Miramichi Valley

During fall, winter and spring, the colder air mass of the northern interior of North America frequently flows over the Miramichi Valley, but the close proximity of the Gulf of St. Lawrence tends to moderate this effect.

Falls are correspondingly later, since the waters of the Gulf of St. Lawerence retain heat for a longer period than the areas inland.

These lands have been managed primarily to support the pulp and paper industry via timber leases to forestry companies.

Despite these declines, the Miramichi River still supports one of the largest annual runs of Atlantic salmon in North America.

These declines in Atlantic salmon runs are often blamed on the Greenland offshore fishery, global climate change, as well as local overfishing.

Recent forest management practises such as clear cutting and herbicide applications which denigrate the riparian zone along the river and its tributaries, as well as industrial pollution share some blame as well.

The Miramichi River watershed supports a large population of land mammals and waterfowl, particularly white-tailed deer, moose, American black bear, ducks and the Canada goose.

Other animals include red fox, northeast coyote, mink, fisher, weasel, skunk, porcupine, beaver, and muskrat among many others.

A remnant population of the Eastern Cougar is thought to inhabit parts of New Brunswick and Quebec's Gaspé Peninsula, possibly including the Miramichi River watershed.

Hunting of large land mammals such as deer, moose, as well as waterfowl such as ducks and geese is permitted each fall.

Originally settled by Maritime Archaic Indians, the Miramichi River valley was controlled by the Mi'kmaq Nation at the time of European discovery.

Trade with Britain and the West Indies was a cornerstone of the Miramichi River valley economy throughout a large part of the 19th century.

Salmon and forest products found a market in Boston, MA, with these commodities being shipped by schooner, with rum and molasses being common return cargoes.

The National Policy of Sir John A. Macdonald's Conservative government after Confederation in 1867 was not to the advantage of Miramichi lumbermen and fish buyers.

For many years, pit props were exported to the Welsh and English coal mines, though the volume suggests that many ended up in British pulp mills.

The Miramichi River valley is home to about 45,000 people, mainly of mixed Irish, Scottish, English, French and Mi'kmaq descent.

Casualties were especially heavy in the First World War, when just about every street in the towns throughout the river valley had men killed or returned wounded and/or shell-shocked.

During the Second World War Miramichi River valley soldiers went ashore on D-Day with the North Shore Regiment and went through the heavy fighting in northern France, Belgium, and the Netherlands.