But changes need to be made to boost battered industry, experts say

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THE CANADIAN PRESS

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FREDERICTON - New Brunswick is being told the sun will rise again on its battered forestry industry, but at least one expert is warning the province will have to be prepared to grow a lot more trees.

Two freshly minted reports released yesterday, one on wood supply and the other on investment possibilities, have presented the New Brunswick government with a menu of options to rescue the all-important forestry sector before it vanishes.

After months of downsizing and mill closures, the New Brunswick government asked experts to find out whether forestry -- long the biggest, most important sector in the Maritime province -- is a sunset industry.

Don Roberts of CIBC World Markets Inc. and author of the investment report said forestry is going through a crisis.

"I don't mean to be flippant, but a crisis is a terrible thing to waste," he said as the reports were made public in Fredericton.

"You've suffered the pain, now use it as a reason to make some changes. You're at a fork in the road, quite frankly. A lot of jurisdictions are."

Roberts said the good news is that the perfect storm of problems that slammed the New Brunswick forest industry is travelling to other areas of the globe -- problems such as soaring energy and wood costs.

"Not that misery loves company, but bring it on," he said.

"This isn't bad news for us. It means we will see further closures in our competing regions, greater supply reductions, greater opportunities in a number of respects."

Roberts said if the province wants to use forestry to generate more wealth, it will have to generate more wood supply.

"Depending on the level of wealth you want to create, I would suggest you want to grow more trees."

The second report outlined a number of scenarios for increasing wood supply, including one that would reduce conservation areas and increase forest plantations.

Thom Erdle, author of the supply report, said policy-makers have to realize that a large plantation base would mean less natural forest, less old forest and more clear cuts.

"That can be deemed socially undesirable," he said.

David Coon of the New Brunswick Conservation Council, an environmental watchdog, said he's afraid the province may go with more plantations to increase the supply of softwoods, a move he says would kill the traditional Acadian forest and threaten wildlife habitat.

Coon said the government should hold public hearings before it announces its plans for forestry.

But Natural Resources Minister Don Arseneault said there have been enough studies and it's time to act.

He said the provincial Liberal government will announce what actions it will take before the end of the year.