By Jim Stirling

Forest fires in a warming climate have assumed new and potentially disastrous dimensions. Add swathes of dead pine trees into the landscape as is the case in many parts of the British Columbia Interior and the fire risk can dramatically increase.

Management of the Burns Lake Community Forest (BLCF), ever mindful of such wildfire danger, designed and implemented this summer a fire mitigation project to protect a range of forest industry and social assets. The project includes creating a fire break that incorporates a forest and landscape reassessment and rehabilitation process. When completed later this year, the project will help protect from wildfire a sawmill, a re-man facility, a wood pellet manufacturing plant, a power line and a nearby highway. And the project should re-invigorate the remaining forest.

The BLCF sought additional funding for the fire mitigation project from the Forest Enhancement Society of B.C. The provincial government agency was formed in 2016 and is based in Kamloops, B.C. It was endowed with an initial $85 million budget and charged with advancing the environmental and resource stewardship of B.C.’s forests by preventing and mitigating the impact of wildfires, improving damaged forests and helping create jobs in rural areas. The Burns Lake area project proved a good fit with those objectives.

“The Forest Enhancement Society has several criteria for project funding suitability with three key ones surrounding wildfire risk, wildlife habitat enhancement and fibre recovery,” outlined Frank Varga, general manager for the Burns Lake Community Forest. The project area south and east of Burns Lake village lies within the community forest boundaries. It is an area untouched by previous forest industry activity and is more than 200 metres wide and averaging six to eight kilometres long. Physically, the subject area is shaped a little like an upside down dog’s leg, described Varga. The forest cover is comprised primarily of aspen, dead pine and spruce.

The area’s forest fire risk rating is elevated by the proximity of the recently rebuilt Babine Forest Products sawmill, the adjacent Sheraton Custom Milling operation and a nearby wood pellet manufacturing plant owned by Pinnacle Renewable Energy Inc. A power transmission line also passes through part of the fire mitigation project area and Highway 16, the main east-west trans-provincial highway through central B.C. to the north coast is located just a handful of kilometres to the north. Varga said patches within the subject area have been identified for treatment; some to create a wildlife enhancement mosaic and others dedicated to wood fibre recovery.

The BLCF has been contributing to the economy of the B.C. central interior village since 1998. It was one of the first four community forests in B.C. to be offered a pilot project licence by the provincial government. It was a five year agreement encompassing about 20,000 hectares of Crown land around Burns Lake.

The BLCF became the first in B.C. to be offered a 25 year renewable forest tenure in 2004, to replace the pilot project agreement. Today partnership organizations within the BLCF remain the Burns Lake Band; the Office of the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs and the Wet’suwet’en First Nation. The community forest maintains a close working relationship with the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations. The BLCF’s activities are directed by a six member board comprised of local people.

The BLCF will have an AAC of around 220,000 cubic metres/year for the next four years. The enhanced cut is designed to help salvage remaining dead lodgepole pine trees for commodity lumber production while that use remains feasible. Other viable uses will be sought for the remaining material, added Varga.

The BLCF has recently embarked on a quest to earn Forest Stewardship Council accreditation for its forestry activities and products. Varga reckons an FSC certification will fit well as the BLCF strives to expand its flexibility and diversify its markets. “The FSC places a high emphasis on what’s happening on the land base,” amplified Varga. Being a world renowned certifier can help open new market development doors.

“As the mountain pine beetle epidemic era winds down in the B.C. Interior, there’s a transition period where everyone will be looking for volume,” said Varga. To help create a timely and accurate view of the present resources within the 92,000 hectares of the BLCF, work continued this summer on a comprehensive timber supply review, he explained. This process involves a LIDAR aided examination of the BLCF’s operable land base. LIDAR is a remote, airborne sensing system that can collect fast, accurate terrain data. “We are collecting that data and moving it into a forest management model,” he explained.

As an area based tenure holder, this information will form the foundation for and a road map to a sustainable community forest, he believes. “We can help influence the future with detailed five, 10 and 15 year harvesting plans that can manage the land base for all the community’s values.”