WHEREAS the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations and its regulations govern the activities of forest and range licensees in BC; AND WHEREAS it has been identified that 685,000 hectares in British Columbia are considered at high risk of an interface fire; AND WHEREAS some funding is available through the Community Wildfire Protection Plan program to mitigate risk from wildfire in communities and surrounding Crown lands; AND WHEREAS local governments, in particular, regional districts which have large geographical areas and highly dispersed residences are unable to contribute their portion of funding dollars or in-kind, in order to access program funding, nor do they have the capacity or legislative authority to manage Crown land interface areas: THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that UBCM lobby the provincial government, through the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations, to utilize its existing capacity within BC Timber Sales to have pine beetle infestation areas harvested in those interface areas wherein licensees have determined that they will not be harvesting in order to abate wildland interface hazards on Crown land.
Ministry of Forests, Lands Natural Resource Operations With contributions from the federal government, the Province has provided 62 million since 2004 to help local governments prepare community wildfire protection plans and complete on-the-ground work to reduce the interface wildfire risk. There is no requirement for local governments to treat Crown land; however, communities have the flexibility to include sections of abutting Crown property if they would like to have it treated as part of their community wildfire protection plan. Funding for these projects is provided under the Strategic Wildfire Prevention Initiative, based on cost-sharing formulas that recognize local governments in-kind donations. When they are not fighting wildfires, Wildfire Branch suppression crews will also conduct fuel treatments on Crown lands to support community wildfire prevention. BC Timber Sales BCTS was established with a mandate to provide the cost and price benchmarks for timber harvested from public land in British Columbia. While BCTS may conduct harvests in some of the affected areas adjacent to communities to seek benchmarks, it is beyond their mandate to harvest all stands adjacent to communities. The Province agrees that it is vital that all communities, regardless of location, undergo the Community Wildfire Protection Plan process and complete the identified fire management activities and fuel reduction treatments, particularly where beetle infestations have increased the risk. The ministry is aware of the concerns about fuel treatments on Crown Lands adjacent to communities. The Strategic Wildfire Prevention Initiative, composed of UBCM, the First Nations Emergency Services Society and staff from Wildfire Branch, continues to assess funding and treatment options for Crown lands adjacent to communities.