BDO ZoneCONNECT Webinar: Quesnel, BC and Renfrew County, Ontario

BDO ZoneCONNECT Webinar: Quesnel, BC and Renfrew County, Ontario

On August 8, 2024, Ecostrat Inc. and the BDO Zone Initiative, in collaboration with TheDigest, hosted the BDO ZoneCONNECT webinar, highlighting two investment grade Woody Biomass BDO Zone communities in Canada: Quesnel, British Columbia, rated ‘A’ for 100,000 oven dry tons per year, and Renfrew County, Ontario, rated ‘AA’ for 485,000 green metric tons per year.

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 Amy Reid and Erin Robinson from the City of Quesnel, along with David Wybou and Lacey Rose from Renfrew County. The discussion highlighted the regions’ preparedness for bio-based projects, focusing on their abundant biomass resources, robust infrastructure, project-ready sites, and attractive local incentives, including favorable tax benefits.

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.

To view the webinar, please click below:

Summary of Presenter Remarks

Peter Wolf, Project Director, Ecostrat:

• “Quesnel has an established forest products industry with 8 large saw mills and 4 pulp mills with a combined intake of over 10 million tons of wood fiber.”
• “There are a number of sites in the region given the history of production. There is also access to a rail spur on site and all the utilities you would require to develop a new project.”

Amy Reid, Manager of Economic Development & Tourism, City of Quesnel:

• “Brownfield sites like the former saw mill site have connections already to water and sewer.”
• “We have a long history in forestry so we have a strong workforce with experience on the land base.”

Erin Robinson, Forestry Initiatives Manager, City of Quesnel:

• “Quesnel is one of the most forest-dependent communities in BC. We have one of the most integrated concentrations of wood product manufacturing facilities in the world.”
• “There is a lot of opportunity for the woody fiber that we currently consider to be waste.”

Marcin Lewandowski, Senior Director, Operations & Risk, Ecostrat:

• “Pembroke is home to a healthy forest industry. This industry needs a stable market for pulpwood (low grade round wood) because over the past two decades, two pulp and paper mills have shut down. All of the wood that these mills use to consume is being left in the forest.”
• “Not only is there a lot of wood fiber available in the region, there is a local saw milling industry already present along with the infrastructure in place.”

David Wybou, Business Development Officer, County of Renfrew:

• “Renfrew County is within favorable distances of the sustainable supply of woody biomass and is within reasonable distance of major transportation routes including the Trans-Canada Highway.”
• “We have 5 major saw mills as well as a significant MDF plant that currently operates in the area and are very interested in new biomass projects that can use the round wood identified in the BDO Zone.”

Lacey Rose, County Forester, County of Renfrew:

• “The biggest strength for this BDO Zone is the vast forests that exist in Renfrew County, it’s a sustainable source for potential biomass markets.”

For more information on the Quesnel, BC, BDO Zone, click here, and for their slide deck, click here.

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

Contact Information:

Amy Reid, BDO Zone Local Development Leader (LDL) and Manager of Economic Development and Tourism, City of Quesnel (areid@quesnel.ca).

David Wybou, BDO Zone Local Development Leader (LDL) and Business Development Officer, Renfrew County (dwybou@countyofrenfrew.on.ca).

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

Originally published at bdozone.org.