In northern B.C., treeplanting is a part of our culture. Beer is also a part of our culture. Planting trees with beer? Yes, also a confirmed part of the culture.
Since the dawn of silviculture, stream-chilled brews have been the evening reward for a long day's screefing on the block.
Since 1957, that beer has often been the locally made nectars of Pacific Western Brewing. Since 2010, buying the Cariboo line of PWB beers has been tied to funding for northern treeplanting programs.
This year, that money has been aimed at a particular aspect of silviculture.
On Thursday, PWB officials released the details of how the Cariboo contribution was going to be allocated.
"A team of more than 90 tree planters has been planting 100,000 seedlings on Crown land scorched by last summer's devastating Elephant Hill fire," said PWB spokesperson Kyle Sampson.
"This project will help B.C. recover from last summer's wildfires. More than 1,000 fires swept through a million hectares of forest. The Elephant Hill fire was one of the worst, covering 190,000 hectares."
The planting got underway this week on the scorched earth near Watch Lake east of 70 Mile House.
George Williamson was at the planting site when the first seedlings were set in the ground.
He is a stewardship resource technologist with the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development. He said that PWB's contribution of trees was "definitely significant," representing more than 10 per cent of the overall plan to restore one million trees to that 650-hectare burn site. The reforestation there will be a combination of Douglas fir and lodgepole pine.
The money for PWB's trees comes from a commitment by the brewery to chip in 25 cents for every six-pack purchased from their Cariboo collection of beer.
Company officials said tying those sales to treeplanting caused a noticeable uptick in their Cariboo numbers.
"I have always believed our brewery should invest where we live and treeplanting has been an important element of that giving since 2010," said Kazuko Komatsu, PWB's owner.
"The reforestation program is one of my core commitments to the community and will endure for years to come."
"Investing in your own local forest is just the right thing to do," said Williamson. "I tell folks that destruction is the first step to rejuvenation. Last summer's fires were the destruction and now PWB is part of the rejuvenation."
