With so much wood in its backyard, and so many opportunities presented by new industries, Iroquois Falls has taken its first step toward becoming a leading community in value-added wood products.
Mayor Ken Graham says talks between the northeastern Ontario town of 5,000 and Superior Thermowood are proceeding well in that direction.
“It’s a concept that is getting a lot more common,” says Graham. “Towns like ours are really starting to look at how we’ve been doing business versus what we were doing even 10 or 20 years ago when we didn’t even think in terms of bringing business in. Now, it’s very competitive.”
He says, as chair of Iroquois Falls’ economic development committee, he and town staff in Iroquois falls have been in weekly talks with Superior Thermowood. Superior Thermowood, a manufacturer of treated lumber, has been studying the feasibility of locating a wood treatment plant in the community for the past eight to nine months. The company has a head office in Toronto and a regional office in Thunder Bay.
The only thing needed now is local investment and funding support from the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corp. for redevelopment of a 10,000-square-foot facility to house the plant. Graham says the town already owns the facility that it would be willing to lease to Superior Thermowood.
As reported in Northern Ontario Business’s September 2002 edition, Superior Thermowood has developed a process of treating softwood lumber that is chemical-free.
The traditional method of treating wood involves using high pressure to saturate wood products with chemicals such as chromated copper arsenate (CCA).
CCA protects wood from dry rot, fungi, moulds, termites and other pests. However, it has been receiving harsh criticism in the consumer market because of public concerns over arsenic possibly leaching from the wood products over time.
As a result of these concerns, wood treatment companies are reducing the use of CCA for non-industrial uses such as play structures, decks, picnic tables, landscaping, residential fencing, patios, walkways and boardwalks. They will continue to be used for industrial applications such as highway construction, utility poles and pilings.
“We went to Europe and found a process that uniquely changes the cellular structure in the wood, making it lighter, more durable and more stable,” company representative Mike Joseph stated at the time. “We are heading towards our goal of producing a product that will be very unique; it’s a natural product, we don’t add chemicals.”
Graham says he has seen the product and is impressed by it.
The facility could initially generate 40 jobs, with projections of doubling the amount of jobs in two or three years, Graham says.
“What we’re trying to be is one of the value-added capitals in northeastern Ontario;” says Graham adding, “that’s at least one of our strategies. We’re working on other projects as we speak.”
Like many communities across the North, Iroquois Falls has witnessed its share of job losses over the years.
“The way we figure it, we have all these trees in our back yard. Why just cut them into lumber and ship them and the jobs elsewhere to be made into something else?” says Graham. “Let’s do a full process on them, make more money and create more jobs for people here. A lot of youth have moved out of the area and didn’t want to, but had to because the jobs aren’t here. We’re trying to create jobs for them to stay here.
“This will be the start to recovering some of those lost jobs,” he says. “It’s certainly a step in the right direction.”
