Original article: Pellet Mill Magazine, May 2025
Once a leader in North Ameri can forestry, a chronic wood shortage has impacted British Columbia since the 1990s, when a pine beetle infestation took the region by storm. The epidemic impacted over 18 million hectares (approx. 44.5 million acres) of B.C. forest, peaking in 2005. The Canadian government determined that 723 million cubic meters, or 53% of marketable pine volume, was lost by 2012, and by 2017, a total of 752 million cubic meters, or 58% of marketable pine volume, was estimated to be lost because of the epidemic. Paired with unsustainable timber regulations and significant wildfires, B.C.’s wood product industries continue to face an uphill battle.
At the forefront of the battle is the Forest Enhancement Society of British Columbia, which recently received a $28 million package from the province to tackle the shortage and reduce wildfire risks through several new projects that may be announced in the coming weeks. “The Forest Enhancement Society of BC reviews proposals from forest managers and invests in forest management practices that make forests more resilient, communities safer from wildfire, and increase the productive use of wood waste from forest management and harvesting that would otherwise be burned,” says FESBC Executive Director Jason Fisher. The recent $28 million funding influx will continue that effort.
Small and defective logs can be utilized to manufacture wood pellets or generate heat and power. IMAGE: TIFFANY CHRISTIANSON PHOTOGRAPHY
Back to Our Roots
Founded in 2016, the FESBC’s life blood lies within wildfire prevention and forestry preservation. “We exist to advance environmental and resource stewardship of B.C.’s forests … to advocate for the environ mental and resource stewardship of B.C.’s forests, and to carry out all other activities that support the stated purposes and exercise the society’s powers,” Fisher said. The FESBC has supported over 400 projects, each with the intent of wildfire reduction and fiber recovery.
“Wood is an amazingly versatile and beautiful material,” Fisher says. “Wood is used to create building materials like lumber, plywood and other wood products. It is also used to generate pulp and paper, wood pellets, and bioenergy, sometimes referred to as green energy.”
With applications in all walks of life, it’s no surprise that the FESBC’s work has gone far from unnoticed. Fahimeh Yazdan Panah, director of research and technical development at the Wood Pellet Association of Canada, describes the partnership between the FESBC and WPAC as pivotal to the pellet industry. WPAC, established in 2006, boasts over 50 members and advocates sustainability, safety, awareness and innovation in the pellet industry. “Our vision is a vibrant, globally competitive Canadian wood pellet industry, safely producing a clean, efficient and sustainable form of energy for world markets,” Yazdan Panah says.
The wood fiber shortage has forced the wood pellet industry into a difficult position, Yazdan Panah explains. “Canada experienced a record-breaking 15 million hectares of forest burned in 2023,” she says, adding that B.C. forest policy has created challenges in accessing Crown timber. “Although 95% of forests are government owned, harvesting requires permits that have been increasingly difficult to obtain,” she says. “As a result, we’re harvesting only approximately 60% of the allowable cut.” Sawmill closures have also impacted the pellet industry in B.C., Yazdan Panah says. Major sawmill closures due to de creasing resources have limited pellet producers’ access to feedstock, but she notes that this uncertainty has not deterred the pellet industry. In 2024 alone— decades after the initial pine beetle infestation in the 1990s—over 3 million tons of Canadian wood pellets were exported.
A Team Effort
The success of the FESBC’s projects wouldn’t be nearly as great without its close partnership with the First Nations community. “The FESBC has worked with [the] First Nations since the beginning of its mandate,” Fisher says. “Our programs are applicant-driven, and many of our applicants are First Nations.
“Often, First Nations hold the forest tenure on which the funded activities will be carried out. In addition, non-First Nation applicants often have partnerships with First Nations, hire First Nation-owned businesses as contractors, or have some other relationship that benefits First Nations,” he adds. Fisher cites two primary programs for investment: one that supports projects that reduces wildfire risk, and one that “supports the collection and use of wood waste from forest management and harvesting activities.”
For the First Nations and the planet, fire is a way of life and a process of rebirth and renewal. In a video titled “Living with Fire” by the Westbank First Nation, CEO of Ntityix Resources Mic Werstuik explains the importance of fire in the Westbank First Nation. “Fire was always used by our people as a management tool…We have to use that tool,” he says.
