Forest Enhancement Society of BC helping Merritt company recover more wood fibre from local forests

KAMLOOPS — It’s been a difficult couple years for the forest industry in B.C. Shutdowns and curtailments in 2019 led to mills across the province laying off thousands of people.

However, Valley Carriers in Merritt pivoted immediately and is reaping the rewards. The company now takes slash piles, which would typically be burned by forest companies, and turns them into hog fuel.

“With the green energy plant [Merritt Green Energy] that we have and the pulp mills that use that hog fuel, we’re able to grind that material into four to six inch specs and then we haul that out and we bring that to either a stock pile or into the green energy plant for fibre,” said Valley Carriers CEO Ben Klassen.

After the hog fuel is created in the forest, it’s trucked to the Merritt Green Energy Plant, which uses it to then create electricity.

Valley Carriers has been doing it for two years, coinciding with the downturn. It’s allowed the company to keep going strong while the industry struggles.

“We were able to keep five of our [11] trucks moving but about the same number of employees,” noted Klassen. “So throughout that curtailment in 2019 and now shifting focus in the industry, we didn’t have to lay off any employees.”

The company is now expanding with a partnership with the Forest Enhancement Society of BC, which was able to provide $416,000 in COVID-19 funding and. It allows Valley Carriers to extend their reach and go as far as Kelowna for fibre and also access more difficult-to-reach areas in the forest.

“This project is set up to extend the economic reach for residual fibre utilization,” said Operations Manager for FESBC Dave Conly. “Typically, the fibre doesn’t have a lot of value. It’s not worth much. The companies like Merritt Green Energy can pay a certain amount to access that fibre. Typically, it’s not very far away. It’s about one hour from town and one hour back to town, so a two-hour cycle time for that product is about what you can afford.”

“Where FES comes in is we can extend that reach. We can go out to three or four or five hours from town in terms of the hauling time, and that makes it so that we add funds, we add dollars to the cost and fill the gaps between what’s profitable and what’s not profitable,” added Conly.

It all lines up with the Forest Enhancement Society’s principles, which include helping improve the environment, improve low-value forests, and in this case fibre recovery.

“It gives people like Derek and Ben opportunities to continue their livelihoods, to work a little longer in the season than they would otherwise be able to do, and it provides work in the field, so there are guys running equipment — the grinders, the excavators, and all the trucking fleet that Valley Carriers deploys.”

Merritt Green Energy says the funding provided to Valley Carriers has allowed the plant to receive enough fibre to keep running at full capacity.

“We were able to keep the facility running and employing over 33 full time employees here in Merritt as a result. Having a stabilized fibre supply is key to us,” said Merritt Green Energy GM Bernard Tobin.

The initial phase of the project, which started in December and ended earlier this month, brought an additional 24,000 cubic metres of wood fibre to Merritt.

Valley Carriers and FESBC will keep working together to ensure as much fibre from the forest is utilized.