Forest communities in the Municipalité Régionale de Comté (MRC) d’Antoine-Labelle have been confronted for several years with a major challenge: maintaining their way of life, while ensuring their future. The MRC’s economy is evidence of the remarkable ability of its people to harness the forest resources of the area through silviculture and primary processing, but to no lesser extent through wildlife and through recreational tourism.
A study conducted in 2004 by EcoTec Consulting brought to light the leading role played by the lumber and tourism industries in the MRC’s economy. EcoTec updated its findings in June 2007, confirming a net loss of 1 554 forest-related jobs and a loss of $118 million to the regional GDP. With such a reality check, a repositioning of the forest sector became imperative.
The name of the project “Le Bourdon” (The Bumblebee) was chosen to illustrate the spirit with which the stakeholders are facing the challenges of the forestry crisis. According to scientific data and calculations, the bumblebee shouldn’t be able to fly due to its weight. Yet, it does not know this, so it flies anyway.. Just like the bumblebee, the stakeholders have decided to fight back and build in a hostile environment. In order to do so, they adopted a new developmental approach, betting on a ‘win-win’ solution, capitalizing on economic growth which takes full advantage of its rich natural resources in order to create and maintain social prosperity for years to come.