Project partners Adam Sullivan of Forsite and Ernie McIvor of Lower Nicola Indian Band visit the site of an FESBC-funded project. IMAGE: TIFFANY CHRISTIANSON PHOTOGRAPHY
The variety of fires that can appear in forestry vary from manmade to natural. “Wildfires are fires that occur unintentionally in forest ecosystems. They can be caused by human activity or lightning,” Fisher explains. “Slash burning is the pro cess of burning harvesting waste, which is primarily made up of defective logs, branches and tops of trees. This is an intentional fire set to remove the wood waste or fuel, which in turn helps reduce the risk of future wildfires and creates more spaces for planting new trees.”
It is with this fire that the work of the First Nations and the FESBC finds its focus. By collectively removing and burning slash, wildfires lose proverbial steam much more quickly. As a result, wildfires are significantly less intense.
Similar to those of slash burns, prescribed burns are fires deliberately started to remove fuel from future fires. According to the Western Fire Chiefs Association, prescribed burns “are started in specific, predetermined locations and carefully controlled, so they do not cause harm to people, animals and property.” Prescribed burns are of ten confused with controlled burns, which are merely fires that are started with an in tent of controlling its effects, like that of a campfire, which can turn into wildfires. Prescribed burns must abide by several parameters to ensure safety and definite control, and very few turn into wildfires.
While fire serves an important role in the ecosystem, its impact on the environment can serve as a negating factor. “When slash it is burned, releases green house gases that are more potent than CO2, as well as smoke that can be harmful to living creatures,” Fisher notes. “These effects can be mitigated by building appropriate slash piles and only burning on days where weather conditions support the dispersal of smoke.”
Balance, then, is needed to navigate the climate effects of burns. This puts producers in prime position to contribute. “Depending on how far the slash is located from businesses that can consume it, such as pulp mills, green energy facilities and wood pellet manufacturers, the material in slash piles could support the manufacturing of pulp and paper, wood pellets or bioenergy,” Fisher says.
The quality of wood can impact where it goes in the pipeline, he explains. “If logs are defective because they are crooked, damaged, cracked, burnt or too small, they might not be suitable for making higher value construction products like lumber or plywood. Some of those logs might alternatively be suitable for making pulp and paper. The smallest and most defective logs might still be able to be utilized to generate wood pellets or bioenergy which can offset the need to utilize fossil fuels.
“Wood pellet producers can effectively use materials that are derived from slash piles.” Fisher continues. The barrier to slash use as wood pellet feedstock comes with the often steep cost of processing and transport. “Burned wood can be used to make wood pellets and bioenergy. Depending on the severity of the fire and how long ago it moved through an area, some burned wood can even be used to make building products like lumber,” he says.
The Path Ahead
As the shortage continues, further support from the province of British Columbia is crucial to continue this effort. “We are so thankful that the FESBC receives $20 million per year from B.C.’s Ministry of Forests,” Fisher expresses. “We will use this funding to continue to invest in and support projects that create more resilient forests, better protect communities and increase the use of wood that would otherwise be wasted and burned.” Fisher notes that the FESBC is open to future partnerships with funders and agencies to extend its reach and impact. “There are more areas to be treated for wildfire risk and more waste wood to be collected and used than the FESBC has funding for,” he says.
The process of recovery won’t be easy. The Trump administration’s tariff war on Canada extends to the pellet industry, particularly in the realm of sawmill residues, Yazdan Panah says. “The pellet industry relies heavily on sawmill residues, and as tariffs make lumber exports less competitive, more mills are reducing operations or shutting down altogether, reducing the avail able feedstock for pellets,” she explains. Investment uncertainties could also influence production, further intensifying the industry’s strain under the wood fiber shortage.
Canada’s own retaliatory tariffs don’t directly target the pel let industry, according to Yazdan Panah, but the trade war offers rough waters for the forestry industry. However, this could offer domestic benefits, she notes. “Right now, Canada exports over 90% of its wood pellets, helping countries like Japan and the United Kingdom reduce emissions, but very little is used domestically,” she says. “Expanding Canadian demand for pellets could lower heating costs, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, strengthen rural economies, and create new, stable markets for forest residues and low-grade timber. With the right approach, Canada can turn international trade turbulence into an opportunity for energy security and climate leadership at home.”
The path to a sustainable future could extend beyond what is currently prescribed for wood products. “I am optimistic that there are many more uses for [slash] wood that are waiting to be discovered and commercialized,” Fisher says.
Whatever the path, Werstuik and the First Nations remind us that fire will be a part of it. “Utilizing fire—reintroducing fire to the landscape, investing in fuel mitigation work—it’s not to stop wildfire. It’s to mitigate the impacts,” he adds. “We need to learn how to live with fire.”
Author: Caitlin Scheresky
caitlin.scheresky@bbiinternational.com