Juniper, New Brunswick

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Juniper (2001 pop.: 450) is a Canadian village in Carleton County, New Brunswick. Juniper is an unincorporated village in Aberdeen Parish. It is situated on New Brunswick Route 107, which runs from Route 105 at Bristol, North East to Juniper, and then bends southeast towards Napadogan and Deersdale. Geographic coordinates: 46° 33' North, 67° 13' West; elevation 899 ft.

Juniper is named for the low growing juniper shrub which allegedly grows in the boggy spruce forest near Juniper Station.

The local economy is largely forestry-based, with a modern lumber mill operated by Fraser Papers (Nexfor, Inc). The assets of Juniper Lumber at the time of purchase by Fraser included an I-joist plant, a sawmill and 1,060 square kilometres of forest land under management through Crown licenses and sub-licenses. The I-joist plant, which commenced production in mid-1998, has an annual production capacity of 80 million lineal feet (two shifts). Juniper employs 250 in New Brunswick.^[1] There is also a tree nursery operated by J.D. Irving Ltd.

The economy also benefits from some hunting and fishing-related tourism, as the village is on the South Branch of the Southwest Miramichi River, renowned for its salmon and trout fishing.

The village has three churches, Roman Catholic, United Church of Canada Church and Pentecostal. The village is in School District 14 and has one public school, Juniper Elementary School, formerly Juniper High School.

The nearby Juniper Barrens String Bog, the largest bog in the area, covers 12 square kilometres, and is home to the White Fringed Orchid (Platanthera blepharglottis), a uncommon type of Butterfly Orchid, and the sedge (grass) Carex eburnea. The peat is two to three metres deep. The bog is one of several unique sites in Maine and the Maritime Provinces of Canada, featured on the Irving Forest Discovery Network.

[edit] Notable residents

The best known resident of the village was the Right Honourable Hugh John Flemming, Premier of New Brunswick and Canadian Federal Minister of Forestry, who was the son of Sarah and the Right Honourable James Kidd Flemming, a Premier of New Brunswick himself. He went to work at his family's mill, Juniper Lumber Ltd., in Juniperm at the age of fifteen, but retired to a home near Woodstock, New Brunswick, after retiring from Parliament in 1972, and also in Fredericton, New Brunswick.

Flemming's wife, Aida Flemming, founded the International Kindness Club for Children, a club to teach children to love and be kind to animals, and was active in a number of charities.

The New Brunswick Kindness Club now has members in many provinces and countries, including every Canadian province, the Yukon Territory, the United States, India, England, France, Norway, the West Indies, Belize, Ireland, Australia, Korea, Japan, and many countries in Africa. Doctor Albert Schweitzer, famous for his medical and humanitarian work, served as an Honorary President of the International Kindness Club, before it was incorporated into the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), of which Mrs. Flemming became an honorary board member. ^[2]