Choose Nechako Region
The Nechako region spans from central British Columbia to the Yukon border, offering a prime strategic location shaped by the Rocky Mountains. As a thriving economic corridor, it brings together established strengths in forestry, mining, agriculture, and energy—industries powered by dependable road, rail, and air transportation networks. Investors benefit from a stable supply chain, a skilled workforce, and ready to develop industrial land. The region’s robust transportation, logistics, and communications infrastructure also fuel the continued rise of high growth sectors such as pellet production, bioenergy, and value added wood manufacturing.
Regional Advantages
Northern Industries Innovation Fund
Provides funding for small to medium-sized eligible businesses for applied research and development, new or improved products, and services and testing of innovative technologies in sectors such as advanced wood products, agri-tech, clean energy, and mining services. This reduces commercialization risk and supports pilot projects, prototyping, and process optimization for export-oriented firms.
Northwest B.C.’s Business Hub
With a local trade area of 25,000 and a regional market of more than 300,000 Smithers serves as the professional services hub for Northwest B.C. The community concentrates engineering, environmental, legal, financial, and technical services that support regional mining, forestry, transportation, and construction projects, providing investors with an established ecosystem of suppliers and project partners.
Well Developed Agriculture Sector
The region offers opportunity in the agriculture sector, with three local abattoir facilities, well-established farmers’ markets, the largest cattle auction facility in northern B.C. and strong local support of the sector and north. This infrastructure underpins scalable livestock and crop production, value-added food processing, and agritech deployment, with proximity to western Canadian and Asia-Pacific consumer markets.
Gateway To Asia & Beyond
Well-positioned along the east/west and north rail corridor, communities have direct access to the movement of goods from B.C. to North American and Asian markets via integrated road and rail connections to West Coast ports. This enables efficient export of lumber, pellets, critical minerals, agri-food products, and manufactured goods, and supports just-in-time supply chains for industrial operations.
Key Sectors
Economic Advantages
Smithers
From large employers in the resources sector to small-scale entrepreneurs and innovative social enterprises, Smithers has created a strong, resilient community economy. Smithers is a regional government centre with access to key provincial ministries. Their airport is close to town, offers daily flights to Vancouver and has been zoned to accommodate industrial development. Smithers is known nationally as a hub for the exploration industry, with a significant cluster of drilling, expediting and related support industries.
Communities
While the Nechako region is the second-largest northern development region in the province, it’s home to approximately 40,400 residents, making it the least-populated region of B.C. This combination of scale and low population density provides room for industrial expansion, greenfield development, and large project siting.
The main communities are Smithers, Vanderhoof, Houston, Fort St. James, Fraser Lake and Burns Lake, with other municipalities, and townships adding to the population. From large employers in the resources sector to small-scale entrepreneurs and innovative social enterprises, this region has a strong, resilient economy with a labour force experienced in forestry, mining, transportation, construction, and manufacturing.
Regional Labour Force ProfileEconomic Development Organizations
First Nations
Mining, forestry and agriculture play a large role in most parts of the Nechako region. Outdoor tourism is an emerging industry. These sectors are increasingly developed through partnership models with First Nations, creating opportunities for equity participation, joint ventures, and long-term impact benefit agreements.
Development corporations— owned collectively by aligned First Nations or by individual First Nations— are the primary vehicles by which First Nations pursue and advocate for sustainable economic development. Investors can work directly with these development corporations to structure projects, secure local workforce, and align with community priorities in areas such as clean energy, infrastructure, natural resources, and services.
Learn more about First Nations in BCEconomic Development Organizations
Logistics & Accessibility
Educational Institutions
The College of New Caledonia is a comprehensive community college that delivers post-secondary training in health sciences, trades and technologies, business, university transfer, social services, and academic upgrading.
Coast Mountain College is an accredited post-secondary institution that serves the rich and diverse communities and learners of B.C.’s beautiful northwest region, including a regional campus in Smithers.
Connect With a Regional Expert
Regional experts can help familiarize you with the amenities, infrastructure, and opportunities in each region. They can introduce you to the economic development offices and industry associations that will support the integration of your business into the province.