Fort Nelson community forest uses salvageable lumber funds for replanting

FORT NELSON, B.C. — A joint operation by First Nations and the Northern Rockies community gave an update regarding salvageable lumber within the northeast.

The Fort Nelson First Nation (FNFN)  and Northern Rockies Regional Municipality (NRRM) Community Forest is a joint entity to assist manufacturing companies in the Fort Nelson area, according to its general manager Percy Wright.

Wright added it is a 50-50 partnership between both parties.

“They received a licence from the provincial government to harvest,” Wright told Energeticcity.ca. “Between the spruce and aspen trees, I believe it was 185,000 cubic metres per year.”

Being a community forest with a volume-based licence, it means the company is not allowed to harvest lumber outside a specific area.

During the winter of 2025-26,  Wright says the team at the community forest was able to recover salvageable wood from the wildfires of the past several years. 

Wright says some of the salvageable wood had been linked to continuously burning fires dating back to 2023.

“We went in there, and we salvaged all the burnt and damaged forest to help mitigate any chance of more fires,” said Wright. “There’s three things that a fire needs, and it’s ignition, fuel and oxygen.”

 “We can’t control ignition or oxygen, the only thing we can control is the fuel.”

Wright says the company was able to hire around 70 workers to complete the project, of which 30 employees were local to the area. 

Salvaged wood was able to be sold to West Fraser Timber and sent to mills in Chetwynd and Quesnel.  

Funds went back into the reforestation of the area, with trees planted.

“It is all being [reforested] for future generations,” said Wright.

For more information on the FNFN and NRRM Community Forest, see its Facebook page or call (250) 500-2363.