Biomass Awards 2025 202 AWARDS CHAM OF THE Sponsored by 2025MPIONE Company of the Year 2025 2025 YEAR025 COMPANY OF THE YEAR Central Chilcotin THOUGHT COMMUNITY LIFETIME Rehabilitation Ltd. LEADER PROJECT ACHIEVEMENT OF THE YEAR OF THE YEAR AWARD 2025 I n 2017, the Elephant Hill wildfire burned over 190,000 hectares in the South Cariboo. On November 12, 2023, Central Chilcotin Rehabilitation Ltd. (CCR) embarked on the first phase of its largest wildfire rehabilitation proj -ect – the Pressy Lake Pilot Project. This innovative project challenged long-held beliefs in the forest industry about wild-fire salvage logging, reflecting a paradigm shift from the prevailing attitude that burnt wood is detrimental to pulping. CCR’s forestry superintendent Daniel Persson explains how this opportunity was nearly missed. “Another license owner abandoned the cutting permit because they saw no pros-pects. The fibre, having no perceived eco -nomic value, was left to degrade and was condemned to remain an impaired forest with limited possibilities for regenera-tion,” Persson said. However, Joe Webster, Tsi Del Del Biomass’ operations manager, “looked at the wood instead of a map.” A critical distinction was made between fire-killed and burnt wood. Webster learned how to assess and sort multiple species for multi-ple products effectively from the first 100 hectares and brought in a chipper, result-ing in 700 B-train loads of biomass. With the current market primed for re -The Pressy Lake project challenged long-held beliefs about wildfire salvage logging. ceiving biomass from new streams, and leadership from fibre managers like Thom -as Hoffman at Kruger Kamloops Pulp LP, the initiative’s timing was impeccable. “Recently, CCR worked with Kruger on a trial to recover fibre from fire-affect -ed areas, rehabilitating the land base by re-moving the impacted trees and replanting, contributing to fire resiliency. The fibre recovered was sent to Kruger, where we were able to turn it into green energy and pulp. This pulp then gets converted into further value-added products including writing paper, electrical grade paper, and fibre cement,” Hoffman said. “Ultimately, this fibre-recovery trial can create innova -tive solutions transforming silvicultural slums into green power and value-added products, while supporting wildfire miti -gation in B.C. Given the climate change challenges, this work is a crucial step in addressing these challenges, and ensuring the long-term viability of the industry. CCR’s emphasis on promoting sustain -SPRING 2025 12 Canadian BIOMASS
Canadian Biomass Spring 2025: Page 12
