Fort Simpson (Mar 11/05) - While forests in the Deh Cho have been a largely untapped resource, the region could support a small scale logging industry with help from the federal government, according to consultant and former Grand Chief Michael Nadli.

Consultant Michael Nadli believes there is potential for a small-scale forestry industry in the Deh Cho.

"The potential is there," said Nadli following a two-day conference in Fort Simpson last week where government officials and aboriginal leaders discussed the industry.

Forestry in the Deh Cho and South Slave regions has met with mixed success and opposition over the last several years.

In a draft report commissioned by the Deh Cho First Nation, Nadli said boreal forests throughout the region could be a source of sustainable income for aboriginal groups.

He estimated there was the potential to harvest 100,000 cubic metres of white spruce along the Liard Valley and Blackstone River. There has already been some commercial logging near Cameron Hills, south of Kakisa, an area that is also rich in oil and gas.

Already the community of Jean Marie River is pushing ahead with plans for a small-scale logging operation with the recent completion of a sawmill that employs several people.

"Job wise, it will be good," said Dolphus Jumbo - one of nearly 25 people who attended the conference.

The construction of the proposed Mackenzie Valley Pipeline would offer logging companies a market for their products as well, said Nadli.

The bulk of the money to create a logging industry would come from an $85 million fund established by the federal government in 2003 to support aboriginal employment opportunities in the North, said Nadli.

In order to qualify for the federal funding, the project would have to create at least 50 permanent jobs, a target he believes is achievable.

Nadli is hoping to secure a four-year commitment for $6 million. The deadline for submitting a proposal is March 31. If approved, he said there could be some logging by the summer.

In the meantime, government and community groups still need to determine what sort of logging operation would work, where the timber would be marketed and how best to deal with environmental concerns, Nadli said.