Forbidden Forest (film)

Forbidden Forest is a Canadian documentary film, released in 2004. It is approximately 70 minutes long.

Jean Guy Comeau is an Acadian woodlot owner who fought his way out of poverty and retired after nearly 40 years in a pulp mill. Born to a wealthy family, Francis Wishart, a grandson of Sir James Dunn, is a painter and winemaker with homes in France and New Brunswick.

The film notes that most timber harvested in New Brunswick from crown lands is used by the pulp and paper industry. At the time of filming, there were 5 such mills in the province.

Together, they travel to Finland - home of UPM-Kymmene, one of the largest licence holders of New Brunswick Crown lands - to urge company officials to practise responsible forestry and to warn them that they may one day be held liable for the damage done by clear-cutting. The two go head-to-head with the New Brunswick government bureaucrats in an effort to secure a new, community forestry policy - one that is environmentally sustainable and that produces more jobs than the highly capital-intensive, mechanized techniques used today. James K. Irving of J. D. Irving Limited is seen in the film explaining that, in his opinion, community forestry would be too complicated for communities to undertake.

Forbidden Forest is a tale of corporate greed, lax government oversight and people passionate about the places they love.

External links

• National Film Board of Canada - Forbidden Forest.