West Fraser turns to forest biomass as supply of sawmill residuals declines

In recent months, several sawmills in Interior B.C. have announced temporary curtailments or shutdown their operations altogether. As a result of this reduced lumber production, sawmill residual production has also decreased.

According to The Williams Lake Tribune, this decline in sawmill residuals has created increased demand, especially for pulp chips. Consequently, the company has turned to other sources, such as waste wood on logging sites, for their two pulp in Quesnel, B.C. – Cariboo Pulp and Qusenel River Pulp.

The company has begun a pulp log program in the Williams Lake area where haul distances to Quesnel are economical, hauling waste wood from logging sites to its Q-Saw sawmill in Quesnel for whole log chipping, says Mark Runge, wood manager for West Fraser, in The Williams Lake Tribune. The company is also purchasing whole pulp logs from the Chilcotin.

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