Smoke rises from the Bald Mountain Fire in the Grande Prairie Forest Area near Grande Prairie, Alta., on May 12, 2023.
When a natural disturbance hits Alberta's timber supply — like forest fires — forestry companies may decide it's still economically worthwhile to go and salvage the burned trees.
Some years, fire-killed trees make up less than one per cent of the total harvest, but some years it's substantially more. Between May 2019 to April 2020, fire-killed trees were almost 20 per cent of the total harvest.The reason it varies is due to economics, said Ken Greenway, executive director of Forest Stewardship and Trade with the Ministry of Forestry and Parks."The biggest thing is what kind of wood burned," he said.
It's decreased since then to less than 12 per cent in 2022 as the total number of pine beetle killed trees has decreased in B.C.This year was unprecedented for forest fires, with more than 2 million hectares burned in Alberta. The Alberta government is looking at more salvage opportunities, like increasing wood pellet manufacturing, according to Greenway.With climate change, it's important that forest companies start to focus more on salvaged wood, said Brad Pinno, an associate professor of silvaculture at the University of Alberta.
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