Concerns with public forest management on the big screen

Charles Thériault, a filmmaker from the northern New Brunswick community of Kedgwick, is making a documentary to answer the question, “Is our forest really ours?”

Thériault will show some of his films and speak in Fredericton on Thursday, April 18th at 7:00 pm at Conserver House, 180 Saint John St. All are welcome.

Many thinkers on forest management and people touched by clearcutting and forest mismanagement are featured in his docu-web series.

Jean-Guy Comeau, a Northumberland Country woodlot owner and retired mill worker, says that New Brunswickers must regain control of the forest for the benefit of all.

Edmundston-based Professor Stephen Wyatt argues for a modernization of forest management in New Brunswick.

Thériault exposes the clearcutting going on next to Crown forest surrounding the Irving family fishing camp on the Restigouche River. He visits Scoutmaster Jean-Guy Levesque, devastated by a clearcut behind his scouts’ camp, and Bill Miller of Nictau, shocked by the decimation of his family’s maple sap camp.

In one of the more popular episodes, Thériault explains how two former New Brunswick politicians, Frank McKenna and Bud Bird, were key players in creating and modifying the Crown Forest of 1982 in such a way that it benefited companies tied to them.

Don McCrea explains how the 1982 N.B. Crown Forest Act really came about and why he later refused to accept the post of Deputy Minister of Natural Resources.

Visit: http://isourforestreallyours.com.