The Municipality of North Cowichan has begun three wildfire mitigation projects that will support wildfire resilience through a variety of strategies as a way to proactively reduce the risk of wildfires within the community.
The multifaceted approach includes: fuel management in three identified high risk areas; development of guidelines for private property development and construction within high-risk wildfire areas; and FireSmart assessments on critical assets such as water reservoirs, pump stations, communications towers and fire halls to reduce wildfire risk around infrastructure.
Community members will have the opportunity to learn more and ask questions during multiple virtual information sessions between October 2021 and January 2022. Dates will be announced soon.
Complete project details can be found at www.northcowichan.ca/wildfire. Also on the webpage is a highly informative and interactive story map that will be continuously updated as the project continues.
“Wildfire risk describes the combination of the threat with proximity to things we value,” noted North Cowichan Mayor Al Siebring. “With 25 per cent of North Cowichan’s land base within the Municipal Forest Reserve, and a good portion of those forest lands surrounding our communities, our risk is quite high, and this has been compounded in recent years by our hotter and drier summers. By proactively managing the fuel in our forests and learning how to best protect infrastructure and homes, our risk will be reduced, which is what these projects are all about.”
The projects are funded by a grant of $110,345 from the Province’s Community Resiliency Investment FireSmart Community and Support Program, available to local governments and First Nations in B.C. to undertake community-based FireSmart planning and activities that reduce the community’s risk of wildfire.