Research and Development

Kruger is proud of its contribution to research and development in the forestry and environmental areas. The company is active in the Québec Forest Industry Council, the Forest Products Association of Canada, the Forest Engineering Research Institute of Canada (FERIC) and Forintek Canada, various industrial associations and the Québec Forest Research Council. In addition, Kruger is directly associated with projects supported by universities and other research institutions.

Kruger is a founding partner of the Northern Wildlife Fund (NWF). The NWF is unique in that it allows for the financing of concrete projects on three bases: scientific research, technology transfer and habitat restoration. In addition to supporting these projects, the fund helps to increase the environmental awareness of industries that operate in the North by publicizing the successes of companies that stand out in the protection of wildlife habitats and the northern environment.

The work of this chair relies on a partnership between the private and public sectors, including Kruger, other forest companies, the Québec Wildlife Foundation, the Forest Engineering Research Institute of Canada (FERIC), the Wood Products Research Institute of Canada (FORINTEK), Québec ministries responsible for natural resources, wildlife, the environment, sustainable development and parks, and Laval University. In addition to their financial contribution, these partners bring their knowledge and resources to bear, which will allow for greater research efforts and ensure that the results of their work are disseminated.

This project aims to apply research on the boreal forest on Québec’s North Shore to the forest industry so that it can update its practices based on sustainable development and the conservation of forest ecosystems. The research program of this new industrial chair is extremely innovative and ensures the transfer of knowledge to the communities and companies on the North Shore. The results expected from this partnership will help to maintain the quality of life of North Shore communities whose economic base is directly linked to the use and management of forest resources.

Kruger Inc. worked in cooperation with Laval University on a project to characterize the effect of harvesting with protection for small merchantable stems (HPSMS) and harvesting with advanced regeneration protection (HARP) on the wildlife of Eastern black spruce stands.

The Québec Commission to review public forest management recommends that ecosystem development be at the heart of the management of public forests in Québec. A pilot project has been set up by Kruger and Laval University (Industrial Research Chair CRSNG-Université Laval on the silviculture and wildlife of the boreal forest) in Common Area 93-20, which includes René-Levasseur Island, to study the feasibility of ecosystem development for Eastern black spruce moss. The project received financing for three years from the Québec Fund for Nature and Technology Research.

The objectives of the study are: (1) to obtain a knowledge of the land in its pre-industrial state to guide the ecosystemic development and approach; (2) to assess the values and attitudes of the residents of the North Shore, including First Nations peoples, as they relate to the forest and forest practices; (3) to carry out a review of the present development strategy; (4) to propose and assess ecosystemic development strategies, taking into consideration their social acceptability and their economic and operational feasibility, and the need to maintain natural character and achieve development objectives.

In the ecological part of the study, the characterization of large systems and sub-systems is underway using Landsat satellite images. The analysis of the forest dynamic with the help of aerial photographs is also in progress. The data from the third 10-year inventory and of operation inventories and new plots established are being analyzed to validate a forest typology.

From the social perspective, a first survey among the residents of the MRCs concerned is in progress to assess people’s values as they relate to the forest. Interviews with stakeholders began in the summer of 2006.

On the operational side of the study, the vast majority of the data on the current development strategy, which are required for the economic analysis, have already been collected. In addition, a probability calculation and an assessment of economic feasibility will be carried out over the next year using preliminary hypotheses for testing the assessment system. The project will continue until 2009.

The research project undertaken to show that forest activities can be maintained while respecting the needs of the Manicouagan woodland caribou herd is now complete. The results are convincing. The study’s strategy allowed harvesting activities to be completed while the caribou continued to live on the territory under study.

Kruger, in cooperation with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Wildlife, proposed a silviculture approach for its supply territories on the North Shore that advocates a cutting pattern different from the mosaic cut stipulated in the Regulation concerning operating standards in forest environments.

In summary, this development approach targets forest clusters that are left intact (protected massifs) so that others, the result of recent disruptions, maintain characteristics that allow them to be replaced (replacement massifs). The strategy calls for alternating, over the development period, between massifs that have the characteristics required for caribou to go through their entire life cycle. Another objective of this pattern of spatial distribution is to reproduce the characteristics of the natural landscape, whose ecological attributes are a result of systems of natural disruptions taking place in a region. This approach meets the caribou's needs, as well as those of most species, which have adapted to the disruptions. It also addresses the concerns of social acceptability, including those related to the landscape.

Research projects concerning biological sites have been undertaken by Kruger, Scierie Parent in the Upper Mauricie, Scierie Manic on the North Shore, Scierie Gallichan in Abitibi, and in Newfoundland.

The Newfoundland pine marten is one of Canada's endangered species, with one of the last remaining populations of marten located primarily on Corner Brook Pulp and Paper’s limits in the Little Grand Lake area. The Company funded a multi-year research study to protect the pine marten. Logging activity has stopped in the area and a refuge has been established for the marten.

Corner Brook Pulp and Paper ensures the protection of ecosystems and numerous other wildlife species, including the woodland caribou and the boreal owl.

In Newfoundland, Corner Brook Pulp and Paper takes part in a stewardship agreement with Ducks Unlimited and the provincial government, which dedicates more than 24,000 hectares of land to be managed primarily as a waterfowl habitat. This is one of the largest stewardship projects between Ducks Unlimited and a Canadian forest products company.