PRINCE GEORGE – Pacific BioEnergy is thinking outside the box when it comes to brush-clearing on a couple of its blocks in the Bobtail region.
They are using goats and sheep.
“At Pacific BioEnergy, we’re really open to trying to do new and innovative forestry,” explains Aiden Wiechula. “So, my managers were really quite open to it.”
The idea is to look at ways of getting around the use of the herbicide glyphosate.
“That’s why I got into it on my farm because we just sprayed everything and it turned brown. It was a big fire hazard and we would have wildfires,” says Bruce Bradley of BC Timber Goats, who has more than 100 goats on the property. They are tasked with clearing 28 hectares and they have done so with about a week’s worth of work to do.
The same holds true for Bonnie Zawada with Black Sheep Brushing Ops
“The damage that spraying can do to the ecosystems involved is astronomical,” says Zawada.
But the goats are just one of the tools in Pacific BioEnery’s toolbox in its bid to become greener.
