The New Brunswick Maple Syrup Association is welcoming changes to encourage maple syrup production in the province.
Last summer, the provincial government announced it would grant 5,000 new hectares of Crown land for maple syrup development.
But it also unveiled new protected areas which the association claims limited expansion possibilities for many producers.
Many of the new protected areas were located on the periphery of existing maple sugaries or encompassed sugar maple stands targeted for future development.
“This situation considerably limited the expansion possibilities of many producers and prompted the association to make representations to government departments to obtain some flexibility and make changes to the protected areas,” the association said in a news release.
In December, the province agreed to revise the criteria and boundaries of certain protected areas, allowing for maple syrup development that is environmentally friendly and preserves mature hardwood forests, said the association.
“While the process of obtaining the new allocations had already been underway for several months, many producers had given up hope of gaining access to stands that were now identified as ‘protected areas with no maple syrup activity,'” it said.
“We must salute the openness of Ministers [Mike] Holland and [Margaret] Johnson, as well as the efforts of officials at the Departments of Natural Resources and Agriculture, who listened to our grievances and sought to strike a fair balance between the various stakeholders and all the considerations that must be taken into account.”
The province has also extended the deadline for the submission of requests for proposals for the new Crown land allocations from Jan. 31 to March 31.
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