#StopSprayingNB
Our table is set up at BOOTH #407!
COME for a chat and to sign a letter to your MLA!
Link to the letter in case you cannot make it to the show: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bTMmtrlXs6bYi8uJIJvkeagmSxMDULgg/view?fbclid=IwY2xjawJdAnhleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHpY9KlHtqXdaoFVzktndQuYMHnlZ9zjtMOAVQW4t_PwiOJ4ZjufEM8QJF0BE_aem_YrtgrMVYvyHK5ZRuoJppYA
“A new report shows pesticides are sprayed on Canadian forests up to 7 times in the forestry cycle, not just once – as assumed in Health Canada’s approval for spraying. It also shows the risks to people eating forest foods, including Indigenous people and foragers, have not been assessed.
The report, written by Safe Food Matters Inc., presents data compiled by the Wilderness Committee and Stop Spraying New Brunswick showing cutblocks in New Brunswick and British Columbia have been sprayed 2, 3 or more times with glyphosate, the main pesticide used in forestry. It presents evidence that many Indigenous people eat forest foods, putting them at risk.
Recent science from the University of Northern BC shows glyphosate accumulates and persists for years in forest plants like berries and roots. When asked about the science, the Pest Management Regulatory Agency of Health Canada said its current risk assessment is “protective”, even though it is based on data on what Americans eat, not Canadians.
Data on spraying is not publicly accessible in Ontario and other regions heavily sprayed.
Based on the report, groups are signing an Open Letter to the Health Minister to cancel the approval. (To be added, email SafeFoodMatters@gmail.com with “Cancel Forest Use” and contact details.)
Dr. Caroline Lubbe-D’Arcy, chair, Stop Spraying New Brunswick, on the repeated assumption:
“We’ve been campaigning to end Crown forest spraying since 2015. Our provincial government often repeats PMRA’s assumption that spraying only occurs once or twice during the lifespan of a softwood plantation managed with herbicides. Through our mapping tool we have identified many blocks that are treated more frequently. The PMRA needs to address this issue.”
James Steidle, founder, Stop the Spray B.C. on BC spraying:
“The data shows a lot of forest “over” spraying in the Prince George area, and the end effect is a dramatic reduction of forest and deciduous diversity that many declining species like moose rely on. This over spraying has long term effects, and it needs to be banned immediately.”
Caroline Recollet, elder, TEK Elders on the lack of spray data:
“It is absolutely shocking that Ontario’s government is not responsive to any requests for information about how glyphosate-based herbicides are really used on our forests or how that use is affecting our forests, water, and wildlife.”
Safe Food Matters Inc. is a Canadian charity working for safe food. It sued over the 2017 registration of glyphosate and won, but had to sue again. It recently won in Federal Court, with co-applicants represented by Ecojustice, concerning the renewal of a glyphosate product, and PMRA must return with an updated view of the science before September.
We are looking for VOLUNTEERS FOR THESE DATES: Friday April 4- Sunday April 6, 2025
SSNB will have an information table again at The Moncton Sportsmen Show at The Moncton Coliseum. We will have information and of course we will have our popular SSNB merchandise for sale (lawn signs, stickers, front licence plates). We can do cash transactions, e-transfers and payments via Paypal.
Hours for the show this year:
Please email us at stopsprayinginnewbrunswick@gmail.com with your availability.
A warm thank you to Conservation Council of New Brunswick! CCNB has been kind enough to give us financial assistance to cover the cost of the information table and printing costs.
Dear supporters, we have good news! SSNB board members had a very good first meeting right after the 2024 provincial election, on November 1, 2024, with Moncton Liberal MLA Alexandre Doucet and Education Minister Claire Johnson, whom had both signed our pledge during the NB Election 2024 campaign!
They were so generous with their time. We finally have advocates for the #StopSprayingNB issue inside a governing political party. This means that they will work to get other elected members on side in our new Government of New Brunswick. We will post updates.
The NB Liberal Government has committed to:
-Looking into alternatives to herbicide spraying on our public forests.
-Finally implementing the 20 recommendations made in November 2021 by a Legislative Committee, called the Committee on Climate Change and Environmental Stewardship. https://www.legnb.ca/content/committees/climate_change_and_environmental_stewardship/reports/60-1/20211102ClimateChangeFirstReport.pdf.
and has put these promises as tasks in the mandate letters sent to the following Ministers:
-Gilles Lepage (Dept of Env.)
-John Herron (Natural Resources – note that Energy now has a different minister)
-John Dornan (Health)
-Luke Randall (Economic Development)
-René Legacy (Finance)
-Pat Finnigan (Agriculture-although our issue and the mandate does not target agriculture).
LINK TO MANDATE LETTERS:
Read more: Post NB Election UpdateHere is the list of recommendations by the Committee on Climate Change and Environmental Stewardship:
Pesticides Advisory Board
Crown Lands and Forests Advisory Board
Crown Lands and Forests Advisory Board
Forest Management and Ecosystem Protection:
Increased Restrictions on Spraying
Further Monitoring and Research
Public Education and Awareness
FUNDRAISER APPEAL as SSNB prepares for the upcoming #NBElection24! We need to raise $6000 to cover sign and billboard expenses. (as of September 12’24 we have raised close to $1500!)
