PRINCETON, B.C.— $1.4 million in funding from the Forest Enhancement Society of B.C. (FESBC) in partnership with the BC government and the Government of Canada is achieving greenhouse gas reduction targets while creating economic sustainability. The funding addresses the uneconomic viability of processing low-grade fibre, like small-diameter treetops, by supporting the incremental hauling costs of fibre to Okanagan-based BC EcoChips Ltd.
About 325,000 cubic metres of normally unmerchantable wood fibre will be saved from burning in slash piles over the next four years. Over 35,000 cubic metres have already been hauled and chipped since spring 2019.
The project is being managed by Westwood Fibre Resources Ltd. of Kamloops, B.C. President Jim Thrower said they are working with Weyerhaeuser to secure the additional fibre to haul to BC EcoChips Ltd. facilities in Princeton and Okanagan Falls, B.C.
“We oversee the recovery from bush operations and delivery of the tops into the log yards at Princeton and OK Falls where they are chipped by BC EcoChips Ltd.,” said Thrower. “This project is allowing the delivery and utilization of material that would otherwise be burned.”