New Brunswick — The Picture Province is known far and wide for its abundance of jaw-dropping clear-cuts painstakingly crafted by local artisan family the Irvings. The Manatee’s photographer has visited New Brunswick’s ten most beautiful clear cuts for anyone to view from the comfort of their computer chair, and ranked them.
The Manatee encourages New Brunswickers and tourists to take advantage of the scorching summer heat to visit these clear-cuts and experience the views, humidity, and many mosquitoes for themselves.
10.
This clear-cut can be found on the highway between Bathurst and Miramichi. The juxtaposition of new growth struggling to reach beyond the dead old trees creates a stark contrast that delights onlookers.
9.
This one, on the road between Fredericton and Moncton, boasts an impressive stack of logs drying next to the wet muddy tire tracks. The many smells of dirt, oil and pulp invigorate the senses.
8.
This iconic clear-cut on the outskirts of Boiestown showcases a lone tree left to live on while its peers were all cut down and dragged away. Onlookers can sympathize with the feelings of solitude and hopelessness the lone tree evokes.
7.
A close eye reveals that the few skinny trees left standing in this clear-cut have been sun-bleached to turn grey. The dry trees are a joy to touch, stimulating your fingers with the rough texture and ants. It is located in the Acadian Peninsula.
6.
A steep path leading to this must-visit clear-cut allows heavy machinery to trundle through and continue to cut down trees while onlookers watch. The ever-changing clear-cut outside of Doaktown can be visited multiple times.
5.
Fear not, for those wondering about the lack of yellow, brown and orange in the previous selections will be rewarded by stopping on the side of a gravel path in Stanley to gaze in wonder at the myriad of colours in this clear-cut.
4.
Like clear cuts numbers 9 and 6, this one benefits from a stack of logs, and plenty of brown on the ground. A few tall trees left standing draw the eye away from the ground and into the skies. This hope-inspiring work of art can be found in Woodstock.
3.
For those with a green thumb, this clear cut is similar to number 8, but closer to the road and with more greenery. Don’t be fooled though, an entire forest was chopped down to make this one. It’s on Irving-owned land near Saint John.
2.
Blink and you’ll miss this hidden clear cut behind a row of trees. It’s just outside Marysville and is worth a short trek through a ditch to peer between the trunks at a miniature recreation of a clear cut that would normally span hundreds of acres.
1.
Our photographer’s favourite clear cut near St. Andrews uses lines to form a true masterpiece. Onlookers often sit for hours and gaze at the many branches and trunks on the ground.
Unfortunately these images could have been taken any time over the past + fifty years. They are sadly reminiscent of the forestry activities being carried out in the mid 1970’s when skidders, forwarders and mechanized harvesters were introduced. I spent a number of summers working in the woods of central and northern New Brunswick (1972-1982) often following streams while doing sediment sampling and geological mapping. On more than one occasion I had to cross a clear cut at the end of the day. Lugging a back-pack full of rock samples, in the heat of the afternoon and climbing over brush, did not make for fond memories.
lol, you are kidding, right? I can go take some live feed of worse cuts if you want… thousands of acres look like the surface of the moon when the chippers are done stripping every scrap of biomass.
Irving is looking to MANAGE woodlots in south west Nova Scotia. Will share these images on social media – as people may want to consider which style clear-cut they want.
You do realize that all of the area around new France and 4th lake was clear cut by Irving back in the early 90s and everything was replanted everyone seems to think that these clear cuts are devastating but they aren’t, if they are planting trees which is part of the agreement with harvesting crown land within 20 to 25 years you have a new forest. If most of this forest was left to mature any further it will essentially become biomass it will fall and it will rot. But at the same point and ti.e all the felled limbs and stumps will do the same thing in a much shorter period of time, when harvested the regen is quicker than you think. If you have ever spent any amount of time in the woods and actually watched this regen on a properly replanted cut you will know this is true.
Balderdash! Those aren’t forests, those are plantatations. The number of species of wildlife in an Irving plantation is a few percent of the number of species in a forest. And what’s left is soaked in roundup, so no broadleafed plants, so no forage for ruminants. And all cut at once, so it can;’t hold water, so the soil loss is extensive. These are all facts supported by extensive studies, unlike you claims which are supported by paid propoganga at best.
