The theme of this year’s National Forest Week 2017 is Our Stories, Our Future. We value the people, the partnerships and the innovation that goes into sustainable forest management. We think these stories are worth celebrating!

1. It’s a Milestone Year: 60 Years of Tree Planting

Since 1957 we have planted nearly 1 billion trees. It is a big part of why we grow more than we harvest every year.

We cannot celebrate this 60-year milestone without celebrating the tree planters who have made it happen. 

One way we thank our student tree planters is to send them back to college or university with a scholarship at the end of the planting season. The 2017 season saw 58 student tree planters awarded a total of $47,250 in scholarships. To date, $454,500 has been awarded to full-time students who have planted trees across JDI-owned or managed lands.

2. Proud to Conserve Nature’s Beauty with Exceptional Partners

Unique Areas: Our voluntary and award-winning Unique Areas program has grown from 29 sites in the 1980s to over 1 300 sites to date on the lands we own and manage in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Maine. We value the partnerships we have with many environmental and community groups as well as local universities to help identify, conserve and study these special places which include aesthetics, wildlife, historic sites and more. 

Saving Salmon: When communities, researchers, and industry can partner on environmental projects, there is potential for great results. That’s exactly the intent of CAST (Collaboration for Atlantic Salmon Tomorrow). Today 11 scientists are underway with 4 projects to count, save and strengthen the future of wild Atlantic salmon. University of New Brunswick researchers are leading the way using amazing technology. The Miramichi Salmon Association, Cooke Aquaculture, and Canadian Rivers Institute, JDI as well as provincial and federal government make up the rest of the CAST. 

Ducks Unlimited: Our work to protect wildlife habitat and support research extends to wetlands. We have a 36-year partnership with Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC) on almost 1,250 acres of wetland on JDI properties. The agreement covers a total of 34 conservation sites in both in New Brunswick (29) and Nova Scotia (5). While DUC works with 2,000 private landowners in Atlantic Canada, JDI has more projects and wetland area under agreement with DUC than any other private landowner. 

Sustainable Forestry Initiative® (SFI®): We care about our forests - but don't take our word for it; all forest land owned or managed by J. D. Irving, Limited is Third Party Certified to the Sustainable Forestry Initiative program Forest Management Standard – the largest certification standard in North America. This week SFI awarded our Woodlands team their Conservation Award for Canada and North America.

The third party forest certification audits in 2016 found we had zero non-compliances based on 145 indicators (environmental, social and economic) measured over 5 years. View the latest report.

3. Diverse Careers Grow on Trees 

From seed to shelf there are exciting careers connected to the forest products value chain:

 

Innovation in the lab: Mullai Manoharan works at Maritime Innovation Limited - the new research lab in Sussex, New Brunswick. His job? Grow strong trees and apply new research discoveries to maintain tree health. The Dalhousie University grad is from Pondicherry, India and now lives and works in Sussex. 

Plant. Grow, Improve, Repeat: University of New Brunswick forestry grad Shona Millican is one of 650 UNB alumni on the team at J.D. Irving, Limited. Shona leads our tree improvement program. 

The Forests Have So Much to Offer: Ward Hunter is a University of New Brunswick forestry grad and one of over 100 forestry professionals working in JDI Woodlands. During the work day, you can find him out in the forests. In his off time? He’ll be there with his family, enjoying all the forests have to offer. (Youtube)

Our woodlands team is hiring! 

Leadership in the Mill: Kyle Lowery spent his summer’s tree planting. Shortly after graduating from New Brunswick Community College, he was hired full-time as a production supervisor in the Sawmill Division. Our sawmills team is hiring! 

New Products, New Jobs: Brad St. Laurent, Value-Added Manager at the Doaktown Sawmill, was part of the team that started producing a new product at the Doaktown Sawmill: rustic barn board. The mill produces rough sawn board stained to give a weathered "barn board" look. This has created new full-time jobs for the mill in Doaktown. 

New Careers for New Grads: Hilary Tomney graduated from the University of New Brunswick in 2016. She’s applying her engineering degree as Quality Engineer at the Irving Pulp Mill in Saint John. We’re hiring engineers!

World Class Facilities, Quality Products: Charles Scott is a New Brunswick Community College grad. Charles is the Maintenance Coordinator at Irving Tissue in Dieppe. We’re hiring skilled trades and in operations! 

Driving Careers Forward: Paul Theriault is a Sunbury driver and transports forest products. You can follow Paul and the journeys of other drivers here! We’re hiring drivers!

On the Right Track: Another way forest products move is by rail. Kersti Lee is a University of New Brunswick engineering student who has been part of the New Brunswick Southern Rail team for three summers as part of the Careers in Motion program. We’re hiring co-op students for 2018! Students.jdirving.com 

More in Every Role: North American Packaging Manager, Grace Wong is a graduate of University of Toronto. As part of the Marketing and Sales Team, Grace says wonderful colleagues are a highlight of her job with Irving Consumer Products makers of favourite brands like Royale™ and Scotties™ in the USA. We’re hiring in marketing and sales!  

4. Record Breaking Season: Purchase Wood
Thank you to the hundreds of New Brunswick private wood producers and woodlot owners who made the 2016-2017 operating year a record breaking season. JDI mills bought over 860,000 cubic meters of wood, worth over $40 million, from NB private woodlots. This volume is roughly 23,000 tractor trailer loads of wood and is significantly higher than our previous all-time record of 685,000 cubic meters. 

Thanks to your support we were able to add jobs and shifts at our sawmills in Chipman, Sussex, and St. Leonard. 

Over the past 6 years JDI has worked with hundreds of private wood producers and woodlot owners to more than double our purchase volume. Wood from privately-owned land represents 53% of the wood supply for JDI’s NB mills. 

We are currently buying wood and are on track for another very large year of private wood purchases, on the heels of our record breaking 2016-2017 season. 

5. Inspiring The Next Generation with a Love Of Forests and Learning

On the annual Forests Worth Knowing Teacher’s Tour, JDI partners with National Forests Canada to show teachers how they can incorporate experiential learning with nature into the classroom. For high school teachers, it shows the diversity of careers connected to forestry that could be a fit for their students. 

Stanley High team has a strong reputation for excelling in the Envirothon competition. This year was no exception. We were proud to cheer them on as they competed on the international stage. The competition involves field knowledge challenges covering soil, wildlife, forestry and aquatics. 

Every year J.D. Irving, Limited (JDI) awards scholarships to students pursuing post-secondary education whose parents are our valued employees. This year, 23 students whose parents work for JDI’s Woodlands Division, were awarded with scholarships to go toward their post-secondary education. A total of $23,000 in scholarships was provided this year. Best of luck with your future careers, we can’t wait to see where your education takes you! 


6. Trees Help Fight Climate Change
During its lifetime, one growing tree will absorb up to 1 tonne of carbon dioxide. Over the next 50 years, JDI Woodlands and Forest Products operations will be a net sink for carbon – absorbing over 92 million tonnes of CO2 – that’s the equivalent of 18 million cars off the road for an entire year! Watch video of JDI Carbon Sequestration study with UNB.

7. Stay Home, Come Home, Make it Home: We're Hiring!

As JDI looks to hire over 8600 people between 2017-2019, we are working with local colleges and universities to keep our young people at home, and to bring them home. We are also welcoming new team members who have chosen to make the region home. From new grads, to established professionals, we have career opportunities at several levels: careers.jdirving.com