We are Losing Wildfires in Protected and Unmanaged Areas

 I am just finishing up the summer field season which included Line Location and Construction Supervision on a few fires in the Southern Interior of BC. 

Except in periods of very low fire behavior we lost fires in preserved and unmanaged land. This included parks, streamside (riparian) reserves, wildlife tree patches, special management zones (OGMA, Wildlife, Recreation, Visual Quality), Community Watersheds, grasslands where grazing was excluded, inoperable areas due to topography or economics, and areas where access had not been adequately maintained. Besides the reduced chance of success safety of crews was a prime consideration in these areas.

Where we stopped fires was in well managed forests and rangeland with adequate access. We achieved our best succeses in areas that had been clearcut (>100ha), broadcast burned and planted in the 1970’s, had been continuously grazed since and had an active road system. We often didn’t even need to construct a guard here and just used these stands as is to stop the fire. 

Take a deep breath. I am not saying we clearcut every park and watershed and OGMA in BC. I am suggesting we have to set priorities and manage these areas better. As I have stated in previous posts, preservation is usually neglect. 

My best job ever in forestry was logging riparian areas (the reserved, machine-free, strip of land adjacent to streams). I had an old line skidder with a 100′ tag line. I hand fell the merch trees and winched them out without the machine entering the sensitive zones. We maintained the integrity of the forest floor and left the understory intact. The treatment created a “feathered” edge reducing the chance of any retained  larger trees blowing down. It wasn’t very profitable but was good forest management and usually broke even. With modern logging equipment this work would be much more viable economically. 

There is no “one size fits all” answer to what is good forest management. We have 14 general Biogeoclimatic Ecosystms in BC with several variants based on specific site conditions. All need special consideration and specific actions.

However I suggest that we have to do something in these preserved, high value, areas to make the inevitable wildfire more manaeagable and reduce unneccesary losses and damage.

 

Typical fuel load in a protected area or reserve. This is a very dangerous location to work and will produce very elevated fire behavior.

 

Blowdown in Wildlife Tree Patch. The inevitable wildfire will be very intense, spread rapidly and send embers considerable distances.

Blowdown in Riparian Reserve – one big potentail wick to carry fire across the block.

Grazing excluded – Fire went from start to 150 ha. in a few hours and burnt into community infrastructure.

Success!

+/- 30 year old regen Pl and Sx. Large clearcut, broadcast burned and planted. No surface fuel, grass grazed annually, crown closure = lower temp and higher RH. Rank 4 fire stopped at edge of stand with no control line necessary.