Post Wildfire Salvage – Don’t make blanket decisions

There have been several recent discussions about the pros and cons of post wildfire salvage. As always, we should base our decisions and methods on site specific circumstances and objectives, not blanket policies or procedures. To be clear, I am not a scientist. The following information is based on my experience and observations.

On a recent fire I observed severe damage to a section that previously burned in 1970 but didn’t have any post fire salvage logging.

The Pasayten

I am just back from working on the Calcite fire which is burning in the Pasayten Valley. Pasayten translates to “Country of the Devil” in French. Based on my work experience in the valley this is not an inaccurate translation. As well, the area has experienced major wildfires in 1926, 1945, 1970, 1984, 2006, 2017, 2018, 2021, 2022 and now 2024.

A large portion of this 2024 fire contains an area burned in 1945. I noticed that the charred, petrified remnants from the 1945 fire are the same height and diameter as the trees being burned in the current fire. This indicates to me that this section of the fire has an 80 to 100 year fire return cycle.

The valley is located just on the dry side of the coastal range divide. It receives enough moisture to maintain substantial forests and vegetation but experiences prolonged dry spells every summer. The valley seems to experience an inordinate amount of lightning and has been studied extensively to determine why. The location on the transition from coast wet to interior dry and mineral content of surrounding peaks are the best explanations I have received.

However, I do still consider that French translation and act accordingly.

The valley runs north/south from Washington State into BC near Manning Park. The American portion of the valley is designated as a “Wilderness” area which limits commercial, and even wildfire response, activities. How to, or even if, fires should be actioned has been controversial here since 1938. It is one of the locations that developed “smoke jumping” as a low impact method to access fires in places where machines were not allowed.

The Canadian portion of the valley has had substantial mineral and forestry activities but there are still areas with limited access that have seen minimal human disturbance.

The 1970 Fire

Inside the perimeter of the current 2024 wildfire I observed a large area with substantial number of standing dead, blackened “snags”. It was obvious that this area had not been harvested after the last fire. From my fire history map I determined that this area had last burned in 1970.

Most of the standing dead had blown down forming a thick (1 to 2 meter deep) layer of large diameter dry logs. There was a juvenile (+/- 50 years old), very dense, naturally regenerated lodgepole pine forest growing through this mat of logs. The fire behavior was very intense in this area due to the very high load of large diameter dry logs on the ground. It not only destroyed the regenerated forest but appears to have set the soil back to almost post glacial condition.

This indicates to me that not conducting post fire salvage shortens the fire return cycle and increases the intensity of the next fire.

This may be a great area for people on both sides of the post fire salvage harvesting debate to look at . We need informed decisions to balance our short term economic requirements with the long term goal of maintaining forest and eco-system health and productivity.

Talk soon.

Doug