CALEB NICKERSON
MRC PONTIAC Dec 2, 2020
There’s a new face around MRC Pontiac’s office in Campbell’s Bay following the retirement of the long-serving director of territory, Régent Dugas.
Jason Durand will be stepping into Dugas’ role and officially started on Nov. 2. Originally from Aylmer, Durand has lived in Fort Coulonge and Mansfield et Pontefract for more than 20 years.
He got his introduction to the Pontiac working for the ZEC Saint-Patrice, near Rapides des Joachims, when he was . . .
fresh out of forestry technician school. He said that his role was mainly to consult with the forestry industry about how their operations could be more compatible with local wildlife and the overall habitat.
Unfortunately, his contract wasn’t renewed, as they were looking for a forestry engineer, a more advanced credential.
“I was disappointed because I really liked the job and I knew I was doing the job well,” he said. “That really touched me. So when my contract ended… that sort of gave me the reason to go back to school.”
Durand enrolled in university in Moncton, NB, and after five years he attained his forestry engineer degree. During his summers he worked at the Ministry of Natural Resources office in Fort Coulonge.
Upon graduation in the mid-2000s, he landed a gig with the Groupement Forestier du Pontiac (GFP). He said that during this time he occasionally had some interaction with Dugas.
“That was probably one of my big schools … of learning a lot about the territory of the Pontiac,” he said. “We were doing tree marking, inventory, forestry planification. At that time Smurfitt Stone was still open, we did some forestry plans for them.”
After about a five year stint with the GFP, Durand went to work for Resolute Forest Products in Maniwaki.
“I was supervisor of forestry planification,” he said. “So in other words, I was keeping up with all our contractors, we had at least 10 feller-bunchers operating in different harvesting blocks, so I was really doing all the follow up with those machines, doing all the maps for these guys, tracking down all the GPS [coordinates] that they would do … It was a big experience working for a multinational … It gave me a good idea of how the big industry works.”
For the last three years he worked at the Ministry of Forests, Wildlife and Parks office in Fort Coulonge. When he heard about Régent preparing to retire, he said that he thought his wide variety of experience in the local and regional forestry industry would make him suitable for the position.
“Just doing pure forestry, it’s ok, but with the job here at the MRC, there’s that political factor that I was interested in, to be a little more involved with the public,” he said.
He said that it would take time to adjust to all the different hats that the director has to wear and was thankful for all of Dugas’ guidance.
“Getting the contracts done, getting submissions, calls to tender, that aspect was mostly new to me. I’m learning,” he said. “That’s part of the challenge, learning some new stuff.”
