p>Local government & First Nations fire officials, community planners, emergency managers, community foresters and land managers, elected officials, and chief administrative officers are invited to help shape the future of community wildfire resiliency planning in B.C., at six regional workshops scheduled for late October.
In partnership with the BC FireSmart Committee, the BC Wildfire Service is conducting a comprehensive review of its approach toward supporting community wildfire actions. This review process represents a unique opportunity to learn from previous Community Wildfire Protection Plans (CWPPs) and current science on community wildfire resiliency, and then apply them to the development of the new Community Wildfire Resiliency Planning (CWRP) process.
Key goals of the Community Wildfire Resiliency Planning process include:
- increasing communities’ capacity and understanding of wildfire risk
- fostering greater collaboration across administrative boundaries
- being more responsive to the needs of different types of communities throughout BC in terms of their size, their capacity and the threats they face.
This opportunity is intended for representatives of local governments and Indigenous communities who are currently participating in community wildfire resiliency planning activities, or who are interested in learning more about the process or in helping to shape community resiliency planning in BC in the future.
These day-long workshops will engage local governments and Indigenous communities and ask them to provide input into a new Community Wildfire Resiliency Planning framework, which will replace the current Community Wildfire Protection Plan process. They are opportunities to learn about important BC Wildfire Service updates, connect with peers and partners, and integrate all seven FireSmart disciplines into future community wildfire resiliency planning activities.
2019 Workshop Dates and Locations:
- Vancouver: Tuesday, October 15
- Williams Lake: Wednesday, October 16
- Cranbrook: Friday, October 18
- Smithers: Monday, October 21
- Fort St. John: Wednesday, October 23
- Kelowna: Friday, October 25
*Specific venue details will be provided to registered workshop participants once they are finalized. Lunch will be provided for registered attendees.
Please register by October 1, 2019, and please complete the short pre-workshop survey before your workshop date!
For those unable to attend in person, an online summary session will be provided in two Outreach and Engagement webinars:
- Tuesday, October 29: 10:00am-12:00pm PDT
- Thursday, October 31: 10:00am-12:00pm PDT