Kelowna has topped the list of Canadian cities most at risk from wildfires in 2026, according to a report from a Toronto-based online insurance company. Using data from Natural Resources Canada’s recently upgraded Canadian Wildland Fire Information System, MyChoice said Kelowna has a wildfire Risk Index score of 6.8/10. It was the only city to get a “very high” rating on the MyChoice Canada’s 2026 wildfire risk map. ​“While Prairie cities recorded more severe forecast fire weather conditions, Kelowna’s extremely high community exposure, driven by dense wildland-urban interface development, surrounding forest fuel, and historical wildfire activity, pushed it to the top overall,” said MyChoice in its annual wildfire study. ​To calculate the wildfire risk index, MYChoice gave equal weight to two factors: Forecast fire weather severity and community exposure.

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When a wildfire reached Kakisa in 2014, burning around the community on two sides and along its access road, it decimated many berry bushes that grew in the area. Now, the N.W.T.’s smallest community is using one of the fire breaks protecting it from future wildfires to bring back those berries — and closer to home. “If it’s going be always there, why not plant berries,” said Ka’a’gee Tu First Nation Chief Lloyd Chicot. “Rather than just taking all the trees down and leaving it there.” The berry patch is a pilot project involving the First Nation and a team of researchers from Wilfrid Laurier University who have been working with the community of just under 40 people for 13 years. Planted in 2024, some of the berry plants gave their first modest yield last summer. They complement some of the community’s other efforts to grow more food in a place where the closest grocery store is nearly 70 kilometres away. 

Day 1 of the 2026 BCCFA Conference and AGM was a success! Hosted in Vernon, BC this year, the Monashee Community Forest were our welcoming hosts. Monashee CF is a partnership between the Village of Lumby and the Splatsin First Nation. Day 1 included a field tour on the Monashee CF above Lumby, BC, to showcase their Silvopasture work. Silvopasture is a forestry management practice that combines multiple values to achieve a few different objectives. The area that MCF showed us created grazing pasture for cattle, and integrated wildfire risk reduction for the community of Lumby. The treated area also supports good recreation opportunities. We heard from Kyle Runzer, Nick Barry, Frank Joe, Courtney Strassburger, and Nicole Williams from the Splatsin First Nation, Trish Balcaen from Coldstream Ranch, Rick Fairbairn (Area D RDNO Director), and Rob Dinwoodie, an agriculture consultant.