Bell Details New Fire Strategy

By Michelle Cyr-Whiting

 File photo of Meldrum Creek Fire                         BC Wildfire Management Branch

Prince George, B.C. - The key element of B.C.'s new wildfire strategy announced earlier today is the incorporation of wildfire planning and management right into land-use management plans. 

Forests Minister, Pat Bell, says the majority of B.C.'s land-use and resource management plans were done in the 1990's and early 2000's and, while they considered issues like old growth forests and wildlife corridors, fire planning was overlooked.

Bell says this inclusion will allow the province to be more effective in managing forest fires.

As an example, the Minister says, "So, it's looking at the Prince George TSA (Timber Supply Area) and saying if you had major fire outbreaks, how would you manage them? Is it appropriate to have some breaks in the landscape in certain areas in a way that will allow us to contain those fires or manage those fires more effectively."

Bell doesn't expect a significant cost to this new approach on the planning level, saying it will be done as part of an ongoing process.

He does admit, "The biggest costs, of course, are for fuel management and control around local communities."

"We're looking at a number of options and we're in discussions with other levels of government to find ways to fund wildfire management plans, particularly close to communities," says the Forests Minister. "Those discussions have not been completed, but I am hopeful we'll come up with a program that makes sense for communities."

As Opinion250 reported at the end of August, the City of Prince George received $250-thousand dollars in funding for the last of its 'higher risk areas' from the provincial Strategic Wildfire Prevention Fund, but the fund is largely drained.

Complicating the picture is climate change, Bell says the latest data available predicts a rise of between 4- and 5-degrees celsius in northern B.C. by 2050.

"Clearly, climate change is having an impact on the Cariboo, it's having an impact on central and northern British Columbia and we need to incorporate that into our thinking around wildfire management planning -- that's why we're using a new approach to planning for fire and, really, considering that as a key priority in our land-use plans."

Email | Print | Facebook | Twitter | Digg | Del.icio.us