PELLETS FROM PEACE COUNTRY

On the vast plains of northern Alberta, close-knit communities have worked together to share in the land’s natural bounty for centuries.

Meadows, creeks and wetlands fill the wilderness in Mackenzie County and stretch to the treeline - where boreal forests provide natural cover for some of the region’s most iconic animals.

Caribou, bison, black bears, deer and wolves roam between the two habitats. Their furs provided early income for Indigenous Dene Tha’ and Métis families who first inhabited western Canada.

Sold to European traders, pelts provided returns that supplemented the Native bands’ natural lifestyles – sustained mainly by fishing, farming and foraging.

Today, the county – known locally as Peace Country – remains sparsely populated with about 12,000 inhabitants spread between small settlements on its pristine prairies.

The town of High Level and hamlet of La Crete are the largest communities in Mackenzie County, each with a population of about 4,000. The remaining 4,000 inhabitants are spread out across the county, inhabiting dozens of different homesteads and reserves.

At the heart of this location Power Wood Canada Corporation will build its first steam explosion production facility to manufacture advanced black pellets.

By collecting the remnants of regional wildfires it will turn fire-damaged dead wood into a sustainable ‘drop in’ replacement for coal and ship it to energy companies worldwide.

The production process will provide a fresh trade and new employment for the area.

Power Wood Canada Corp will construct a carbon-neutral production process at its Peace River facility to turn only fire-damaged lumber into 3 rd generation black pellets.

Lightning strikes are the leading cause of large wildfires in this remote northern region.

In May 2019 one of the most significant fires in Mackenzie County's history burned through more than 350,000 hectares of local woodland. Remembered as the ‘Chuckegg Creek Wildfire’, it forced the evacuation of High Level residents and the nearby Paddle Prairie Métis Settlement for several weeks.

The same month the ‘Jackpot Creek Wildfire’ burned a further 80,000 hectares of boreal forest in the county.

Then, at the beginning of Canada’s record-breaking fire season, the Paskwa Wildfire burned 95,000 hectares of boreal forest in May 2023. It took with it 300 buildings, of which 190 were homes in Fox Lake and Garden River on the Little Red River Cree Nation’s reservation.

That fire spread along the south side of the Peace River and merged with other nearby fires to form a larger wildfire complex that scorched protected forest on First Nations’ land within the national park.

It left huge swathes of fallen and standing deadwood in its wake.

Partnerships with Indigenous Peoples are central to Power Wood’s ethics and model as it aims to ensure all parties benefit mutually from its ecological energy project.

By working with First Nations and Métis communities the deadwood from these fires will become feedstock for producing advanced black pellets at Power Wood’s ‘Peace River’ plant, near La Crete.

The forest debris stands to provide a new revenue stream for Indigenous Peoples who will be offered employment and other ways to invest in Power Wood’s project. Sustaining these descendants of the land’s original keepers is central to Power Wood’s mission and ethics.

Power Wood Canada Corp’s CEO David Peters said: “Power Wood has liaised at length with representatives from Northern Alberta’s Indigenous communities and will do so for the duration of its long-term pellet projects in the region.

“All staff in the company remain acutely aware of the difficulties faced by both First Nations and Métis Peoples and together seek to identify ways to alleviate those challenges through mutually beneficial partnerships.

“In working with our Indigenous friends living near La Crete and High Level we make it our business to support their livelihoods and their health, building greater resilience into their communities.

“It is our intention that they prosper from our projects set up on what has been their land long before European settlers arrived in this part of the world.”