Ben Klassen, CEO of Valley Carriers, says, “the funding from FESBC is integral for the pilot project, as it helps minimize the risks to private businesses and enables creativity in creating a more sustainable industry.” The BioHub Pilot Project is a partner -ship between SRJV, Valley Carriers, FPIn -novations, and with support from FESBC funding, it serves as a symbol of improved forestry management practices, emphasiz-ing complete stem utilization. FESBC senior manager, Gord Pratt, says, “FESBC is proud to support the initia -tives led by Stuwix and Valley Carriers. Ex -ploring new ways to optimize the delivery and use of forest fibre is long overdue and will only help the economy of the Merritt area. Lessons learned here will help other regions of the province and assist in build-ing a more stable and diverse forest industry which is critical for the future of rural B.C.” A centralized, sustainable BioHub, ca-pable of handling a broader spectrum of for-estry residuals, will help meet the surging demand for wood residuals and biomass. The goal is to create a variety of value-added products for diverse sectors from what was traditionally thought of as wood waste. “Our BioHub will increase the stream of residuals and help stabilize the supply of wood fibre to support the needs of the agri -cultural and clean energy sectors. This proj-ect is about using every metre of the forest in the most sustainable way,” says Klassen. The benefits of the work are far-reach -ing and move beyond the environmental benefits. By transitioning to full-stem utili -zation and establishing the BioHub, SRJV will create eight jobs, and Valley Carriers will create eight positions in Merritt, B.C. Klassen and Tighe agree these jobs mean a lot to people in the region. “This funding allows us to grow our operations and create more employment. The business of recovering under-uti-lized residuals has allowed our company to maintain steady employment for 25 to 30 people in Merritt for the last six years, and we are looking to grow with further resource utilization,” says Klassen. For companies and communities want-ing to move toward full fibre utilization, Klassen recommends maintaining their focus. “Even after many years doing this work, we are still trying to find a long-term solution that isn’t just made up of stop-gap funding. We’ve been able to do this for the last half-decade by not relent-ing on the conversation,” he says. From the creation of new jobs to local access to renewable energy, decreasing the waste of natural resources and increasing the supply of wood fibre, the project has a vision to move beyond traditional forestry. “We know we have less wood avail -able; now we need to focus on how to use it properly. It’s like water restrictions; when they are in place, sustainable prac-tices and real change starts to happen. We need to be the ‘Arizona’ of forestry,” says Klassen. “The forestry industry is not go-ing away. It is our time to pivot, focus on efficiencies and fully utilize resources.” • Priyanka Ketkar, communications spe-cialist, Amplify Consulting; Ben Klassen, COO, Valley Carriers, Klassen Business Group; Gord Pratt, RPF, senior manager, Forest Enhancement Society of BC; Lind-say Tighe, Stuwix Resources Joint Venture. Your expert for sustainable wood heating Versatile Powerful Compact EXPERIENCE THE WORLD OF HARGASSNER C E LLE N T Visit us PELLET | WOOD LOG | WOOD CHIP BOILERS Maximum comfort with automatic refueling and cleaning of the boiler Maximum cost reduction with A+ efficiency Maximum flexibility with remote control M AN U FA C T U R E R SIN C E 19 8 4 Feb 27 -29, 2024 Las Vegas, NV Hargassner North America Inc. | 2100-181 University Avenue | Toronto | ON M5H 3M7 +1 437 837 2300 | [email protected] | hargassner-northamerica.com EX Canadian BIOMASS CB_Hargassner_Winter24_CSA.indd 1 2024-01-09 9:35 AM 19
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