The Forest Enhancement Society of BC (FESBC) is a Crown agency. It was established in 2016 to advance the environmental and resource stewardship of the province’s forests by:

• preventing wildfires and mitigating wildfire impacts;
• improving damaged or low-value forests;
• improving wildlife habitat;
• supporting the use of fibre from damaged or low-value forests; and
• treating forests to improve the management of greenhouse gases.

As of Jan. 28, 2021, the B.C. government has invested $238 million in FESBC, with about $237 million allocated to 270 projects since the society’s inception. Funded projects have helped minimize wildfire risks, enhance wildlife habitat, improve low-value and damaged forests, replant damaged forests and use fibre for green-energy production.

FESBC is a partner in the Forest Carbon Initiative, which is funded in part through the federal government’s Low Carbon Economy Leadership Fund. This initiative assists with B.C. government priorities, such as:

• revitalizing the forest sector;
• partnering with First Nations;
• supporting the Province’s CleanBC commitment to transition to a low-carbon economy; and
• providing economic benefits for rural communities.

The Forest Enhancement Society of BC has allocated another $3 million in grants to support 15 projects that will increase the use of wood fibre that otherwise would have been burned as slash.

Funding for these projects has been distributed as follows:

October 2020 project approvals (Intake #7):

• $20,000 to Interwest Timber Ltd. to take uneconomical pulp fibre to a plant for chipping and future delivery to coastal pulp mills (about 1,537 cubic metres in the south coast region)
• $101,562 to the Village of Fraser Lake for the Fraser Lake Community Forest, to transport uneconomic residual waste fibre to the Pinnacle Pellet plant in Burns Lake (about 13,488 cubic metres in the Omineca region)
• $135,000 to Cariboo Pulp & Paper to transport low-value pulp fibre, which otherwise would be uneconomical to move, to manufacture pulp (about 9,122 cubic metres in the Cariboo region)
• $200,000 to Atlantic Power (Williams Lake) Ltd. to help local First Nations companies deliver fibre to Atlantic Power for electricity generation (about 15,385 cubic metres in the Cariboo region)
• $663,748 to Arrow Transportation Systems Inc. to transport uneconomic fibre to secondary users (about 44,250 cubic metres in the Thompson-Okanagan region)
• $216,158 to Westland Resources Limited to enhance use of uneconomic pulp logs from two licensees (about 22,125 cubic metres in the Skeena region)
• $279,749 to NorthPac Forestry Group Ltd. to increase fibre use by sending residual waste to coastal pulp mills (about 18,355 cubic metres in the Skeena region)
• $6,000 to Westwood Fibre Resources Ltd. to increase use of residual waste fibre for distribution to secondary fibre users in the southern Interior (about 660 cubic metres in the Thompson-Okanagan region)
• $133,745 to Pinnacle Renewable Energy Inc. to increase fibre use by manufacturing wood pellets (about 45,803 cubic metres at various locations across the province)
• $336,252 to East Fraser Fiber to distribute waste fibre to a local chipping plant and other secondary fibre users in the north-central Interior (about 15,913 cubic metres in the Omineca region)
• $300,000 to Duz Cho Logging Limited Partnership to increase fibre use by manufacturing wood pellets (about 15,625 cubic metres in the northeast region)
• $61,750 to Husby Forest Products to recover otherwise uneconomic fibre from timber harvesting operations and support coastal pulp mills (about 4,060 cubic metres in the West Coast region)
• $326,533 to Valley Carriers Ltd. to increase use of wood waste, which will be ground up for use in energy production (about 30,432 cubic metres in the Okanagan Shuswap District)
• $83,100 to ?Elhdaqox Developments Ltd. to use waste fibre from a tree stand rehabilitation project for energy or wood pellet production (about 10,000 cubic metres in the Cariboo Chilcotin District)
• $136,403 to Tk’emlupsemc Forestry Development Corporation to convert woody biomass into a growth medium that expedites plant growth and soil stabilization (about 5,940 cubic metres in the Thompson-Okanagan Region)