A look back at the Christmas Mountain Blowdown of 1994
Today marks the 30th anniversary of the historic Christmas Mountain Blowdown. These 10 mountains, named in 1964 as North Pole Mountain, Mount Saint Nicholas, and the eight famous reindeer (with the notable exception of poor Rudolph), are located approximately 60km west-northwest of Miramichi. In the early afternoon of November 7th, 1994, sustained high winds exceeding 100 km/h toppled thousands of hectares of mature softwood forest.
The scale of the blowdown prompted a remarkable recovery effort over two and a half years, requiring significant planning by Repap (the Licensee at the time) and the Department of Natural Resources to determine time frames, regulations, and worker training required to salvage the blown down timber. Camps were established or refurbished to accommodate the large workforce comprised of many crews from around the province. Ultimately, more than 600 workers managed to salvage 2 million cubic meters of fallen trees across more than 12,000 hectares.
Thirty years later it’s hardly apparent that a vast area of the Christmas Mountains suffered such a catastrophic natural disturbance. Large areas that were quite bare following salvage are once again green, and much of the area has seen significant silvicultural work to help naturally regenerate a healthier forest, as shown by the accompanying photos. The Christmas Mountain blowdown marks an important event in New Brunswick forestry history, demonstrating not only collaboration to overcome challenges, but also how forest management strategies continue to evolve and adapt to natural disturbances. Christmas mountain continues to be enjoyed by sightseers, Snowmobile and ATV enthusiasts and hunters who continue to make use of the forest roads built decades ago.
