Wildfire resilience: How outdoor recreation groups can lead in mitigation and preparedness

 

Webinar Summary

What happened in Jasper and Los Angeles shows that forest fires can impact any community. The time to prepare and mitigate the risk is now. As the stewards of the urban-wildland interface, forest fire mitigation and disaster preparation is something the outdoor recreation community is uniquely positioned and experienced to take on. What that can look like is the topic of the Outdoor Recreation Council of BC’s April webinar.

In a one hour panel discussion we unpack the importance of preparation and mitigation, how recreation groups can get involved, possible funding sources and more.

Anyone interested in helping their community become more forest fire resilient will gain valuable insights.

Watch the webinar Recording

John Paolozzi’S SliDeS

Kevin Kriese’s Slides

Brooklyn Rushton’s slides

Panelists

Key Takeaways

  • Climate change and historic fire suppression = fuel build up and increased fire intensity.

  • Provincial government has fuel reduction and FireSmart programs, but little funding is available for recreation groups and nonprofits. Any group with buildings can get a FireSmart Assessment, which will result in a report on how to make infrastructure lower risk and may include some funding to help. 

  • First step: reach out to your local FireSmart Coordinator or BC Wildfire Service Fire Centre.

What’s changing

  • There is a shift in approach to wildfire resilience from relying on the provincial government to a Whole of Society Approach. It’s the idea that resilience is accomplished by the whole community working towards a common goal of coexisting with wildfires. Includes government, residents, recreation groups, tourism operators, fire crews, businesses, First Nations, etc. 

  • “Wildfire resilience depends not just on technical approaches, but on all the people who care, act and advocate” - Brooklyn Rushton. 

  • The POLIS Wildfire Resilience Project is a good source for info on this idea poliswildfireproject.org

Case study: Logan Lake, BC

First community in Canada to achieve FireSmart Community Protection Achievement in 2013. The whole community and all stakeholders were engaged in the project, including residents, recreation, forestry, fire crews. This created a strong social license, which created an environment where the community supported fuel mitigation in forest around town, including on private, Crown and Community Forest lands.

Result: 2021 Tremont Creek Wildfire was stopped by fire crews in the Community Forest trail network, at least partially because the treatment work done made it easier to fight the fire and for crews to access the forest. 

The Test is a film about how Logan Lake’s trail network helped save the town.


Case Study: Buckley Valley Cross Country Ski Club

56 km trail network, $5-million in equipment and buildings, 5 to 8 kilometres outside Smithers. The Provincial Strategic Threat Assessment map shows the area is high or extreme level of risk for a wildfire (zoom in (and be patient) to see colour shading).“It is ‘when will the area burn,’ not if.” - Kevin Kriese

What they did: The club started with a FireSmart assessment. The report showed what work needed to be done to reduce the fire risk around buildings and assets. From there it became a two stage project: protect assets and then reduce the hazard.

Protect assets:

  • Cleaned up debris and materials around buildings and under deck

  • Filled cracks in decking

  • Closed in wood shed with mesh to prevent sparks

  • May be able to get local wildfire crews to help (contact local Fire Centre and Rec Sites and Trails)

Reduce hazard:

  • Worked with forestry tenure holder on fuel reduction projects.

  • Balance between protecting aesthetic of trails, while reducing fuel and fire hazard.

  • Implemented fire resilient trail building - there is little information available on this.

  • During a fire a trail can be a liability or an asset. 

  • To create an asset: clear organic materials off trail and make it wider. Pile and burn materials safely (may need a burn permit). Chipping also an option. Now trail can be a fire line and access point for fire crews

Funding: The FireSmart assessment included $1,000 towards the work, but not all FireSmart centres will provide funding. The club used the project to apply for a community gaming grant for some of the building enhancements, which provided up to 50%. The club fundraised the other half. 

“I would emphasize that a lot of the easy stuff requires mostly sweat equity.” Kevin Kriese

Next step: When the club builds new infrastructure they now build it to be FireSmart, which mostly means metal roofing and siding and a gravel skirt around the structures. It does not add much cost. Here are some assessment and building guides. https://firesmartbc.ca/resource-types/assessments/

Watch Fire Lines a move about the Dixie Fire in California and mountain biking


How Recreation Groups can lead:

  • Host wildfire related events

  • Integrate preparedness into signage, messaging

  • Normalize wildfire resilience efforts

  • Build relations and partnerships with local government, disaster response planning, and wildfire agencies.

  • Disaster planning: EML Canada is a community preparedness tool, where groups can highlight their assets and ability to help: https://emlcanada.ca/

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