Blog Archives

Join us for field site visits on May 13 and an action packed day. Guests are welcome to come to one, some or all of the events listed below!

12:30 to 1:15 PM — Meet at the Golden Civic Centre to Register for Field Site Options. Locations will showcase examples of wildfire risk reduction treatments. Speak to experts about the treatments, the challenges and outcomes.
3:00 to 6:00 PM — Open House Golden Civic Centre. Your local government Firesmart coordinators, Wildfire Risk Reduction practitioners and local businesses will showcase how they are helping to ready Golden and Area A in case of wildfire.
7:00 to 9:00 PM — Speaker’s Panel at the Golden Civic Centre. Landscape Ecologist, Paul Hessburg ; UBC’s Centre for Wildfire Coexistence, Jennifer Baron; Professional Forester Lindsay Hill, of Forsite Consultants; and Superintendent-Cultural and Prescribed Fire Program with the BC Wildfire Service, Fons Raedschelders.

For updates and information – Please visit the Golden and Area A, Community FireSmart Facebook Page

Towering trunks and thick canopies will be the focus of a new community initiative starting May 10, as Kitimat-area residents are invited to join volunteer-led hikes to explore and record some of the oldest trees in the Kitimat River valley. The Big Tree Quest begins with two guided hikes on May 10 and May 31… These free public events aim to teach simple techniques for measuring tree height, circumference and canopy — skills that allow participants to contribute entries to the UBC Big Tree Registry. …The UBC Big Tree Registry is a province-wide initiative to identify, document, monitor and protect the largest known trees of each species in British Columbia, while engaging the public in conservation efforts. Originally established in 1986 by the B.C. Forestry Association … the registry has changed hands several times before finding a permanent home in the Faculty of Forestry at the University of British Columbia in 2010.

Langford received recognition for its wildfire preparedness initiatives from B.C.’s minister of forests on Saturday, who attended the City’s Community Wildfire Preparedness Day. Community Wildfire Preparedness Day is an annual national campaign that focuses on wildfire preparedness initiatives at the community level, ahead of each year’s wildfire season. B.C.’s Minister of Forests, Ravi Parmar lives in the neighbourhood and was in Langford for the Thetis Heights event. …The day included FireSmart and BC Wildfire initiatives that focused on wildfire awareness, preparedness, education, safety and community resilience. …“We’re just seeing a glimpse this weekend of the impact the wildfires are having on communities right throughout the province,” said Parmar, referencing the wildfire that started in Northern B.C.’s Hixon on Friday. …Across Canada, the Wildfire Community Preparedness Day is a national campaign that encourages people to take actions that increase the resiliency of their home, neighbourhood and community to wildfires.

More than 80 per cent of the critical habitat for at-risk species in B.C. fails to meet federal protection standards, according to a government briefing document. The document was included in a transition binder compiled for B.C. Water, Land and Resource Stewardship Minister Randene Neill. Close to 300 species in B.C. are listed under the federal Species At Risk Act… Critical habitat … has been identified in federal recovery plans for 107 of those species, according to the briefing document. Combined, it amounts to 31.3 million hectares — an area about 10 times the size of Vancouver Island. According to the document, the B.C. government provides “special management” of more than 34.5 million hectares of habitat for at-risk species. But not all of this area is considered “critical habitat” and not all meets legal federal protection standards, the document says. The provincial government, for instance, allows commercial logging in some special management areas.