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 $315,000 for various initiatives at this site, including purchase of the initial aeration system equipment and annual funding of a portion ($7500) of its operational costs.  On this fisheries-aspect alone, this represents an 18-year partnership of $151,000 investment to-date.  While a rather remote site it has proven to be a success story both in the size and vigour of trout species thriving in the lake, and the site's popularity among local boreal residents.  In 2008 the company initiated a new partnership underway with ASRD and Alberta Parks to establish an interpretive trail offering 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 was a central driver in the adoption of innovative ecological-based forest management practices on those landscapes since 1999.  It recognizes that forest resources have been significant to the quality of life for residents in the region because of the environmental, social, spiritual and economic services that 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 ecological-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 in funding support to improving human understanding of northern forest ecosystems, developing tools for forest management and improving utilization of forest resources through innovative technologies.  The company is committed to responsible stewardship, including projects such as Sulphur Lake that ensure the public maintains access to experience the province's natural heritage.

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