$3 million in grants have been allocated throughout the province by the Forest Enhancement Society of BC.
According to a news release, the grants will support jobs in the forestry sector and increase the utilization of wood fibre that would be burned to slash.
Among the recipients is the Village of Fraser Lake who received $101,652 for the Fraser Lake Community Forest to transport uneconomic residual waste fibre to the Pinnacle Pellet plant in Burns Lake.
Stikine MLA Nathan Cullen said the grants will help support and communities in the Stikine riding.
“Putting what would normally be considered forestry waste to use is a way of creating more local jobs from forestry operations, while also reducing their environmental impacts,” said Cullen.
The projects will allow 250,000 cubic metres of post-harvest waste wood to be utilized in the production of pulp, wood pellets, electricity and compost for soil remediation.
Meanwhile, $133,745 was provided to Pinnacle Renewable Energy Ltd. to increase fibre use by manufacturing wood pellets, $216,158 was provided to Westland Resources Ltd. to enhance use of uneconomic pulp logs from two licenses and NorthPac Forestry Group received $279,749 to increase fibre use by sending residual waste to coastal pulp mills.
The investment is a part of the B.C’s COVID-19 Economic Recovery Plan.