WebinarJun 3, 2025

BDO ZoneCONNECT Webinar: Cameron County, PA & Kemper County, MS

On May 29th, 2024, Ecostrat Inc. and the BDO Zone Initiative, in collaboration with TheDigest, hosted the BDO ZoneCONNECT webinar, highlighting two investment grade BDO Zone communities in North America: Cameron County, Pennsylvania, and Kemper County, Mississippi, both rated ‘A’ for Woody Biomass.

The webinar was moderated by Jim Lane, Editor of TheDigest, and featured key insights from Aryn Garswood, Head of the BDO Zone Initiative. Participants included Joshua Zucal, Commissioner, Cameron County, and Steven Lockley, Executive Director of the Kemper County Economic Development Authority. The webinar underscored the regions’ abundant biomass resources, robust infrastructure, shovel-ready sites and attractive local incentives, positioning these BDO Zones as prime locations for biobased projects seeking a reliable supply of woody biomass.

BDO ZoneCONNECT, a joint initiative with The Daily Digest, aims to facilitate connections and stimulate development interest within BDO Zone communities. It serves as a catalyst for networking, sharing new BDO Zone ratings, and attracting a diverse global audience of stakeholders, including investors, bio-based project developers, financiers, and community leaders.

Get a BDO Zone Rating

To view the webinar, please click below:

Summary of Presenter Remarks

Peter Wolf, Project Director, Ecostrat:

“Cameron County is located in Northern Pennsylvania, the region has a quantity of 450,000 dry tons of wood fiber.”
“The delivered price we estimate would be in the range of $70-90/bdt delivered to a facility that sets up in Cameron County.”
“The largest asset is that this is a leading hardwood manufacturing and export region.”
“In the rating we assess a 13 acre site in Emporium that has all utilities in place.”

Joshua Zucal, Commissioner, Cameron County:

“We’re in a region that’s heavily forested that’s known for our strong work ethic.”
“Roughly 90% of Cameron County is forested, either state land or timber management land.”
“The regenerative assets we have is forest agriculture is something that won’t leave.”
“I’ve had a lot of conversations with loggers who are leaving pulpwood in the woods because there is no place for it to go.”
“Cameron County is considered an at risk/distressed community, this opens up additional federal dollars for companies interested in us.”

Peter Wolf, Project Director, Ecostrat:

“Kemper County has 1.1 Million bone dry tons of wood fibre that can be delivered at $40-80/bdt.”
“The US South which is inclusive of Mississippi is known in recent years for extreme growth in lumber production.”
“There is a large 34 acre site located in Scooba, MS which was the center point of the analysis here in Kemper County.”

Steven Lockley, Executive Director, Kemper County Economic Development Authority:

“The Highway 45 site is a 362 acre site, this is a very attractive property as it has access to CPKC rail.”
“We’re a leading regional forest industry with a large network of experienced suppliers.”
“We’ve had a steady increase in our annual net growth.”
“There are no zoning requirements in the county, so in terms of acquiring permits there are none.”

For more information on the Cameron County, PA, BDO Zone, click here, and for their slide deck, click here.

For more information on the Kemper County, MS, BDO Zone, click here, and for their slide deck, click here.

Contact Information:

Joshua Zucal, BDO Zone Local Development Leader (LDL) and Commissioner, Cameron County (jzucal@cameroncopa.gov).

Steven Lockley, BDO Zone Local Development Leader (LDL) and Executive Director, Kemper County Economic Development Authority (steven@kempereda.com).

Aryn Garswood, Head of the BDO Zone Initiative (aryn@ecostrat.com).

Originally published at bdozone.org.