Wildfires will continue to grow in intensity and destruction if changes are not made to the way we manage our forests.
To do that, there will need to be dramatic changes in practices that have gone on for decades and decades.
And that will take time.
That was one of the many takeaways from a 90-minute panel discussion on the effects of wildfires that kicked off a three-day solutions symposium hosted by UBC and UBC Okanagan.
The symposium will take place at the UBCO campus Tuesday and Wednesday.
The panel discussion Monday in front of a near-capacity house at the Kelowna Community Theatre included UBC professor Dr. Lori Daniels, UBCO professor Dr. Mathieu Bourbonnais, Joe Gilchrist from the Salish Fire Keepers Society, Dr. Paul Hessburg with the US Forest Service and West Kelowna Fire Chief Jason Brolund.
“We need to fight fire with fire,” said Daniels.
“Fire has a negative impact but it is also part of the solution. We need to change the way we manage our forest, changes in policy and changes in practice.”
The panel agreed we need to go back to change the way things have been done the last 100 years, utilizing Indigenous stewardship practices
“Indigenous people had a way of looking at the land and fire,” said Gilchrist.
“Look at pictures from the early settlers…there was lots of grassland with few trees at the lower elevations.”
Gilchrist says to get back to that type of land stewardship will take a lot of work, a lot of co-operation and time.
For years, said Bourbonnais, fire was kept out of the forest.
“There are 10 to 100 times too many trees. We have kept fires out for 100 years,” said Bourbonnais.
“We have to rethink how we do forestry. Native grasslands store nearly as much carbon as large forests.”
The panel was in agreement that governments need to change their thinking and allow forest management practices to change.
Some forest areas will need to be burned off to lessen the fuel load and offer protection.
“It's going to require all the people with a stake in the game to work together to understand the problems then understand what the remedies look like,” said Hessburg.
“And it's not going to be the same kind of recipe from place to place because the Indigenous cultures vary a lot. How they manage the land and how they husband it for food and medicines. So working closely with them to learn the cultural practices and do the best we can to marry those with what we know.”
Brolund, who helped oversee the response to last year’s McDougall Creek wildfire, says attitudes have to change at local levels.
“People want to live in areas surrounded by forest, live on slopes,” he said.
“But mitigation work has to be done first. Should we allow cedar hedges to be sold?” Brolund asked.
Brolund also said last year’s fires should have been a wake-up call to those affected.
Instead, he said, homes are being rebuilt the same way as they were before.
“Attitudes need to change.”
The symposium continues through tomorrow and Wednesday.
