Prince George, B.C.-  The wheels are in motion to  have the City of Prince George surrender its  Community Forest license.

In the wake of the mountain pine beetle epidemic, the city was granted a Community Forest license.  It  allowed the City to  carry out  selective  logging to  mitigate the impacts of wildfire.  Most of the work  was  performed through  government funding administered  by  the  Union of B.C. Municipalities.

Over  the years, the City has received about $9 million dollars worth of  grants to  carry out the necessary work to reduce the risk of wildfires in  an urban setting. 

Since 2005, the Community Forest Agreement has resulted in  about   44,000 cubic meters of scaled timber (mostly dead pine) being  removed and used in local mills. In a report to Council, Community Forest Manager Dan Adamson says  many hundreds more  cubic meters of timber were chipped and spread on site.

According to the report  to Council, there were 21 parcels of Crown land  within the Community Forest Tenure,   one was removed by the Province from the CFA because of development interests,  nine parcels did not warrant wildfire  hazard treatments, as they were assessed below the High hazard rating.

“In total eight parcels (each with multiple treatment sites) had high or very high wildfire hazard ratings and were treated. The total treated area within the CFA is estimated at 508 hectares. In addition, 85 hectares of wildfire hazard mitigation work was completed along the Cranbrook Hill Greenway Trail.”

There were another three parcels, which although considered  high hazard,  didn’t qualify  for grant funding.  Those three  sites have since been reviewed by Provncial Staff who concluded the three sites had a reduced risk because there  were non forsted areas around them which would slow wildfire spread.

So with  all the work that could be done completed,  the time has come to  turn the  tenure back to the Province.  That move will save the city about $4,400 in taxes paid to the Province annually.

While the City would still face   hardship should there  be a  major  forest fire, the work that has been completed since 2005  would slow the spread of flames,  help reduce the severity and impact from a wildfire.