The Atlantic Canadian Opportunities Agency is expected to announce support for the region’s struggling forestry sector on Tuesday.

ACOA Minister Bernard Valcourt will be in Amherst this morning to announce a new initiative aimed at growing the region’s forestry sector by two per cent a year, Metro Halifax has learned.

The Atlantic Canada Wood Works Initiative, an extension of a national program headed by the Canadian Wood Council, intends to do that by promoting economic and environmental benefits of using wood for non-residential construction.

“Atlantic Canada is second only to British Columbia in its dependency on the forest sector,” said Diana Blenkhorn of the Maritime Lumber Bureau, which will lead the initiative. “(So) we are focusing on utilizing locally produced material in a much expanded way.”

Blenkhorn said wood is used in about 95 per cent of residential construction in Atlantic Canada, but for only about five per cent of non-residential construction.

“There’s a tremendous opportunity for growth,” she said.

Details on ACOA’s involvement in the initiative were scant Monday. Spokesman Kevin Dubé indicated all will be revealed at Valcourt’s press conference at 8:45 a.m.

But Blenkhorn said the initiative will work directly with municipalities, architects, engineers and provinces, with the end goal of increasing the consumption of locally produced wood in the region.

If successful, it could provide some measure of stability to an industry that has had its share of difficulty in Nova Scotia.

The province recently committed $50 million to keep the Bowater Mersey pulp and paper mill in Liverpool running for five years. That’s on top of $15 million in silviculture funding for the Port Hawkesbury region, where the NewPage mill remains in a holding pattern.