Tom Chapman knows all too well, the threat of wildfire on rural area homes.
Chapman, the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen director for Naramata, almost lost his Glenfir house to the massive Okanagan Mountain fire in 2003.
Chapman and other RDOS officials were joined Tuesday by Okanagan-Coquihalla MP Stockwell Day for a tour of a site cleared under a wildfire risk reduction program.
The regional district has obtained a $1.7-million grant under the federal Community Wildfire Protection Program to lower the risk of forest fires destroying homes in interface areas.
John Davies, senior forester with Valhalla Consulting, said workers are reducing the forest fuels in debris-filled areas that might otherwise allow a fire to move into people‘s backyards and threaten homes
“What we are trying to do is find a balance between social values in a stand – recreating and esthetics – with reducing wildfire behaviour should a fire move into the stand,” he said.
Workers have spent the past couple of weeks clearing debris from a site off the Arawana forest service road above Naramata. The crew is now working on an area near Chute Lake.
Bottom branches are knocked off live and dead trees, while fallen debris and other ground fuels are also removed. The felled trees and other material will be disposed of by the Ministry of Forests over the next few weeks. No slash burning will be done in the Naramata area.
The Naramata site covers about 6.3 hectares of Crown land. So far this year, more than 100 hectares have been treated from Princeton to the South Okanagan with another 127 hectares remaining.
No privately-owned properties are involved, although Davies noted many residents opt to clear their own properties once they see the work done on adjacent Crown lands.
Chapman said the interface program is invaluable, but blamed “Smokey the Bear” for the public‘s misconception about the benefits small fires can have on a forest.
“The public has been really hard to turn on this issue,” he said. “But I think the more catastrophic fires, the more they recognize that they have to reduce these fuel loads.”
Chapman said the forests ministry has been promoting a reduction in interface risks for several years, well before the Okanagan Mountain fire.
He noted the reduction is beneficial not only in reducing the fire threat for nearby homes, while it improves habitat for wildlife.
“In a forest like this, when you look at the ground, you‘ll see there is virtually no forage for ungulates or other critters,” he said. “Once you open it up, you get that regrowth of good stuff.”
Chapman said he‘d personally like to see more prescribed burning to clear the debris in the spring and fall, despite residents‘ concerns about smoke.
“As long as you get the debris off the ground. If you don‘t, you‘re just going to get another intense fire,” he said.
The program has also spurred more than 100 person months of employment in a struggling forest industry.
Larry Richardson of Kaleden-based Klo-Well Silviculture Ltd., said three crew members have been working in the Naramata area. Earlier this year, he had some 8 to 10 workers involved in a similar site near Princeton.
