Branching out: terrafaet, first nation partner on forest management venture.

• Author: Kelly, Lindsay
• Position: SAULT STE. MARIE

A Sault Ste. Marie company is teaming up with the Wikwemikong Unceded Indian Reserve on a unique venture that will bring the pairing to the forefront of forest measuring, reporting and verification (MRV) in the province.

Wikwemikong has secured $2.4 million worth of contracts with the Ontario government to map out the Pine-land Forest, Algonquin Provincial Park and French-Severn Forest units for the Ontario government. It will mean revenue and jobs for the Manitoulin Island First Nation, and Terrafact, with its MRV expertise, is providing the training.

"It's a first for a First Nation," said Wikwemikong land use planner John Manitowabi. "A First Nation's never been awarded any kind of forest resource industry contract--it's always been one of the established companies out there in Canada--so getting three of them at $2.4 million is even better."

Work is already underway on the first phase of the project, which involves field sampling by about 30 forest technicians hired by Wikwemikong. Following sector lines identified by the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) within the different forest units, they will record tree species, the ages and measurements, soil conditions, and basal areas, which help identify the maturity of the forest, on plots located about 60 metres apart.

"That gives them all the information they need to determine what the forest's like in those areas, so that when they do forest-management planning, they have up-to-date-information as to what the forest age is, the stands, what kinds of trees are found in an area and the health of it as well," Manitowabi said.

In phase two, set to start this month, the technicians will use geographic information systems (GIS) and 3D technology to analyze aerial photographs of the forest units, while the third phase involves getting to more remote areas.

Wikwemikong is already planning to vie for the next round of contracts, expected to be tendered soon, Manitowabi said.

"This could be a three- to four-year project," he said. "So, if we're successful, we'll make some revenue and, at the same time, we'll build capacity for our First Nation here and hopefully be a leader in forestry in that type of work once we're done."

While this area of expertise isn't new for Rob Cormier, his company, Terrafact, is. It's a spinoff of his sister company, R&B Cormier, which has a long history of consultation and contracting for the forest management industry.

"When we started Terrafact with our senior...