Biomass North Development…

Biomass North Development Centre, a Canadian sector association mandated to support a robust forest bioeconomy, has its head office in North Bay, Ontario and has been operationally focused in northern Ontario since 2015.

We are very pleased the Ministry is considering a mill license for IWI Inc. and Bonfield Forest Products Incorporated for several economic, environmental, and social reasons.

Economically the new mill will create jobs in an area that has struggled with youth out-migration, establishing a stable local tax base, and creating good-income local jobs. The proposed mill will not just yield direct employment throughout its construction and operation, but will have positive downstream effects throughout the regional economy via the supply of fiber, goods, and services. As the attached links to the SFL annual reports from the Nipissing Forest, Algonquin Park Forest and Temagami Management Unit show, the allowable harvest from each forest has not been met for several years, and as the Nipissing Forest Resource Management Inc. states, “The Licensees operating on the Nipissing Forest have felt these same pressures and they are just barely surviving”. Having a new mill in the region will support the economic viability of the licences and allow them to hire workers from the region to meet the increased demand for fiber. The mill proposes to produce specialty products as well as dimensional timber and hardwood lumber: these specialty products create more economic turnover per cubic meter than dimensional and thus increase the economic viability of the mill, particularly when compared with more traditional saw mills.

Environmental benefits start in the forest. As the SFL annual reports show, harvest volumes are far below the allowable cut. When managed forests are not harvested at the allowable cut rate, the rate of carbon sequestration slows (citations below) and the risk of forest fires increases, both of which are undesirable environmental outcomes. The mill proposes to use 400,000 m3 of wood each year, which would increase the utilization of these forests and contribute to forest health and carbon sequestration. The mill itself will use the latest technologies that optimize fiber use, are energy-efficient, and significantly decrease wood waste from manufacturing, thus having less of an environmental impact by creating more value-add product with less wood than older mills do. The mill proposes to use its waste as fuel in a biomass boiler, producing energy for process and space heat, ensuring the waste is utilized effectively and the use of fossil-fuels minimized.

Socially, the benefits are clear. With increased employment, the town of Bonfield and the surrounding region can slow youth-outmigration and invest in community infrastructure. With more of our young people staying in our communities, our heritage and culture can remain vibrant and alive. Citizens who currently commute out of the town for work can spend more time with their families and in their community when they secure local jobs. It is a win-win for the community of Bonfield and its environs.

We strongly urge the Ministry to grant the license for the proposed mill and allow the region and its citizens to reap the benefits.

Forest Management Annual Reports

http://www.efmp.lrc.gov.on.ca/eFMP/viewFmuPlan.do?fmu=451&fid=58953&typ…

http://www.efmp.lrc.gov.on.ca/eFMP/viewFmuPlan.do?fmu=754&fid=58978&typ…

http://www.efmp.lrc.gov.on.ca/eFMP/viewFmuPlan.do?fmu=898&fid=58921&typ…

Sequestration Citations

https://academic.oup.com/forestry/article/90/1/125/2605858

https://www.nature.com/news/carbon-sequestration-managing-forests-in-un…

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21580103.2019.1596843