As wildfire season continues to intensify across North America, a growing number of forestry industry leaders are asking a difficult question: Are we spending enough on prevention, or are we simply paying more every year for suppression and recovery?

That question was front and center during a recent Forestnet Media podcast conversation with Charles Vennat, president and CEO of CMI Mulching, and recorded earlier this year. CMI, a Canadian company located about 75 miles northeast of Montreal, manufactures track mulching tractors, mulching attachments, and stump grinders.

Vennat believes North America is caught in a dangerous cycle. Decades of aggressive fire suppression have protected communities in the short term, but they have also allowed fuel loads to accumulate in forests across the continent. The result is larger, more intense wildfires that are increasingly difficult to control once they ignite.

“The best analogy I can make is, it’s a runaway train,” said Vennat, who was interviewed on the podcast by Anthony Robinson, president and CEO of Forestnet Media, which publishes TimberWest and Forestnet (formerly Logging & Sawmilling Journal) magazines. “Once a wildfire gets started, it’s incredibly difficult to stop.”

While public debate often focuses on firefighting budgets and emergency response, Vennat argued the discussion should shift toward prevention. Across California, Oregon, British Columbia, and other fire-prone regions, for example, governments, municipalities, First Nations, utilities, and insurers are increasingly investing in fuel reduction projects. These include thinning overstocked forests, creating fuel breaks, and masticating or mulching to strategically manage vegetation around communities and critical infrastructure.

The forestry sector already possesses many of the skills and assets required to perform this work, noted Vennat. They have the necessary equipment, the employees to operate them, and the mechanics and shops to support them. This kind of capacity already exists in many regions.

However, rather than relying solely on subsidies or emergency support during difficult market conditions, Vennat suggested governments should look at wildfire mitigation as a way to keep forestry contractors working while simultaneously protecting communities and forest resources.

One of the most striking observations from the discussion came when Vennat described conditions in parts of California. Obtaining insurance to protect property from wildfire has become increasingly difficult in some high-risk areas, forcing homeowners to rely on costly state-backed programs or effectively self-insure against catastrophic loss.

For communities, the implications extend far beyond forestry. Wildfires affect property values, insurance costs, municipal budgets, air quality, public health, and economic stability. Vennat argued these broader consequences are driving new stakeholders — including insurance companies — to become active participants in the public debate about how best to prevent wildfires.

Vennat pushed back against the idea that increased mechanization eliminates jobs. Instead, he argues it helps contractors accomplish more work with limited labor.

“Mechanization is not about putting people out of work,” he said. “It’s about making entrepreneurs, business owners, and operators more productive.” Mechanization is an aid for the forestry industry, he noted, which struggles with recruiting and retaining new workers.

As governments invest more heavily in forest fuel management programs, the question becomes how much work can realistically be completed using traditional methods versus mechanized approaches that are capable of treating larger areas more efficiently.

CMI Mulching manufactures four models of track mulching tractors. They can be equipped with the company’s own mulching attachments. The machines and mulching attachments are engineered for simplicity and durability. Applications include managing vegetation for forestry and wildfire prevention, wildlife habitat, utility right-of-way, agriculture, roads, commercial and residential property, parks and outdoor infrastructure, real estate development, and more.

Vennat noted that public understanding of wildfire mitigation remains limited. Many people understand firefighting. Far fewer understand the need for fuel reduction, thinning, mastication, prescribed burning, or the role active forest management can play in reducing wildfire risk.

Explaining why removing trees can sometimes help protect forests is not a simple message in a world dominated by short headlines and social media sound bites, said Vennat. Yet he believes the forestry sector, researchers, governments, contractors, and equipment manufacturers all have a responsibility to participate in that conversation and improve public perception.

No single technology or company can solve the wildfire challenge alone. Vennat believes progress will come through collaboration between governments, researchers, contractors, equipment manufacturers, municipalities, Indigenous communities, and the insurance sector.

Wildfire prevention is no longer simply an environmental issue. It has become a public safety issue, a public health issue, and an economic issue. And increasingly, it may become one of the largest emerging markets for forestry contractors across North America. The need for prevention is gaining attention, and the forestry sector is positioned to play a central role.

(Editor’s Note: This complete podcast is available for viewing on the Forestnet Media YouTube channel; go to YouTube and search for Forestnet or go directly to www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9iKB4XgIGU. If your company is interested in participating in a podcast, contact Anthony Robinson at arobinson@forestnet.com.)