests provide. We urge the Province to reconsider its hold on Crown volume until 2025 so that it may respond quickly and appropriately to opportunities as they arise.

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