Mercer Peace River Pulp Ltd.

Mercer Peace River (MPR) has been devoted to the Sulphur Lake project since 1989. The site's stocking history dates back to 1958, and aeration began in 1993. Today, AEP maintains a stocking program in conjunction with the ACA aeration initiative. For over 25 years, MPR has partnered with ACA on the project, investing $188,000 into fisheries to date. MPR has also directed funding contributions exceeding $420,000, which includes the purchase of the initial aeration system equipment and annual funding of part ($7,500) of its operational costs. 

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, MPR partnered with ESRD 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 operations, MPR manages 2.9 million hectares of Forest Management Agreement (FMA) forest lands. As a long-term corporate member of the NW Alberta community, MPR has held FMA tenures in that region since 1989 and employs some 285 team members, not including over 400 associated contractors providing operational support. MPR is proud to be a central driver in the adoption of innovative ecosystem-based forest management practices on these landscapes since 1999. As a champion in the pursuit of excellence, MPRrecognizes that forest resources add significantly to the quality of life for residents in the region because of the environmental, social, spiritual, cultural, and economic pillars of sustainability that those resources have provided historically.

From a business perspective, MPR believes that healthy forest ecosystems play a fundamental role in the very ecological productivity that forest managers depend upon for sustained timber supplies. Mercer Peace River Pulp Ltd. consider the resilience and persistence of non-timber values such as biodiversity, soils, and watershed conservation to be inseparably connected to the responsibility of their forest management practices. MPRpractices “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. 

MPR has directed over $10 million towards improving human understanding of northern forest ecosystems, developing tools for forest management, and improving the use of forest resources through technology and research partnerships. As a values’-driven company, MPR demonstrates its commitment to health and safety, trust, integrity, and transparency, accountability, and the pursuit of excellence through being bold and committed to responsible sustainable stewardship, including projects like Sulphur Lake, that ensures the public gets to experience Alberta's natural heritage.

To learn more about Mercer Peace River Pulp visit: https://mercerint.com/our-operations/mercer-peace-river/