Ottawa to spend $50 million on digital forestry centre for New Brunswick

FREDERICTON — The federal government says it plans to spend $50 million on a proposed digital platform that will help New Brunswick’s forestry industry cut costs and increase its wood supply.

Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson made the announcement Wednesday, saying the proposed Strategic Innovation Centre in Digital Forestry will, among other things, produce a digital replica of the province’s forests.

“Being able to do those all in a digital world first saves an immense amount of money and actually teaches you how to manage the forest better,” Hodgson said at a news conference in Fredericton.

READ MORE: University of Manitoba researchers develop AI 'brain' for autonomous farm machinery

READ MORE: Rogers plans minority stake sale in $25B sports empire to cut debt

By creating a virtual model of forest ecosystems, foresters will be able to experiment with ideas before taking action in the physical world, Hodgson said. He said it could be used to simulate harvesting regimes and reforestation plans, as well as testing wildfire management plans.

The centre is also expected to offer centralized dispatching to streamline log transportation and reduce empty truck miles.

Provincial Natural Resources Minister John Herron said it would function like an “Uber in the forest” to improve logistics.

The proposed $86-million centre is a collaboration between the Northern Hardwood Research Institute and Research New Brunswick, which asked for federal funding earlier this year.

Ottawa’s contribution is conditional on project approval, the Natural Resources Department said. The rest of the money will largely come from the provincial government, according to Herron.

Gaetan Pelletier, executive director of the Northern Hardwood Research Institute, said the centre could help the industry reduce costs by about $25 million annually in New Brunswick.

Pelletier said that using more technology in the forestry sector won’t result in layoffs. Instead, he said it will create more jobs as the sector diversifies.

“I’m honestly a firm believer that this will create the most interesting jobs in the forest sector,” he said.

The forestry industry is a mainstay in New Brunswick. It contributes about $1.5 billion annually to the province’s economy, according to provincial government figures. It supports about 9,700 direct jobs and another 14,100 spinoff jobs.

Last month, however, the owners of an aging pulp mill in Nackawic, N.B., announced it would temporarily shut down on Nov. 4, resulting in hundreds of layoffs.

Canada’s $22-billion forestry industry, which supports about 200,000 jobs, has been pummeled by tightening supply, increased operational costs, low pulp prices and ongoing tariffs placed on Canadian wood products exported to the United States.

Hodgson confirmed Wednesday the federal Liberal government will announce its planned national forestry sector strategy when it tables a new budget next month.

“The strategy will acknowledge that the future of our forestry sector will not be defined simply by our resources -- it will be defined how intelligently we use them,” he said.

A spokesperson for Natural Resources Canada confirmed the plan will include billions of dollars in funding, but didn’t provide specifics.

With files from The Canadian Press, BNN Bloomberg and The Globe and Mail