The Woodstock First Nation members are the descendants of the Wulustukwiak people who traditionally inhabited southwestern New Brunswick along the St. John River as far as Kittery, Maine, USA. The closest town to Woodstock First Nation is Woodstock which is located approximately 9 km northwest of the reserve, and the closest city is Fredericton which is approximately 100 km east.
Initially, Woodstock First Nation consisted of 226.1 acres of land; however, a further five parcels of land totalling 166.9 acres were purchased in 1992. Currently, the total reserve land holding is 426 acres. The Woodstock First Nation registered population as of June 2017, was 1,046. The on-reserve population is 293 and the off-reserve population is 753. The predominant language within the community is English; however, among many Elders, the Maliseet language continues to be used and is considered by many to be their mother tongue.
Woodstock First Nation has developed businesses that focus on the sale of fuels, commercial logging, local fisheries, and gaming. The community is keen to contribute to the development of the Wisokolamson Energy Project and play a role in the transition towards clean energy sources.
SWEB Development LP
SWEB is a North American subsidiary of W.E.B Group, a community-owned renewable energy developer headquartered in Austria. W.E.B Group has been involved in planning, developing, financing, constructing, and operating renewable energy projects for over 30 years. Currently, W.E.B Group has a total of 744 MW of installed capacity in Austria, Germany, Italy, the Czech Republic, France, Canada, and the United States. The group develops, constructs, and operates, wind, solar, and small-scale hydroelectric projects with wind energy representing the largest proportion of its projects.
By the nature of the community-ownership of SWEB, the company has extensive experience in community engagement and have worked with local stakeholder groups on projects in Nova Scotia, and across Canada and the northeastern United States. Through the involvement of community members throughout Nova Scotia, SWEB has successfully developed and commissioned three phases of community-owned wind energy projects, totaling 12 projects, 20 WTGs and 39.63MW of installed capacity under the Community Feed-in Tariff (COMFIT) program. SWEB has also commissioned a community-owned wind energy project in Maine, known as Pisgah Mountain, which is a 9 MW wind energy project located in Clifton, Maine.