Four prescribed fire projects are set to commence in the Kananaskis area over the next few weeks, as long as weather and on-the-ground forest conditions provide the appropriate circumstances.
The four initiatives include the Buller Creek prescribed fire, McLean Creek research prescribed fire, the Boundary Douglas-fir restoration project and the Old Baldy project, according to an update provided by Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development (ESRD).
“With these prescribed fires what we’re looking for is for it to increase diversity in habitat,” said Geoffrey Driscoll, a wildfire information officer. “When you don’ t have a fire in a landscape and there hasn’t been wildfires for a long time, then you get a forest that’s old.
“All the trees in a certain area may to 25- to 50-years-old,” he added. “These old trees are not necessarily good for a certain habitat.”
Driscoll also pointed out that prescribed fires are important for meadows as fire eliminates the trees that take up space and encroach on areas used by wildlife such as moose and deer.
“If you put a prescribed fire back on the landscape, what happens is it basically presses the reset switch on the forest and you get a whole new diversity of trees and plants,” he said. “It restores the meadows and makes sure that habitat is saved for the future.”
With all four projects, ESRD is looking to minimize the impact on residents in the area by providing updates regarding when fires will be lit as well as where the smoke will drift.
As Driscoll notes, a prescribed fire can only be carried out during a certain window.
“When you’re going to be doing a prescribed fire, you have to make sure that it’s dry enough so that the fires actually start, but not so dry or warm that they’re hard to control,” the wildfire officer said.
“We try our best to make sure the smoke is going to impact Albertans the least and it’s one of the major factors that goes into whether or not we can start a fire on that specific day.”
How strong the wind is on a particular day also plays a major role in deciding if a fire can be controlled, he said, adding the age of the trees within the forest will determine how fast it will burn.
“The older the forest, the easier it is to burn, so if a wildfire were to come through there it will burn really strong and fast,” he explained.
“If we do a prescribed fire and burn the forest on our terms, not Mother Nature’s terms, the next time a wildfire comes through it’s less likely to burn as fast because it will hit an area where the prescribed fire was a year or two or three years ago.”
With any prescribed fire, ESRD is quick to use the project as research since it’s difficult to do research during a wildfire.
“At least this way you know a little bit more when you start it,” he said. “When there are other wildfires we want to be able to know what they’re going to do.”
Located 20 kilometres south of Canmore along Highway 742, the Buller Creek prescribed fire plan is to burn the remaining 480 hectares left from last year’s operation and aims to protect nearby communities from future wildfires in the area.
The McLean Creek research prescribed fire, a joint project with Spray Lake Sawmills and FP Innovations, is 18 hectares in size and is located within FP Innovations’ larger research site close to secondary Highway 549.
The Boundary Douglas-fir restoration project is adjacent to the Kananaskis Emergency Station on Highway 40 and is around 15 hectares in size while the Old Baldy project is located near the intersections of Highways 40 and 68. Its purpose is to burn small debris piles left from the Evan-Thomas Creek prescribed burn operations.
ESRD has confirmed it will update the public on when the actual projects will take place through various media outlets and road signs.
