The benefits of membership
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You have the opportunity to be consulted on questions of strategic direction and policy positions. You have ideas and opinions that we want to hear!
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You will receive regular updates and monthly newsletters that include notice of events, educational opportunities, and projects and updates on all matters that concern private woodlot owners.
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Deals for members! Members receive discounts on all NBFWO events and can receive a $6 discount on a 1-year subscription to the Atlantic Forestry Review (and we are working on more deals for members).
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We lobby / advocate on behalf of all private woodlot owners in New Brunswick. We support all woodlot owner values and objectives.
What is lobbying?
Lobbying is a strategic process through which we aim to influence governmental decisions at various levels. Our objective is to steer policies in favor of the prosperity and well-being of woodlot owners, while also safeguarding against actions that could be detrimental to the woodlot sector.
Lobbying needs to be both reactive and proactive. Reactive is keeping abreast of issues, policies discussions, and activities by government and others that may affect woodlot owners and ownership, then responding to them. Proactive is determining beliefs, ‘positions’, and policies irrespective of others and advancing them because they are important to woodlot owners success.
Below are some of the issues we discuss with government.
The VALUE of private forest lands should not be underestimated.
Private woodlots provide a wide range of economic, environmental, social and emotional goods and services to their owners and society at large;
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Economic - primary and secondary woodlot products (eg. timber, biomass)
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add $875 million per year to the NB economy
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PLUS spinoffs like buying safety equipment, fuel, etc.
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Non timber forest products – medicinal plants, edible plants and fungi, Christmas trees, maple syrup, etc.
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Environmental services – carbon capture and storage, water filtration and storage, habitat for plants and animals (biodiversity)
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private lands can help the government get to net zero
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Social services – emotional well-being, mental health, recreation - bird watching, hunting, hiking, snowmobiling, ATVing, etc (trails are not all on crown land)
NB private forest lands cover 1.7 million ha or 30% of the land base
picture from the State of the Forest Report 2023, GNB
Private land is not the same as crown land and it needs to be treated differently.
Private land cannot be an afterthought to the government. It needs to be seen as a priority.
We all know that owning private forest land is expensive. You have to create and maintain your own roads, manage your resources, and it costs money to harvest. Many land owners are now asking, 'Why am I keeping it? I could make more money in developing the land.' That is 1.7 million hectares of forested that is at potential risk of being lost to development. That would be a hard hit for biodiversity across the province.
Private land owners need:
- optimism that there is a vibrant future for woodlots
- help achieving their woodlots potential - whatever the owners goals are
- encouragement to be involved
There has to be incentive for owners to keep their land forested, and there needs to be structure that facilitates it.
Both a tax structure support system and environmental policy to support that.
There are over 42,000 private woodlot owners in New Brunswick.
We deserve a voice at the table when it comes to the policies that impact us.