375 replies to this topic

[dasmo]

An audit of the policy shift would be useful.... 

Strategy
Wildfires are essential to the ecosystems found in B.C. but they can also threaten lives, infrastructure and resources. Effective wildfire management means preserving nature and protecting people and property. The approach of the BC Wildfire Service to wildfire management accomplishes both.

Beneficial fires are allowed to burn under careful monitoring and management while harmful fires that cannot be prevented are suppressed through the BC Wildfire Service’s firefighting operations and, unnecessary fires that can be prevented, are prevented through enforced legislation, heightened public awareness and effective initiatives.

 

https://www2.gov.bc....andate-strategy

[max.bravo]

Just let people buy and develop land, everywhere in the province. There will be few wildfire problems when homesteaders and subdividers have made the land usable

[Tony]

At least 50 West Kelowna structures lost to wildfire, but worst hit areas yet to be surveye

https://www.cbc.ca/n...st-21-1.6942356

[Mike K.]

UVic’s wildfire initiative promotes a ‘new’ way to tackle wildfires, but it’s just the old ways of doing things we stopped doing.

What the gist is, is more logging and fuel source management are required.

Victoria, B.C. lək̓ʷəŋən territory: British Columbia needs to adopt a “whole-of-society” approach to advance wildfire resilience, say the authors of an investigation into the current state of wildfire prevention, mitigation, response, and recovery in the province.

“The scale of the challenge we face as a society requires a response of similar magnitude,” said Doug Donaldson, report co-author and former B.C. Minister of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development. “We know that concern is mounting across society when it comes to the threat and impacts of wildfires.”

Wildfires set provincial records in four of the last six years, with more than six million hectares burned, more than 200,000 people displaced, and nearly $3 billion spent in direct forest firefighting in 2017, 2018, 2021, and 2023 combined. The 2024 wildfire season is already off to a very early start with residents under evacuation order or alert in communities in northeast, northwest, and central B.C.

Released today, Learning to Live with Fire: State of Wildfire in B.C.—Policy, Programs & Priorities is the first publication from the new POLIS Wildfire Resilience Project at the University of Victoria’s Centre for Global Studies.

“Our analysis revealed a number of actions that don’t require further study that can be initiated and expanded on right now,” said Andrea Barnett, co-author and analyst at the POLIS Wildfire Resilience Project. “But it also revealed the need for a cross-cutting approach to address the wildfire challenge. The provincial government, Indigenous governments, federal and local governments, industry, researchers, and civil society are all integral to overall success.”

Actions that can be acted upon immediately include:

Increasing the scale of current programs for fuel management, including prescribed fire and cultural fire.
Harnessing the forest industry’s harvesting power to reduce fuels on the landscape.
Promoting innovative, low-cost fuel management treatments.
Expanding local wildfire governance initiatives.
With this primer, the authors focused on understanding and untangling the current policy and governance landscape in B.C. as it relates to wildfire. They explored the new wildland fire reality, highlighted implications for communities and ecosystems, and detailed current approaches to wildland fire management by taking a deep dive into governance, legislation, policies, and science.

- https://poliswildfir...project-launch/

[Nparker]

Victoria, B.C. lək̓ʷəŋən territory 

[dasmo]

Perhaps the lək̓ʷəŋən people would do a better job of managing Victoria? It would be great decolonizing gesture of our present council to propose this! They make great Bannock burgers which is more than I can say for COV council. 

[lanforod]

I wonder if there is a correlation in decreased logging and increased fires. Another mill shutting down right now due to not enough raw materials! Gotta increase our logging.

[dasmo]

I wonder if there is a correlation in decreased logging and increased fires. Another mill shutting down right now due to not enough raw materials! Gotta increase our logging.

We are out of the good stuff, close enough to the mill. No shortage of logging where the wood is available. Could have been managed better frankly. On all fronts. Poorly managed logging messed up our fishing industry. All us Trollers knew it and saw it back when I was on a boat that fished out of Sooke....  $10,000 fine for decimating a salmon spawning river. If you get caught.... Still mis-managed spraying roundup in them now. Roundup kills the broadleaf which is a natural fire suppressant. It then dries up the remaining vegetation. 

