BAIE VERTE, NL - The Department of Fisheries and Land Resources is seeking approval for Corner Brook Pulp and Paper to harvest additional land in the central Newfoundland area.
A proposed amendment to the Crown's five-year operating plan (2017-2021) for forest management district 09 - a timber exchange agreement between the Department of Fisheries and Land Resources and Corner Brook Pulp and Paper - is for an additional 1,172 hectares.
The new areas will offset timber in North Twin area transferred to Corner Brook Pulp and Paper from the Crown in forest management district 10, according to the environmental assessment documentation registered with the province. District 9 ranges from White Bay in the west to Seal Bay in the east, and includes all of the Baie Verte Peninsula. It consists of 231 hectares of commercially available forest, with a proposed harvest level of 20,000 cubic metres.
The timber will be felled mechanically and brought to roadside by conventional means during the lifetime of the five-year agreement.
The undertaking states sustainable harvest levels will not be exceeded and will be balanced by reducing the proposed harvest levels in other approved operating areas. It was also noted that mitigations for caribou habitat are in place in the Three Corner Pond area, including seasonal restrictions during calving and post-calving times.
Operations in the Gull Pond area will require 800 metres of capital road.
The work will include the use of equipment operators, truckers, loggers, sawmillers and silviculture workers.
The undertaking was registered March 20. The deadline for public comments is April 26, and the minister's decision is due May 4.
The Nor'wester incorrectly identified the land in question to include the Baie Verte Peninsula — while District 9 includes the Baie Verte Peninsula, this proposed change does not. The Nor'wester apologizes for the error.
