Cariboo Brewing Reforestation Program to plant 150,000 trees in BC by end of 2012
Since early 2010 Prince George based Pacific Western Brewing, the makers of Cariboo beer, have been planting 50,000 trees a year in BC in order to help combat the recent devastation caused by catastrophic wildfires and the rampant pine beetle infestation.
According to government estimates, pine beetles have wiped out 8 million hectares of forest in the Northern and Central Interior since the 1990's. Many of these infested trees have been hastily harvested so that they can be made into lumber before their wood degrades (including the local pine beetle wood that will be used in the upcoming $1M renovation of the Pacific Western Brewery), but without a diligent and continuous reforestation program, this upsurge in harvesting will result in eventual mid- and long-term losses in wood production and forest habitat.
Pacific Western Brewing, therefore, has partnered with the Forests for Tomorrow program, a government-funded organization that spent $161M on reforestation between 2005 and 2009. Pacific Western Brewing's promise: to plant at least 150,000 trees in BC by the end of 2012.
In addition to recovering lost habitat and increasing long-term productivity, reforestation also helps fight climate change by sequestering carbon dioxide in growing trees, the full 150,000 of which will offset 18,240 tons of carbon over their 80 year lifespans as they absorb CO2 and expire clean oxygen. This is the equivalent of taking 4,500 average cars off of the road for a year.
Said Pacific Western Brewing owner and CEO Kazuko Komatsu at the start of the program in March of 2010, "We believe it's important to give something back to our community, our customers and their province. We thank the Ministry of Forest and Range, and the Forests for Tomorrow program for all their support and help in making our goal - and commitment - a reality. We look forward to making this program even bigger and better in the coming years."