Donations can be made via:
– e-transfers to: stopsprayinginnewbrunswick@gmail.com
– via Paypal to Stop Spraying NB
– by cheque to Stop Spraying NB mailed to 104 Argyle Street, Fredericton, NB E3B 1T5.
ELECTIONS NB RULES: YOU NEED TO SEND ME YOUR FULL NAME AND ADDRESS when you donate (you can add this info while you submit the etransfer)
SSNB just registered as a third party with ElectionsNB. As a registered third party, we can place our signs in public areas just like election candidates do.
We need volunteers who can put our signs up in their riding. We are also looking for people who are willing to do the work to build a frame and put up an SSNB billboard in visible areas. In 2018 we had 6 billboards scattered around NB along secondary roads or at highway exits. Please email us at stopsprayinginnewbrunswick@gmail.com if you can help out OR have a property along a highway with a lot of traffic that can host a billboard.
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TEXT of this letter:
DATE: _______________________________
Legislative Building, Centre Block [706 Queen St], PO Box 6000, Fredericton, NB, E3B 5H1
Dear MLA ____________________________________,
SUBJECT: BAN ALL HERBICIDE SPRAYING OF OUR PUBLIC FORESTS IN NEW BRUNSWICK
“Food sources are gone after spraying. Wildlife dies off due to this. It is a massive loss of food, diversity, cover, and habitat. I’ve gone hunting and there is no life after they sprayed. Sprayed plantations are not forests.” (Luc Albert, New Brunswick resident)
I am writing to you because our public forests are in trouble. Please do not ignore the problem of our degraded public forests. The loss of wildlife, fish, and birds in our forests, and the loss of forestry jobs, are directly related to the loss of our mixed hardwood forests.
I need to hear answers from you, my MLA, to the following questions. I understand that at last year’s Moncton Sportsmen Show (March 24-26, 2023), a total of 158 letters addressing this issue were signed by constituents from across New Brunswick and delivered to their MLAs. Several of the constituents who signed these letters have reported that they did not receive a response, which indicates that their concerns about herbicide spraying, and wildlife were simply ignored. New Brunswickers concerned about the loss of animals and their habitat in our forests have a right to have their letters answered by their elected MLAs.
Should MLAs be re-elected if they don’t want to answer questions from their own constituents?
QUESTION 1: WILL YOU PUBLICLY COMMIT TO A BAN ON ALL HERBICIDE SPRAYING ON OUR PUBLIC FORESTS and NB POWER CORRIDORS?
The Province of Québec has been successfully managing their forests for the last two (2) decades without the use of herbicides. Quebec uses manual silviculture, plants larger seedlings, and practices careful logging around advanced growth (CLAAG). Compared with New Brunswick, Québec has a much higher job creation per 100,000 hectares of forests. Québec encourages many different forest companies and small wood producers, including the use of an auction system (as does Maine) and added-value hardwood industries.
QUESTION 2: WILL YOU PUBLICLY COMMIT TO RESTORING THE DEER WINTERING YARDS IN OUR PUBLIC FORESTS?
The number of deer wintering yards were cut in half (1/2) in 2012, and again in 2014. Today, deer yards in New Brunswick are only one-quarter (1/4) of what they once were.
QUESTION 3: WILL YOU PUBLICLY COMMIT TO PROTECTING 30% OF OUR PUBLIC FORESTS BY 2030?
Our neighbours have already made this commitment. Québec will conserve 30% by 2030, and Nova Scotia will conserve 30% by 2030. NB Dept. of Natural Resources recently claimed they are committed to conserving 30% of Crown Forest land but Stop Spraying NB has learned that this includes watercourse and wetland buffers, which will constitute 9% of the 30%. These buffers are in fact mandatory by law and are simply the thin 30-metre-wide strips of vegetation left along rivers, streams, and wetlands when forests are clearcut, sprayed or when land near waterways is developed. These 30-metre-wide strips have never been counted as “conservation forest”, and they should not be. The government of New Brunswick is misleading New Brunswickers. In fact, the government has in fact reduced conservation forest from 23% down to 21%.
Thank you for your attention to this important issue. I look forward to your answer to my three (3) questions.
Sincerely yours,
Signature: __________________________ Print name: _______________________________
Address: _____________________________________________________________________
In late July’23, GNB released herbicide (glyphosate) spray licenses issued for 2023 spray season. The red dots in the image below show all the approved spray blocks for 2023: light green background shows Crown (public) land, pink Freehold forest, and no colour is private forest land. The purple areas are protected watersheds.
We have crunched the data using the spray maps we have generated using GNB data (GNB has not published yet which Crown forest land blocks were actually sprayed in 2022), and you can see that GNB issued a lot more spray licenses for 2023: 14% more on Crown forest land, 345 more on Freehold land (large forest corps own this), and 205 less on private forest land (woodlot owners). In total 39% more licenses issued.
