Features Environment & Sustainability Forestry
Resolute donates $1M to UQAC industrial research chair

Jan. 16, 2017 – Resolute says it will donate $1 million over five years to assist with the creation of an industrial research chair sponsored by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada at the University of Quebec at Chicoutimi (UQAC).

“Our contribution, along with that of the Government of Quebec, the university and the university’s foundation, will support research into the boreal forest and the impact of changes in the landscape on black spruce growth in the context of climate change. A particular focus will be on the infestation of the spruce budworm that is currently presenting major challenges for the forest products industry,” according to Resolute.

The parties say the research of the UQAC Chair will include an “unprecedented review” of the history of past insect epidemics and their impacts on forest composition and structure, focusing on:

• the relationship between spruce budworm outbreaks in the boreal and landscape variability;
• the history and evolution of spruce budworm epidemics and their impacts on supply management and wood quality; and
• the impacts of climate change on the growth and quality of black spruce stems.

“The predictability of fiber supply is crucial for a company like ours, both in terms of quality and quantity. Not surprisingly, we are preoccupied with the significant impact the massive infestation of spruce budworm is having on the boreal forest and on woodlands that Resolute and many other companies rely on for the supply of fiber for our mills. The epidemic now affects some four million hectares, an area equivalent to the size of Switzerland,” said Resolute, adding that managing the wood volumes affected represents a “major challenge that is pivotal to the future viability of our operations on the North Shore and in the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean regions of Quebec.”

SOURCE Resolute