New Brunswick Facts

- New Brunswick is approximately 73,440 sq. kilometers in size (7.3 million hectares).

- Half of the province (50%) is labelled Crown Land. This is land which is controlled by the provincial government on behalf of the citizens of New Brunswick.

- Currently, 3.4% of the province is placed under permanent protection through legislation. This includes 2 National parks, provincial parks, and the 10 new protected areas.

- Areas listed under the Protected Natural Areas Act, the Parks Act, and the federal National Parks Act have special status in our province, in that these areas are exempt from prospecting and mining.

- Some sources note that 23% of Crown land is under special management, resulting in limitations to cutting. This number includes mature coniferous habitat and deer wintering areas, which are only partially protected; some harvesting is allowed in these zones, and the areas may in the future be "delisted", allowing full harvesting activities.

- It has been popularly reported that "One out of every eight New Brunswickers is employed by the forestry industry"; this statement is wrong. According to the 2004 report “The New Brunswick Forestry Industry”, written by Atlantic Provinces Economic Council, 17,300 people worked directly in the industry and a further 6100 people were indirectly employed. Thus 7% of the workers in New Brunswick, or 1 in 14 workers, is employed in some way by the industry. Or, “It employs 3% of New Brunswickers.” (based on a total population of 730,000 people.)