A Chapleau Information Technology company is going green with a cedar sawmill project that could create value-added forestry jobs by year’s end. Cree-Tech Inc. was recently chosen as the successful bidder in the Ministry of Natural Resources’ wood supply competition for cedar.
The company, headed by President Wade Cachagee, proposes to build a sawmill that could create as many as 40 jobs. Cachagee and general manager Kevin Lindquist have ambitious plans to use their yearly allocation of 60,000 cubic metres of cedar to build a sawmill with an emphasis on getting into value-added home building and renovations market. In Ontario, cedar is considered an under-utilized species and Cree-Tech saw an opportunity for a possible business venture to be established around that.
“We think there’s going to be a turn in the forest sector,” says Cachagee, despite the many lumber and paper mill closures across Northern Ontario. “We have to start creating more products with the resource that we’re using. We plan on using a lot less fibre to create a lot more jobs.”
Instead of shipping lumber to U.S., Cachagee says cedar can be used to create kits for decking and fencing as well as specialty siding, mouldings and logs for log home construction.
Cree-Tech was awarded just under half of the approximately 128,000-cubic metres of cedar per year on management units throughout northeastern Ontario.
Last year, the Ministry of Natural Resources made cedar available through a request for proposals process to establish new manufacturing facilities. Cree-Tech’s wood allocation draws from six management units stretching as far north as Hearst.
For years, Cachagee says the company has built sound relationships conducting GIS (Geographic Information Systems) mapping work, forest inventories, forest management plans and even designing truck weigh scale applications for clients such as Tembec, Domtar, Bowater and Abitibi-Consolidated.
“We think the relationships we’ve built over the years will help our operation, whereby we’re not directly competing with them. There’s synergies where we can build and work together.”
Expanding the business from forestry-related IT to the operations side of industry was a natural progression. But Cachagee says they have the expertise available.
“With our forestry background and the knowledge of the GIS data available, we were able to take a look and see where the cedar is in northeastern Ontario. The highest concentration is in the Chapleau area. That’s where the interest started.”
As well, Lindquist is a professional forester with a wealth of experience in sawmill processing and is familiar with various equipment they’ll be researching. Behind them, they’re assembling a highly-skilled management team.
Cachagee himself is no entrepreneurial lightweight.
The 33-year-old resident of the Fox Lake Reserve and the Chapleau Cree First Nation boasts a staggering and award-winning resume for his business exploits with recognition from the Nishnawbe-Aski First Nations, Northern Ontario Business and the National Aboriginal Achievement Awards.
He started Cree-Tech in 1995, specializing in forestry-related work including custom software development. He was elected Chief of the Chapleau Cree First Nation in 2001 and was one of the youngest Chiefs in Canada.
Cachagee was also a 2001 recipient of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 (**Trademark**) Awards in Toronto.
The long-term goal is creating 40 jobs, but Cachagee says much depends on the facility size and layout along with market and funding opportunities.
“Once that all comes together that will dictate the exact number of jobs be required.”
The plant will contain various processing lines to create specialty items and possibly mulch. “It will truly be a value-added facility.”
Cachagee says he’s not swayed by negative media reports of the downturn in the North American housing construction sector since all ranges of homes are constantly being built and the renovation side remains a viable market.
If many things come together on their checklist – including land acquisition, equipment research, HR recruitment and securing customers – a mill could be operating later this year or early 2008, he says.
Cachagee says he’s spoken with a number of retail chains including one Big Box retailer.
There’s no definite mill price tag yet, but it will be a consortium of funding agencies and private investment.
And there’s no plan to put aside the IT side of the business just yet.
The company is working with other business partners on an application geared to Aboriginal communities considering potential resource development.
Called the First Nation Participation System, the data management tool would incorporate various cultural values into a planning overlay outlining sensitive areas that might be off-limits for forestry and mining operations.
“We’re trying to build an application that would manage that into the system where there is potential areas of concern for resource development.”
Any potential sources of conflict would be red-flagged and reported to the various groups involved.
“If resources were extracted over a sensitive burial site, we’re trying to avoid that so negotiations can happen in a better fashion.”