 

https://en.wikipedia...rop_desiccation

[lanforod]

Really? in Houston and Chetwynd? I doubt that's true.

[dasmo]

Quick search.... "The reduced supply have been blamed on a number of factors, including fallout from the mountain pine beetle, forest fires and forestry management practices by companies focused on short-term profitability over long-term sustainability."

 

https://www.cbc.ca/n...ustry-1.6726399

[Mike K.]

The same experts who brought you housing first, decriminalization, housing affordability, infrastructure improvements and ACAB for your safety...

[dasmo]

Same ol same ol....

Like the raging sandalwood industry that still sustains Hawaii to this day right? Riiiggghhhht.....

 

After learning of the lucrative global market in sandalwood in the late 18th century, Hawaiian nobles forced people of lower castes to harvest the wood of this and related trees, many of whom suffered or died in the process, resulting in famine due to abandoning food crops. Hawaii was so well known in China for its sandalwood that people in the Macau area referred to it as "Tan Heung Shan," or "the Sandalwood Mountains." The trade in Hawaiian sandalwood ended around the middle of the 19th century, and while many ‘iliahi populations have recovered, large, old trees remain difficult to find.

[Victoria Watcher]

Almost all of Alberta’s 2024 wildfires were human-caused, officials say

 

https://tnc.news/202...ildfires-human/

[Victoria Watcher]

In the early spring, Coastal Fire Centre says almost all wildfires are human-caused, but that doesn’t mean they were intentionally set.

 

Currently in B.C., there are 127 active wildfires and of those with a determined cause, 10 were caused by lightning and 33 by humans.

 

“When we talk about human-caused wildfires, often folks think of campfires or someone who has tossed a cigarette butt out of a moving vehicle, but there’s a whole variety of activities that can commonly start fires that people should be aware of,” Sam Bellion, fire information officer with the Coastal Fire Centre said.

 

“So some examples of this would be sparks from ATV or any vehicle, the use of heavy equipment or firearms, binary exploding targets, fireworks really any activity that could cause a spark or hot embers.”

 

One theory that has gained traction online when it comes to human-caused wildfires is that they were sparked by arsonists, which Craig Ford, the assistant deputy chief with Saanich Fire, says isn’t typically the case.

 

“Human-caused fires are not malicious, they could be the result from anything: playing, working, an accident, anything that has to do with day-to-day human life,” he said.

 

 

https://www.cheknews...tional-1204123/

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 14 May 2024 - 11:11 PM.

[Mike K.]

How can you say definitively “are not malicious” when we see time and time again, fires started by arsonists in the woods?

I think a lot of the human caused ones are, in fact, due to negligence. I keep encountering smouldering campfires in the bush. They’re not properly extinguished.

[dasmo]

If one was to start a malicious fire they would make it look like an accident wouldn’t they?

[Mike K.]

You would be shocked by the garbage and destruction that was left behind by the Fairy Creek protestors.

 

Suffice it to say, the narrative around our society being enlightened custodians of the wilderness is patently false, when even the self-proclaimed protectors of natural lands and resources leave their mark on nature in the way they did.

[dasmo]

Yes, they like to use language to craft a narrative of "Sustainability" but it's usually doublespeak.... 

 

"One issue that may hit closer to home following the summer of 2021 is forest fires. Alberta forestry claims that their logging practices are actually designed to reduce forest fires, but this is questionable in important respects. As mentioned above, reforestation practices often involve spraying forest stands with glyphosate to kill deciduous trees, and replanting with conifer monocrops. While these conifers may have a higher timber value, they are much more susceptible to fires than natural, mixed forests. Deciduous trees like aspen keep forests cooler and are less likely to catch fire and to burn. So, by killing all the aspen, we destroy natural fire buffers and create forests that are susceptible to burn hotter and over a larger area. "

 

 

https://albertawilde...rests_dearl.pdf

[max.bravo]

It would be interesting to know how much our “green” province spends on Roundup every year.

[dasmo]

Forgot about this! https://x.com/nyapfa...QrcObpkhVXe97Jg