Daishowa Marubeni International
DMI has a foundational history of partnerships in the Sulphur Lake project dating back to 1989. The site has a stocking history dating back to 1958, and aeration at the site began in 1993. Campsite facilities were initially established in 1971 by ASRD (specifically by the former Alberta Forest Service), but has since then transferred to Alberta Parks, with ASRD maintaining a stocking program in conjunction with the ACA aeration initiative. Since 1989, DMI has directed funding contributions exceeding $360,000 for various initiatives at this site, including purchase of the initial aeration system equipment and annual funding of part ($7,500) of its operational costs. From the fisheries aspect alone, it represents a 20-year partnership and $166,000 investment to date.
While a rather remote site, Sulphur Lake has become a success story, both in the size and vigour of trout species thriving in the lake and in the site's popularity among local boreal residents. In 2008, the company initiated a new partnership with ASRD and Alberta Parks to establish an interpretive trail. The trail offers visitors educational insight into boreal forest dynamics and shared stewardship responsibilities among various stakeholders in northern forest landscapes.
Through its Peace River pulp mill, DMI manages 2.7 million hectares of Forest Management Agreement (FMA) forest lands. As a long-term corporate member of the northwest Alberta community it has held FMA tenures in that region since 1989 and employs some 300 staff. The company has been a central driver in the adoption of innovative ecosystem-based forest management practices on those landscapes since 1999. It recognizes that forest resources add significantly to the quality of life for residents in the region because of the environmental, social, spiritual and economic services those resources have provided historically.
From a business perspective, DMI believes that healthy forest ecosystems play a fundamental role in the very ecological productivity that forest managers depend on for sustained timber supplies. Consequently, DMI considers the resilience and persistence of non-timber values such as biodiversity, soils and watershed conservation to be inseparably connected to the business of forest management. The company practices “sustainable forest management” under an ecosystem-based approach employing continual improvement and innovation that is guided by third-party audits of its activities and investments in long-range ecological research, some of it occurring near Sulphur Lake.
Since 1989 DMI has directed over $10 million towards improving human understanding of northern forest ecosystems, developing tools for forest management, and improving utilization of forest resources through innovative technologies and research partnerships. The company is committed to responsible stewardship, including projects like Sulphur Lake, that ensure the public maintains access to experience the province's natural heritage.