{"id":108046,"date":"2026-08-21T08:48:40","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T12:48:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=108046"},"modified":"2026-08-21T08:48:40","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T12:48:40","slug":"first-nation-led-pilot-turns-forestry-waste-into-foam-with-federal-backing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/21\/first-nation-led-pilot-turns-forestry-waste-into-foam-with-federal-backing\/","title":{"rendered":"First Nation-led pilot turns forestry waste into foam with federal backing"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Sonal Gupta, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Canada’s National Observer As wildfires burn through BC forests, a First Nation is demonstrating what can be done with any damaged or leftover wood by turning it into biodegradable packaging and building insulation. Reg Ogen, a Wet\u2019suwet\u2019en leader who has been hearing helicopters over his Penticton home as crews fight a major wildfire near Summerland, said this latest disaster points to a larger supply of damaged wood across BC that could be put to use. The idea first came from Wet\u2019suwet\u2019en Elders who questioned why forestry companies left wood waste behind after logging, said Ogen, president and CEO of Yinka Dene Economic Development Limited Partnership, the business arm of the Wet\u2019suwet\u2019en First Nation. \u201cOur elders saw big piles of brush being burned in… <\/p>\n

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By Sonal Gupta, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Canada’s National Observer As wildfires burn through BC forests, a First Nation is demonstrating what can be done with any damaged or leftover wood by turning it into biodegradable packaging and building insulation. Reg Ogen, a Wet\u2019suwet\u2019en leader who has been hearing helicopters over his Penticton home as crews fight a major wildfire near Summerland, said this latest disaster points to a larger supply of damaged wood across BC that could be put to use. The idea first came from Wet\u2019suwet\u2019en Elders who questioned why forestry companies left wood waste behind after logging, said Ogen, president and CEO of Yinka Dene Economic Development Limited Partnership, the business arm of the Wet\u2019suwet\u2019en First Nation. \u201cOur elders saw big piles of brush being burned in... <\/p>\n

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Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-108046","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-level-8","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"\nFirst Nation-led pilot turns forestry waste into foam with federal backing - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/21\/first-nation-led-pilot-turns-forestry-waste-into-foam-with-federal-backing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"First Nation-led pilot turns forestry waste into foam with federal backing - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Sonal Gupta, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Canada’s National Observer As wildfires burn through BC forests, a First Nation is demonstrating what can be done with any damaged or leftover wood by turning it into biodegradable packaging and building insulation. Reg Ogen, a Wet\u2019suwet\u2019en leader who has been hearing helicopters over his Penticton home as crews fight a major wildfire near Summerland, said this latest disaster points to a larger supply of damaged wood across BC that could be put to use. The idea first came from Wet\u2019suwet\u2019en Elders who questioned why forestry companies left wood waste behind after logging, said Ogen, president and CEO of Yinka Dene Economic Development Limited Partnership, the business arm of the Wet\u2019suwet\u2019en First Nation. \u201cOur elders saw big piles of brush being burned in\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/21\/first-nation-led-pilot-turns-forestry-waste-into-foam-with-federal-backing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-21T12:48:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/21\\\/first-nation-led-pilot-turns-forestry-waste-into-foam-with-federal-backing\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/21\\\/first-nation-led-pilot-turns-forestry-waste-into-foam-with-federal-backing\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"First Nation-led pilot turns forestry waste into foam with federal backing\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-21T12:48:40+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/21\\\/first-nation-led-pilot-turns-forestry-waste-into-foam-with-federal-backing\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1177,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/21\\\/first-nation-led-pilot-turns-forestry-waste-into-foam-with-federal-backing\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/21\\\/first-nation-led-pilot-turns-forestry-waste-into-foam-with-federal-backing\\\/\",\"name\":\"First Nation-led pilot turns forestry waste into foam with federal backing - 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