Canada: Can government incentives to private companies help solve B.C.'s wildfire crisis?

By Jesse Johnston

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The idea, in a nutshell, is for the provincial government to provide financial incentives for private companies to remove the biomass that jeopardizes B.C.'s forests.

"We understand the fire science pretty well, but maybe this is an economics issue," said [fire ecologist Robert] Gray, a private consultant.

"Maybe we're approaching it the wrong way."

Government subsidies

Gray said a government subsidy would make it profitable for forestry companies to harvest wood that either goes untouched or ends up in slash piles.

He would like to see those materials used for bioenergy projects, such as wood chips, or ground up into manufactured wood products that can be used for construction.

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