Going above and beyond: native forestry company proves naysayers wrong.

• Author: Cowan, Liz
• Position: NEWS

Brian Young didn't let misguided advice deter him from making his company a success. Instead, it inspired him.

"I was told because I was native, I would not succeed," said the owner of Young Forestry Services. "I don't let anyone tell me I can't do anything."

Since 1996, Young, and his wife Lone, have been proving the early naysayers wrong. The business, located on Hwy. 17 between Sturgeon Falls and North Bay, has grown from four to about 20 employees. It moved from rented space in Dokis First Nation to its new location on a Nipissing First Nation-owned industrial and corn; mercial park fronting on the highway.

"We needed a bigger yard, since we work on our own equipment. We do all our own mechanical work," Young said.

Lone, who was doing all the administration work from home, quit her full-time job and hired another office worker to keep up with demand.

Young started by undertaking contract silviculture work with some area forest management companies. When lumber prices started to fall, and contracts for the company decreased, Young had to look for work in other areas.

"We did harvesting and cut firewood for a few years," he said. "A few times we were ready to pack it in."

Then, the company was offered an opportunity with Union Gas to do some work clearing right of ways.

"We worked with them for a couple of years and then they awarded us as prime contractor for their right-of-way clearing for the whole province," Lone said. "They gave us a chance and we proved we could do it."

The company was working throughout the province and received good feedback for the job it was doing, including from landowners.

"Our name got out to other utility companies and soon TransCanada Pipeline contacted us and now we have work with them doing the same thing," Young said.

It also does brushing for Goldcorp along a 200-kilometre power line in northwestern Ontario.

"We are growing a lot faster than anticipated and we are getting calls from contractors so we are trying to keep up with demand," Lone said.

Finding people to do the work is a challenge since travelling is involved. However, when possible, the company hires First...