Ottawa is offering $45.7 million for projects in B.C. and across Canada that advance knowledge about wildfires.
The projects will be focused on protecting Canadians from the growing threat of wildfires, strengthening wildfire risk assessments, and improving mitigation and adaptive forestry practices.
The funding is being doled out through Natural Resources Canada’s Build and Mobilize Foundational Wildland Fire Knowledge program.
“Today’s announcement is about ensuring that communities, emergency responders and decision makers have the knowledge they need to prevent, prepare for and respond to wildfires,” said Corey Hogan, parliamentary secretary to the federal energy minister, in Calgary Tuesday.
The Vancouver-based Métis Wildfire Community Research Initiative is among the funding recipients.
“Our approach is different because we are building strong relationships with local people.” said Joe Desjarlais, Director of Research for the B.C. Metis Foundation. “We’re training them to do wildfire research, to recover their own knowledge for their own benefit, to give them a voice.”
Another project based in Williams Lake aims to reduce the amount of wildfire fuel in the landscape by collecting and using damaged forest fibre.
Percy Guichon, head of Central Chilcotin Rehabilitation, noted communities are still trying to recover from 2017 wildfires that burned large swathes of the Chilcotin Plateau area.
“This investment from Natural Resource Canada will help ensure that future generations inherit a healthier, more balanced and resilient forest that reduce wildfire risk and protect our communities,” said Guichon.
Jim Herbers, executive director of Biodiversity Pathways, said their Wildland Foundation project is working with Indigenous partners to better understand the impacts of wildfires and study traditional wildfire management practices.
He said three of the four communities they are working with have been impacted by wildfires in recent years, and the fourth is at high risk of wildfires “after a century without natural or cultural burning practices.”
Over 7,300 square-kilometres have burned in B.C. due to wildfires so far this year.
Natural Resources Canada said annual national costs for fighting wildland fire total over $1 billion. It says fire-suppression costs could double by 2040.
Other B.C.-based organizations receiving funding are:
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- University of British Columbia, Vancouver.
- University of Victoria, Victoria
- Capital Regional District, Victoria
- Gathering Voices Society, Vancouver
- Bulkley Centre for Natural Resources Research and Management, Smithers
- First Nations Emergency Services Society, North Vancouver
- Chuzghun Resources Corporation, Fort St. James
- Adams Lake Indian Band, Chase
- Chawathil First Nation, Hope
