Mercer Peace River proud of University of Alberta’s EMEND 2020 FPAC “Partnership” Award

Partnerships are incredibly important to Mercer for maintaining the diversity and success of our industry; it is through these connections and relationships, that we are able to accomplish so much in the many innovative projects we are involved in. We look forward to these projects and partnerships as part of our values of sustainability, trust & transparency, and the pursuit of excellence.

One of MPR’s most valued and long-running (23 years) partnerships is the one we share with the many collaborators of the Ecosystem Management Emulating Natural Disturbance project, also know as EMEND. EMEND is a world-class ecological forest land management research project consisting of over 1000 ha of experiments designed to monitor and evaluate a novel approach to forest management known as Ecosystem-Based Management or EBM. In 1997, when EMEND was initiated, EBM was a novel, new approach to managing forests that attempted to emulate how natural forces such as fire created disturbances, with variable sizes, shapes and levels of retention left within the disturbances. To fully understand the long-term effects of EBM on ecosystem integrity and forest regeneration, and whether it was meeting the goal of emulating natural disturbances, the project is designed to continue for 80-90 years, the normal disturbance cycle of the forest. It is the synergy of research and industry, gaining national and global recognition for its research efforts as they determine the best retention and sustainability practices for the industry to adopt. Through the development of these practices and implementing what is learned from them within the forest industry, EMEND is leading the evolution toward better forest management that ensures the continued functioning and resiliency of the forest and sustainable resource and future.

MPR is proud of the partnership we continue to maintain with the EMEND project and are even more proud of the results the project has already yielded. This pride is why we chose to nominate the EMEND project for the 2020 FPAC Awards of Excellence for Partnership, sharing their great work with the wider forest community. We are happy to announce that EMEND was the successful candidate for the Partnership award and further showcase the amazing work that they do. We look forward to continuing this fantastic partnership and to integrating their new developments into our long-term sustainability strategy.