Whereas the Province has experienced successive extreme wildfire years which, because of climate change, is expected to be the new normal; And whereas many local governments have initiated fuel management treatments within their boundaries and on adjacent Crown lands to reduce wildfire risk; And whereas significant wildfire risk still exists on private lands adjacent to many communities that are currently ineligible for funding under the Community Resilience Investments CRI Program for wildfire risk reduction treatments: Therefore be it resolved that UBCM ask the provincial government to offer significant incentives under the CRI or an alternate program to private land owners to complete wildfire risk reduction treatments on private lands, adjacent or within communities which have been identified by the BC Wildfire Service as having a high or extreme wildfire risk.
Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development Wildfire prevention and risk reduction is a shared responsibility among all levels of government, private companies and citizens. The Government of BC is committed to addressing the recommendations in the 2018 Abbott-Chapman review by developing opportunities for wildfire risk reduction on all land jurisdictions including Crown land, municipal land, private land and Indian Reserve land. The BC Government recognizes the need to assist residential land owners with information and funding to conduct FireSmart activities on private land. The new Community Resiliency Investment CRI program is now funding increased FireSmart activities on private lands. Eligible activities include planning, local rebate programs and offsite vegetative debris disposal. The local rebate program allows local authorities to provide home owners with a rebate of up to 500 for FireSmart activities such as vegetation removal or using FireSmart recommended building materials. Additionally, FireSmart assessments are an eligible cost. In addition, the BC Government is funding FireSmart activities for provincial and local governmentowned critical infrastructure including emergency response centres, emergency communications towers etc. The BC Government is committed to continuous improvement and looks forward to feedback on these initiatives as currently funded projects for residential areas are implemented.