The B.C. government should reopen timber land-use plans in order to create fire protection zones on Crown land around communities that are vulnerable to wildfires, a University of Northern B.C. expert urges.
Phil Burton, professor of ecosystem science and management and co-editor of the Canadian Journal of Forest Research, said the priority in these fire protection zones would be community safety - and not maximizing timber production.
Management options could include thinning of forests to reduce fire risk, as well as pruning of lower branches, plus planting deciduous species such as aspen, birch and poplar as alternatives to dense fire-prone stands of lodgepole pine.
These interface lands might be more park-like, used for recreation, hunting, wildlife viewing or berry picking, but "not to get the maximum number of cubic metres per hectare," Burton said in an interview.
"We're talking about less dense forests. Manage for resiliency rather than timber production, a long-term shift in how those interface areas are managed."
The B.C. Wildfire Service reported Thursday morning that fires have consumed more about 800 square kilometres, mostly in the Cariboo Chilcotin.
B.C. Crown land covers about 94 per cent of the provincial land base.
Burton said the province went through extensive land-use planning dating to the 1990s, including the Commission on Resources and Environment as well as Land and Resource Management Plans, which defined a number of activities on Crown land ranging from intensive timber harvesting to parks and protected areas.
"The policy of the province is that we've had these long, painful public-engagement exercises," he said. "Now they're done."
But much has changed: First Nations have taken on a greater responsibility for their traditional lands, climate change is a reality and fire risks have changed along with the risk of forest pests. Current land-use plans may account for special management areas for grizzlies or caribou, so "how about some special management areas for community protection," Burton said.
There is a voluntary initiative, FireSmart, which encourages individual property owners to reduce trees and other combustible debris around their homes to limit the risk of wildfire damage, as well as switching to metal rather than shake roofs.
But that program falls far short of a formal provincial policy change related to logging around interface areas as envisioned by Burton.
The 2004 report on the Kelowna wildfires by Gary Filmon, former premier of Manitoba, recommended: "The province should review and amend Land Use Plans and LRMPs to incorporate fire management considerations. Fire experts must be available to influence and participate in land management planning."
The interface fires in Kelowna destroyed more than 334 homes and evacuations affected more than 45,000 people, Filmon's report noted.
Said Burton: "There was funding for this sort of thing 10 years ago, then funding fizzled, with only a small proportion of the needed work done."
No one from the Ministry of Forests, Lands, and Natural Resource Operations was available Thursday to comment due to the ongoing wildfires situation and government transition to a new NDP administration, which will be sworn in next week.
Following the Kelowna fires, the province introduced the Strategic Wildfire Prevention Initiative in 2004 to help local governments and First Nations reduce the risk of interface wildfires, where urban developments border on forests and grasslands. Under the initiative, communities apply for funding for a range of projects ranging from planning to on-the-ground maintenance/treatment of potential fire fuels. That same year, the senior governments announced $37 million to help local governments pay for interface wildfire mitigation.
In 2011, the provincial government contributed an additional $25 million to the program, plus another $5 million in 2015 and $10 million in 2016.
The initiative is administered by the Union of B.C. Municipalities.
The province also created the Forest Enhancement Society of B.C. in 2016 with start-up funding of $85 million with several goals:
- Preventing and mitigating the impact of wildfires.
- Improving damaged or low-value forests.
- Improving habitat for wildlife.
- Supporting the use of fibre from damaged and low-value forests.
- Treating forests to improve the management of greenhouse gases.
