The B.C. Ministry of Forests is providing $28 million to increase the availability of much-need wood fibre for wood product producers from salvaging and wildfire mitigation projects.
The money will go to the Forest Enhancement Society of BC (FESBC), which works with communities, First Nations and loggers to facilitate timber recovery and forest fire mitigation.
The funding will support 43 new or expanded fibre-recovery projects and 31 new or expanded wildfire-mitigation projects.
Sawmills, pulp mills, pellet mills and bioenergy projects in B.C. face a chronic shortage of wood fibre, large amounts of which is often simply burned in slash piles after working forests are harvested, and there is also fibre available in the form of proactive wildfire prevention operations, as well as post-fire salvaging.
Forest fire prevention can include logging operations like thinning and creating fire breaks.
While the timber to be harvested from such operations is often suited to sawmilling, it can be used by pulp and pellet producers, as well as bioenergy plants. One such bioenergy plant – the Atlantic Power biomass plant in Williams Lake – is on the verge of shutting down, partly due to a lack of wood waste.
“Whether it's better utilizing existing sources of fibre or helping protect communities from wildfire, the projects are supporting workers and companies as they develop new and innovative forest practices,” B.C. Forests Minister Ravi Parmar said in a press release.
All of the salvaging and wildfire mitigation projects are to be completed by the end of March, the ministry said in a news release.
To date, the Forests ministry says that FESBC projects have produced 44,000 logging truckloads worth of fibre since April 2024.
“That fibre would once have been burned in slash piles and is instead creating jobs and revenue for local businesses,” the ministry said in its press release.
"These projects are putting local businesses and people to work reducing wildfire risk and recovering fibre for local pulp mills, and pellet and energy plants," FESBC executive director Jason Fisher said.
“FESBC received strong proposals from across the province and we are pleased to support this strong group of proponents in their forest-management activities."
Since 2016, the government has invested $79.6 million in 201 community wildfire risk-reduction projects through FESBC.
