Sam Macdonald Fredericton, Moncton, New Brunswick, News, Saint John 0

Louise Poitras, executive director of the New Brunswick Maple Syrup Association , says maple syrup harvesters want 12,000 more acres of Crown land for production over the next 10 years to accommodate anticipated growth.

She stressed that time is of the essence for a government decision. The maple industry in New Brunswick has seen a 20 percent increase in exports since 2020 and sold a record-setting 10 million pounds (786,000 gallons) of maple syrup in 2021, with around $33-million in sales.

If the government granted access to 12,000 hectares, Poitras says, it would allow members to double their yield in 2022.

“We need those hectares to grow and we’re seeing forest companies cutting selectively into our growth plans,” said Poitras.

“They’re taking maple out of those growth plans so there’ll be less yield because there’s less maple. If they continue cutting beside or adjacent to maple sugaries there won’t be any more maple trees,” she says, noting it takes maple trees 75 years to grow enough to be tapped.

Poitras says the 150-member association is frustrated with a lack of government action. She says there’s been a “wall of silence” since September 2021.

“We identified land, submitted it to the government [and] have been told, from one month to the next, ‘the announcement is coming,’” Poitras says. “It’s land, sometimes just parcels, which sometimes doesn’t even interest forestry companies because [it’s] way back.”

Maple syrup producers are allowed to operate on 14,000 hectares of Crown land. In 2015, maple producers asked for access to 10,000 more hectares and were granted access to 4,400.

Poitras says 12,000 hectares would almost double production while using only about 0.4 percent of New Brunswick’s Crown land.

“I don’t see how less than one per cent can have an impact on the forestry companies, do you?”

Kim Allen, executive director of Forestry NB, which represents New Brunswick forestry companies, says those numbers are misleading.

“The Maple Syrup Association is saying they’re only asking for 0.4 percent but that’s not accurate. It might be 0.4 percent of the entire Crown land area but you can’t produce maple syrup in a softwood stand,” says Allen.

“So if you’re looking at only 30 percent of that three-million hectares, it’s a significantly higher percentage.”

“We don’t know what area they’re specifically talking about. The Department of Natural Resources has already identified areas that are managed through the High Content Maple Management Policy,” Allen adds.

In a piece published on its website, Forestry NB calls for collaboration between the maple syrup industry and the province’s forestry businesses, in an effort to rebut what Allen called misinformation spread by the Maple Syrup Association.

Allan says the maple syrup association’s portrayal of the forestry sector is disturbing. She pushes back against Poitras’ claims that the forestry sector is harvesting from proposed high-maple-content forest areas.

“They’ve made claims about the forestry industry clear-cutting next to their existing sugaries and taking all of that maple – and that’s simply not true,” she says.

Allen notes forestry companies are mandated by the High Content Maple Special Management Zone Policy to maintain stands with high maple content, and that much of New Brunswick’s hardwood land is in, or being considered for conservation.

“Licensees can’t go in and cut everything that is there because there are potential areas that could be used for maple production or other things,” she says.

Poitras stresses that the province has the final say in changes to forest management, and must act.

“The forestry companies don’t decide on how many hectares they get or not – it’s the province,” Poitras says. “The province needs to break that silence, listen to the industry, and act.”

Allen says the province’s three-million hectares of forested Crown land is leased for more purposes – such as camp lots. Of that land, about 30 percent is hardwood.

Forestry NB is also concerned about New Brunswick’s hardwood supply, Allen notes.

“We have a number of members who utilize hardwood, and we know from working with the government that the hardwood availability is currently in decline,” says Allen.

She notes that if areas with high numbers of maple trees are put into syrup production it will further strain hardwood supply for forestry.

Huddle asked Allen, and Natural Resources and Energy Spokesperson Nick Brown, for numbers relating to forestry utilization of Crown land and neither were able to provide specific figures.

In a call, Brown said comparing sugaries’ usage of Crown land versus forestry’s is an “apples-to-oranges comparison” of two industries on different scales since one utilizes only one type of tree and the other relies on a variety of hardwood and softwood species.

Brown said several requests have been made to expand the leased area for the maple industry, mostly in the northwest, where the majority of the province’s hardwood logging industry is carried out.

He said the department has received an expansion plan from the maple industry and is evaluating it against all other possible land uses.

“We are working to advance this file, which will include consultation with First Nations and further discussion with industry,” he said.

Brown said there are 186,000 hectares of maple-dominated Crown land in New Brunswick. Of that, 7.7 percent is leased to New Brunswick sugaries and 45,000 hectares are set aside for conservation.

Brown said a 12,000-hectare expansion for maple syrup production in that area would mean more than a quarter of maple-dominated stands in the northwest would be leased to sugaries.

Sam Macdonald is a Huddle reporter in Moncton. Send him your feedback and story ideas: [email protected] .

New Brunswick, News, Saint John

Huddle will only approve your comment if you provide your first and last name.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.