And, lets not forget, your Irvings took all the profit from these operations offshore, and paid zero tax, leaving us to clean up their messes.
Thanks Manatee, no photo cropping needed here. This is raped land and most of which will never be a true Acadia forest again, rather a plantation of
one species.
Before criticizing a bunch of photos of clear cuts please consider these decisions are made with careful consideration of the environment, economics, and future generations. I understand these look bad initially, no one said a clear cut is beautiful, but with time beautiful things will appear!
To be fair, I think the short term growth of the economy, usually wins the day! The environment is an afterthought!
All of these trees together have an affect on our weather …they each would have soaked up many gallons of water when rain falls….these companies are the real climate culprits
Irvings should be on trail, not on yachts.
Te only thing you will not see in these clear cuts are Deer as they had to move into Villages and communities to find food.
Considering immature forest cover and clearings are deers primary habitat, your conclusion makes no sense. Prior to land clearing, NB had Caribou instead of White Tailed deer.
Garry, The one thing that has dissappeared is the soft wood forest. With out these areas the deers winter bedding and feeding areas are gone. This is the many cause of deer numbers declining. This has pushed all the deer out of these small deer yard into big yards. These yards can not with stand such large numbers of deer. There for many die of starvation.I have first hand watched this change in our forest happen over the last 60 years. Saddens me greatly.
Have you seen the multiple fresh new clear cuts on the Hwy 8 bypass north of Fredericton? They are right near the gravel pits that are systematically removing all the hills from our province. Pretty soon we will be able to boast, “We are as flat and treeless as Saskatchewan but easier to spell!”
Anyone seen the devastation done to the N.B. trail system behind Parkwood Heights in Bathurst last month? Not Irving. Just a private woodlot owner that somehow had the right to destroy a provincial trail section inside city limits, and probably has no intention of cleaning it up any time soon.
What is beautiful about devastating nature? I got totally shocked with this page. And sad. What distorted view. May all these people who appreciate this heal their eyes!
Money talks bullshit walks
When I was on a flight from Toronto to St. John’s NFLD back in the 90’s, it was easy to discern NB from Maine. The border was well defined as pretty much the rapacious clear cutting on the NB side stopped right on the border. The contrast between Maine and NB was truly shocking.
most clear cuts are on crown land, who owns crown land,the people of NB,no cutting of wood on crown land should be allowed without the consent of the people of NB by public voting .To leave it to politician is wrong
because corruption can not be ruled out. It looks like that the forest department has no idea of proper forest management,they should get some advice from Germany where no clearcutting is allowed.
The Tourist Board should be very much concerned and not watch to see the beauty of NB is destroyed.
No one is talking about the spraying of herbicides to kill undergrowth right after they plant new trees. This spray kills birds and pollutes our air and berries and streams. I believe that New Brunswick and Nova Scotia may be the only 2 provinces to still spray.
we pay them to plant the trees and the trees are monoculture. When you clear cut a large area it causes all sorts of problems such as siltation in the water and warmer water which is why we have no salmon or trout
it is why they are being forced to pay a big duty. We pay the Irvings to cut our trees and then we subsidize them in many other ways and they keep reducing the number of good jobs while telling us they are creating jobs
Where are the professors at UNB and UM, on the payroll of big business. Where is the CBC , told not to cover this tragedy. Where are our politicians, up little Jimmy’s bum that is where. Worse part is that how we manage our forests destroy jobs and produce little tax revenue and to add insult Irving does not pay property tax on his forest land
We are surrounded by the Irving’s on the Dorn Ridge Road and can see several clear-cuts out our windows pointing south. A couple of years ago I spend most nights calming our dogs while the clear-cut and chipping went on over the winter. Then we get to enjoy the dogs once more, every summer at the end of August more barking while aerial spraying goes on over the clear-cuts to make sure no leaves stand a chance to grow back. I’d mention the increased wind and the lack of birds and deer…
The devastationis not only the disturbance of the trees. It is the mass destruction of the fauna.