A model for rural climate resilience: From forest waste to farm resource

Through this pilot, Wildsight and partners, including Creston Community Forest (CCF), are exploring the feasibility of producing biochar from forestry waste. Biochar, a form of carbon-rich charcoal, can be used to enhance soil health and sequester carbon. It could be the solution to the ‘waste’ left behind from B.C. forestry operations if the methods are proven both feasible and economical. Not only would it add value to forestry operations, biochar would also support wildfire mitigation and a stronger agriculture sector.

“The question we’re asking is: can this kind of circular economy — where waste from one sector becomes a resource for another — help rural communities thrive?” says Brianna Thompson, West Kootenay YCC Coordinator.

The Youth Climate Corps (YCC) East and West Kootenay crews launched their season by joining forces on a wildfire risk reduction project that combined on-the-ground training with climate resilience work.

The project took place on 3.1 hectares of Goat Mountain near Creston, B.C. — a mountainside that holds not only forest but homes, trails and powerlines, making it a high-priority site for wildfire mitigation, explains Angela French, planning and development supervisor for the Creston Community Forest (CCF).

The Creston Community Forest manages more than 21,000 hectares of forest in the area, including a portion of Goat Mountain, whose history and location made it a prime location for the YCC project. After selective logging of this block in the early 2000s, explains Angela, many of the retained Douglas firs became infested with Douglas fir bark beetles. This endemic pest can help to create more open and diverse forests, but in this case the dead and dying trees that the beetles left in their wake posed a heightened wildfire risk too close to Creston for comfort.

The Goat Mountain project is part of a broader Wildsight initiative to explore how rural communities can build economic resilience while responding to a changing climate. The work was funded by the Province of B.C.’s Rural Economic Diversification and Infrastructure Program and RBC Foundation, with the goal of supporting local economies while tackling urgent environmental challenges.

Initial research, including interviews with local farmers and forestry experts, suggests multiple potential uses for biochar that extend beyond agriculture and include on-site forest and tree health benefits and many other applications including energy production, building materials and as a reclamation resource on contaminated sites. However, biochar quality varies greatly depending on how it is produced and all of those contacted highlighted the importance of regional research using biochar to find the most suitable benefit. For more information check out the feasibility report.

The project demonstrates how combining climate action with economic opportunity has the potential to be a win-win for rural communities and their industries like Creston.

For the full article and feasibility report, please click here: https://wildsight.ca/.../from-forest-waste-to-farm-resource/