Page 72 - InvestinAlberta-EDA-2024-2

AT A GLANCE
44,300
Number of Albertans employed directly and indirectly in the forestry industry
The Mighty Ducks
Approximately one-fifth of Alberta is covered by wetlands, Of those, 10 per cent are marshes or shallow ponds. These are havens for wildlife: watering holes for moose, habitats for birds, frogs and insects. Alberta’s only species of native turtle can be found in some of them.
Because the wetlands make up a large part of the province, protecting them is of key importance to conservationists and the forestry industry. The Forest Management and Wetland Stewardship Initiative
(FMWSI) brings together major players
in the industry — Alberta-Pacific Forest Industries Inc., Canfor, Ducks Unlimited Canada, the Forest Products Association of Canada, Tolko Industries Ltd., West Fraser and Weyerhaeuser Company. The goal of the initiative is to find best practices that protect the boreal forest, the wetlands and wildlife.
In 2023, the FMWSI won the Canadian Forest Management Group Achievement Award from the Canadian Institute of Forestry.
The award “exists to recognize outstand- ing achievements by teams or groups of natural resource managers, researchers, or non-government-organizations in the field of forest resource related activity in Canada,” said Mark Pearson, executive director of the Canadian Institute of Forestry.
“Wetlands are prominent features in forests and are often part of interconnected systems that link all forest ecosystems,” said Kylie McLeod, Ducks Unlimited Canada’s head of boreal conservation programs. “When it comes to wetland conservation in the boreal, working together in collaborative partnerships like the FMWSI is integral to finding win-win solutions.”
$314
MILLION
Invested by forestry companies in capital projects in 2022
$11.9
BILLION
Forestry industry revenue in Alberta in 2021
49.03%
Increase in the value of exports of Alberta’s wood products between 2020 and 2021
20 MILLION
Hectares of certified forest area are in Alberta in 2022, an increase from 2 million in 2000.
5M
ALBERTA EXPORTS
OF FORESTRY PRODUCTS, BY COUNTRY
4M ($ MILLIONS CAD)
3M
2M
1M
0
$4,519.6 — United States $555.7 — China
$307.1 —Japan
$149.5 — South Korea $40.1 —Taiwan
72 INVEST IN ALBERTA 2 0 2 4
EDAAlberta.ca
Source: Government of Alberta
BY THE NUMBERS
LUMBERJACKS WITH AI AND PLAID
When you think of Canadian forestry, do you conjure up images of burly, bearded men in plaid roaming the country’s boreal forests with a chainsaw in each hand? The trope of the Canadian lumberjack is a longstanding (and well-loved) stereotype. But in Alberta, where forestry plays an important role in keeping the economy humming, the reality is more Steve Jobs than Paul Bunyon.
Nowhere is this more evident than in Whitecourt. Named the Forest Capital of Canada in 2013 by the Canadian Forestry Association, this quintessentially Albertan town just an hour-and-a-half from the city of Edmonton is at the forefront of forestry- first innovation.
In 2023, Canfor — one of Whitecourt’s and Alberta’s biggest forestry companies — invested more than $30 million into upgrading its operations with new technology and a majority of that was invested in Whitecourt. Upgrades included
modernizing the sawmill’s canter line with
a new log turner module, real-time log turn correction and an upgraded hydraulic system. It’s also turned to cutting-edge AI technology to help maximize production value, said Rosemary Silva, a senior advisor with Canfor.
“The project fitted our planer with a new GradExpert grade optimizer complete with high-definition cameras and AI software which learns from real-time algorithms,” Silva says. “It adapts the manufacturing process to changes in fibre and wood defects, helping to maximize the value of production.”
And in the age of global climate concern, no company worth its weight in pulp and paper goes without investing in sustainability and Canfor’s no stranger to that. In 2023, the company installed a natural gas thermal oil heater and continuous dry kiln at its Whitecourt location. The result? A low- carbon drying system that helps to reduce emissions and increase drying capacity. Talk about felling two trees at once, eh?