As one of many forestry communities seeking to emerge from the pall hanging over the pulp and paper industry, Hearst has taken its first step towards a new economy with the first stage of its Bio-Com project.
However, rather than acting as an economic development tool, Bio-Com is all about communication, a factor which Daniel Sigouin believes to be at the foundation of implementing a greater change.
“Most communities are hesitant to move in different economic directions, so the goal of the project is mostly to educate the population about opportunities in the bio-economy,” says Sigouin, general manager, Hearst Economic Development Corporation.
“If you’re ready as a community, you’ll be able to grab that opportunity when you see it. We’ve been doing two-by-fours and plywood for the last 50 years, so it’s hard to tell the population there’s a lot more you can do with the forest, and it’s hard for people to think outside the box.”
With an estimated 40 per cent of its working population employed within the forestry industry for the likes of Columbia Forest Products and Tembec, the town of 5,620 is a prime candidate for alternative economic solutions, Sigouin says.
Hearst first opened its eyes to the possibilities offered within the bio-economy two years ago, when MEMS USA, now known as Convergence Ethanol, approached the town to create a plant to convert biomass to ethanol. Although the project has since stalled for financial reasons, Sigouin says it created a general awareness of the potential for such projects, and the need to create a community open to new ideas.
As a result, Bio-Com has pushed forward in the last year to promote the benefits of green technologies and related initiatives through every local means possible, including radio shows, high school presentations, press releases and speeches at the local Rotary Club.
As part of its mandate, the Bio-Com project also sparked the BioEcoSocio Conference, a bilingual conference on the bioeconomy in April. With renown environmentalist David Suzuki as its keynote speaker, the event drew more than 220 attendees, helping to promote the virtues of this alternate economy not only to Hearst residents, but the province as a whole.
Although there are no tangible solutions on the horizon, Hearst says such initiatives have helped to move the community towards a general, agreed-upon goal, Sigouin says.
“We want to become a greener and more self-sufficient community, and we want to produce our own energy eventually. If we work towards that goal, we need to put tools in place to do that, and with a small community like Hearst, we can even look at moving off the grid.”
This kind of discussion has also pushed the local tourism committee to consider implementing the Hearst Green Technologies Centre in the local tourism information complex. This 8,000-foot space would feature a strong educational component about “green” sources of energy such as solar panels and geothermal heating while tying into issues about value added research and commercialization. Developed alongside Christopher Gordon Associates, a North Bay consulting firm, the project would also connect the centre to a 4.2-kilometre trail system. However, as the project is slated to cost between $2 million and $10 million, the specifics are being re-evaluated.
With these kinds of discussions having been triggered and up to 80 per cent of the local population having been reached, the first phase of Bio-Com is due to finish in the coming weeks, with a second phase slated for this summer.
Although details are still being developed, the new Bio-Com will analyze things the town can do, such as leveraging its greenhouses to produce more local products.
“Nobody has a cookie-cutter answer or solution, but you do your best to find what you can do to find something that might help.The storm is not over for the forestry industry, and closures can hit tomorrow in Hearst, so we need to do something about it. We don’t want to be the next Smooth Rock Falls.”