Please note that the 2023 forest herbicide spray license map reflects Crown (public), Freehold and private spray licenses for 2023. LINK: https://www.arcgis.com/apps/View/index.html?appid=b3b16d5f435c43168bd759a361401464&fbclid=IwAR3OOus45rpZTavUD0J978jPQ0UtfhRr2LK3RVMi8-yO9-GrNpxKSz7kJwk
The historic forest spray map for New Brunswick only shows Crown (public) spray blocks because GNB does not release data after spray season on Freehold or private land.
OUR MEDIA RELEASE
JUNE 16, 2023
Stop Spraying NB responds to Federal Minister of Health’s response to Glyphosate petition initiated by documentary maker Jennifer Baichwal and tabled by MP Jenica Atwin on May 2, 2023.
FREDERICTON, N.B. – Stop Spraying NB (SSNB) just learned that the Federal Health Minister has responded to a petition to ban glyphosate initiated by documentary maker Jennifer Baichwal and tabled by MP Jenica Atwin on May 2, 2023. This response was tabled at the House of Commons on June 15, 2023.
SSNB’s mandate is focused on the use of herbicides on Crown (public) land and by NB Power. Therefore our response to the Health Minister’s response is focused on statements made about glyphosate use in forestry.
The Minister of Health claims this: “ With regards to glyphosate use in forestry, Health Canada has concluded that this use is acceptable, when label directions are followed. These findings were based on an extensive review of the available scientific information on glyphosate. A forest cultivation site would receive one or at most two treatments early on in a 50-to-80-year cultivation cycle.”
This statement by the Federal Minister of Health does not reflect the actual pattern of use in New Brunswick’s Crown (public) forests. GNB releases data of sprayed crown land PIDs in a data dump that is accessible to, but not usable by the public. However, SSNB has been able to create an easily usable Historical Spray Map using this government data: https://www.arcgis.com/apps/View/index.html?appid=3e6db7d3e2e94169afd915cadf9028f5 .
Our Historical Spray Map of NB has given us the opportunity to find every spray block and to review how many times it has been sprayed with herbicides (glyphosate) up to now. Our spray map shows all the spray blocks on Crown (public) land since 1969, released by GNB. Crunching all the information is a very large task. So far we have extracted this information about some of the MANY spray blocks:- 1554 blocks have been sprayed twice.- 107 blocks have been sprayed three times.- 8 blocks have been sprayed four times.
One of these blocks was sprayed in 1997, 1999, 2000, 2003. This is 4 spray treatments in a span of 6 years.
This is a sample of the information held in the Historical Spray Map, but we at SSNB feel that what we have found so far is enough to raise some serious concerns about herbicide use in our Crown (public) forests.
Dr. Caroline Lubbe-D’Arcy, Chair of Stop Spraying New Brunswick has this to say about the response by the Minister of Health: “The Federal Minister of Health is making assumptions when he quotes what the PMRA has stated around forestry use of glyphosate. Apparently the PMRA is unaware of what is taking place in New Brunswick with regards to the forestry use of an agent (glyphosate) that the PMRA approves with assumptions that are not factual.”
“In New Brunswick we have extremely biodiverse and unique Wabanaki-Acadian forests which comprises 32 native tree species, with a large percentage of hardwood trees” says Dr. Lubbe-D’Arcy. “The amount of clearcutting of these forests on Crown (public) land and the conversion after clearcutting to sprayed softwood plantations with very few species is an issue with regards to increasing concerns around biodiversity. Wabanaki-Acadian forests on Crown (public) land are mismanaged with the permission of our provincial government. This mismanagement escalated in 2014. There are three troubling facts: NB experiences the most intense forest herbicide spraying in Canada, and many blocks are sprayed more frequently than the PMRA assumes. 1/3 of all forest glyphosate use in Canada lands on New Brunswick’s forests (1).”
Québec stopped forest herbicide spraying in 2001 because their MLAs listened to their citizens. While developing their forest strategy, Québec conducted 3 rounds of extensive public consultation between 1988 and 1997. For the last 2 decades, Quebec has successfully managed their public forests without herbicides, but instead managed them with manual silviculture. Their forest strategy is ecosystem-based, has an auction system (so does Maine), plants larger seedlings, and includes careful logging around advanced growth (CLAAG, or CPRS in French).
Both the economy and the environment benefit from this approach. Compared with New Brunswick, Quebec has a much higher job creation per 100,000 hectares of forests. The combination of manual silviculture and selective cutting will decrease and minimize the net amount of carbon dioxide loss when growing and harvesting. And healthy mixed forests also provide an important natural wildfire defence around our rural communities and city suburbs. Hardwood, broadleaf trees such as aspen and birch have a higher moisture content than softwood conifers so they burn at a lower intensity, providing greater protection of homes and businesses from catastrophic wildfires.
Notes:
(1) page 6 “Pattern of Use in NB” of the Action Plan on Glyphosate by the Office of the Chief Medical Officer on glyphosate https://www2.gnb.ca/content/dam/gnb/Departments/h-s/pdf/en/Publications/GlyphosateActionPlanResults.pdf
