**Exhibit 31.1**

 

CERTIFICATION 

 

In connection with the Quarterly Report of Bear Island Paper Company LLC (the “Company”) on Form 10-Q for the period ended March 31, 2004 as filed with theSecurities and Exchange Commission on the date hereof (the “Report”), and pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, I, Peter M. Brant, Chief Executive Officer of the Company, certify that: 

 

(1) I have reviewed the Report; 

 

(2) Based on my knowledge, this Report does not contain any untrue statementof a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by this Report; 

 

(3) Based on my knowledge, the financial statements and other financialinformation included in this Report fairly present in all material respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of the Company as of, and for, the periods presented in this Report; 

 

(4) The Company’s other certifying officer and I are responsible forestablishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) and internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a -15(f) and 15d-15(f)) for the Company andwe have: 

 

(a) designed such disclosurecontrols and procedures, or caused such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the registrant, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to us by otherswithin those entities, particularly during the period in which this Report is being prepared; 

 

(b) designed such internal control over financial reporting, or caused such internal control over financial reporting to be designed underour supervision, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation’ of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles; 

 

(c) evaluated the effectiveness of the Company’sdisclosure controls and procedures and presented in this Report our conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as of the end of the period covered by this Report based on such evaluation; and 

 

(d) disclosed in this Report any change in theCompany’s internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the Company’s most recent fiscal quarter that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the Company’s internal control overfinancial reporting; and 

 

(5) The Company’s othercertifying officer and I have disclosed, based on our most recent evaluation, to the Company’s auditors and the audit committee of the Company’s Board of Directors (or persons performing the equivalent function): 

 

(a) all significant deficiencies and material weaknesses indesign or operation of internal control over financial reporting which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the Company’s ability to record, process, summarize and report financial information; and 

 

(b) any fraud, whether or not material, that involvesmanagement or other employees who have a significant role in the Company’s internal control over financial reporting.