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Articles

Vol. 5 (2014)

Public Engagement, Planning, and Politics in the Forest Sector in New Brunswick, 1997–2014

Submitted
November 17, 2014
Published
2014-11-13

Abstract

This article documents developments and debates in policy formation for Crown land in New Brunswick from the period 1997 to 2014. Particular focus is given to how the public was engaged in those policy deliberations. The Department of Natural Resources experimented with several public engagement exercises from 1997 to 2007. From 2005– 2007 the government sponsored, but then backed away from, a public opinion study that demonstrated the public’s preference for a conservation-first timber-second strategy for Crown land management. Since 2008, successive governments of both major parties have adopted a more closed and less consultative approach to natural resource policy development.