The Village of Burns Lake has $116,000 to spend on an ‘Economic Diversification Project’ that will come in three phases to help diversify the local economy.
Mayor Chris Beach says the project will have an emphasis on resident attraction and retention.
“The key part of that is we’re going to put together a diversification committee made up of local government, First Nations, business leaders, forestry consultants – basically a wide cross-section of the community,” says Beach.
The first phase will be community engagement they plan on wrapping up by the end of June. The second phase will be building a market strategy for the village by September, and the third will be training offered to stakeholders in the surrounding community.
Beach says the committee and the diversification project will also help develop strategies to deal with reductions to the annual allowable cut. He says having the community help brainstorm ideas on how to improve the economy is crucial.
The village recently received a $21,000 grant from the Nechako-Kitimaat Development Society for the project. The Rural Dividend Fund contributed $80,000 with $6,000 from a fund between the village and regional district. The rest is $9,000 in-kind through the village.