Illegal Logging in New Brunswick Worries Officials
8/26/99
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Title: Illegal logging worries officials
Source: Quebecor New Media Limited Partnership
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: August 26, 1999
TRACADIE-SHEILA, N.B. (CP) -- There's renewed concern in New Brunswick
about illegal logging on Crown land.
The Natural Resources Department says illegal logging by people in
rural areas is on the rise. Some officials are worried it's becoming a
way of life.
One cord of wood can fetch up to $130. It's estimated that more than
400 cords are illegally cut in New Brunswick's forests every day.
There are 360 rangers and wardens to patrol more than three million
hectares of Crown land. Wayne Clowater, a department official, says
that's just not enough.
Natural Resources Minister Jeannot Volpe says the budget doesn't allow
for more rangers. But he says stiffer penalties are definitely needed.
The province has been in a year-long fight to keep aboriginal loggers
off of Crown lands.
New Brunswick natives enjoyed a lucrative, albeit brief, time in the
forests last year after a court ruled that ancient treaty rights
entitled them to the wood.
The decision was eventually overturned on appeal.
Copyright c 1999, Quebecor New Media Limited Partnership