Natural Resources Minister Bruce Northrup says he's lifting a ban on the harvesting of Crown pulpwood that he issued just two weeks ago — a move that has angered private woodlot owners.

The ban was designed to open up markets for woodlot owners who say they haven’t been able to sell pulpwood for months, partly because forestry companies are taking their supplies from Crown land at low prices.

But Northrup says he changed his mind out of concern for jobs and has issued instructions that not using Crown land pulpwood is now just an option for industry.

'I've always heard that there's one law for the rich and one law for the poor. I hated to believe it, but I'm beginning to.'—Andrew Clark, New Brunswick Federation of Woodlot Owners

“I wouldn't consider this a flip-flop at all,” he said.

“It's definitely been a learning experience for me, the last two weeks and I've learned a lot and at the end of the day, I don't want to see people go without jobs.”

Northrup’s comments come after J.D. Irving Limited, the province's largest forestry company, confirmed Monday it was still hauling Crown pulpwood.

Spokesperson Robert Fawcett told CBC News the company was “still taking a little bit” but was “in full compliance with correspondence” it had received from the minister’s office.

"My major concern is to keep people working,” said Northrup. “If I would have kept the hundred per cent on, that would have meant contractors being laid off and they wouldn't have been able to put meals on the table for their families.”

Andrew Clark, of the New Brunswick Federation of Woodlot Owners, says private woodlot owners are struggling. (CBC)

But Andrew Clark, president of the New Brunswick Federation of Woodlot Owners, argues that’s the situation private woodlot owners are facing.

"If Irving says we're going to have to shut down one of our operations, or lay some trucks off or something, the government backs off.

“So what about my trucks and what about the private woodlot owners trucks?”

When Northrup announced the halt order, he said he would ensure that industry bought private wood first and that softwood pulpwood from Crown land would remain on the harvest site or roadside.

"A halt means stop, not keep on going slowly. It means stop,” said Clark.

"I've always heard that there's one law for the rich and one law for the poor. I hated to believe it, but I'm beginning to,” he said.

The minister insists he's made progress by setting up a committee involving both industry and woodlot owners.

"I felt that I've done my job of getting both sides together,” Northrup said.

“They're working together and we're hoping very, very soon that the private wood will start flowing."

But woodlot owners contend they still need mandatory negotiation of contracts with an arbitration process to get their wood moving at a fair price.