Controlled burns planned

[dana]

Sitka, I think now is the time for discussion to change the anti-burn strategy. Even if we were not talking about benefits to wildlife. Lets just talk about making communities more fire proof. Regardless of what is considered the most favourable to growing trees, broadcast burns need to be back in our tool box again. Wildlife will benifit as well as communities. Just look at the amount of cutblks that burned last summer. Do you think those fires would have been able to eat like they did if the fuel in those cuts was managed earlier in broadcast burns?

[LBM]

Areas in Reg 8 that I frequent simply burn slash piles. There are no prescribed burns conducted by forestry companies that I am aware of. It is logged to sh*t, more and more roads every year.

As for the habitat, habitat, habitat sarcasm that appears to be fanned and mocked......I guess outfitters up north would regularly 'accidentally' burn chunks of their area simply for a better view. They were creating habitat to increase their guiding success due to the resulting spike in wildlife and said concentration.

Oh, and this years inventory counts for MD in Reg 8 had the highest density and numbers come from a burn that is still in it's prime of productivity. Counts have been stable there while other areas are showing a decrease.

Some of those outfitter burns up north actually caused more problems then they wanted, had elk etc moving(feeding) up higher into sheep areas competing with the sheep
for feed etc and there sheep were there high dollar animal, but in saying that some sheep have changed habits and are now lower in the timber.

[HarryToolips]

This is very good news, and good on the Penticton Indian Band for stepping up and helping the MOE...now If they could get some of their 'bad apples' to stop shooting elk year round then they'd be really helping wildlife...

[HighCountryBC]

That is better. Glad to hear the right number. Is there a plan to plant deer food like Ceanothus post burn? Just looking at a natural burn in grassland country in Kamloops, hard to notice any difference a year or 2 post fire. Just looks the same as the unburned areas. First year, I did observe good deer activity but didn't see much for sheep activity. Second year, deer activity dropped off and was same as the unburned areas. Sheep didn't seem to care about it whatsoever.

There is a considerable amount of ceanothus cover in this area already. From conversations with PIB they "plan" on planting more "deer food". Hopefully they follow through on that. One of the main issues is the forest in-growth choking out species like bunchgrass, saskatoon, willow etc. The goal is to open up the canopy and allow the growth of those species among others.

This prescribed burn directly abuts the Finlay Creek wildfire from last summer that burned a few thousand hectares. It is (or was) a high value mule deer winter range area that desperately needed a boost as far as habitat goes. The project was spear-headed by a very forward-thinking biologist who has had wildfire crews doing fuel management in the area for the last 3 years. Hopefully this is the beginning of regular prescribed burning in the shoulder seasons.

[dana]

There is a considerable amount of ceanothus cover in this area already. From conversations with PIB they "plan" on planting more "deer food". Hopefully they follow through on that. One of the main issues is the forest in-growth choking out species likebunchgrass, saskatoon, willow etc. The goal is to open up the canopy and allow the growth of those species among others.

This prescribed burn directly abuts the Finlay Creek wildfire from last summer that burned a few thousand hectares. It is (or was) a high value mule deer winter range area that desperately needed a boost as far as habitat goes. The project was spear-headed by a very forward-thinking biologist who has had wildfire crews doing fuel management in the area for the last 3 years. Hopefully this is the beginning of regular prescribed burning in the shoulder seasons.

This does indeed sound very promising. Hope it can continue for years to come. Boots on the ground is the kind of habitat enhancement that makes differences.

[boxhitch]

The more these burns happen the more easily they will happen in the future. For years Reg bios have tried but there is always push back by the public nimbys worried about air quality for asthmatics, black scenic views, over achievement, etc
Burn time windows often expired and prescriptions had to be re-written
Having the indigens as partners is like a free pass card

[Stone Sheep Steve]

The more these burns happen the more easily they will happen in the future. For years Reg bios have tried but there is always push back by the public nimbys worried about air quality for asthmatics, black scenic views, over achievement, etc
Burn time windows often expired and prescriptions had to be re-written
Having the indigens as partners is like a free pass card

This..........

[338win mag]

Areas in Reg 8 that I frequent simply burn slash piles. There are no prescribed burns conducted by forestry companies that I am aware of. It is logged to sh*t, more and more roads every year.

As for the habitat, habitat, habitat sarcasm that appears to be fanned and mocked......I guess outfitters up north would regularly 'accidentally' burn chunks of their area simply for a better view. They were creating habitat to increase their guiding success due to the resulting spike in wildlife and said concentration.

Oh, and this years inventory counts for MD in Reg 8 had the highest density and numbers come from a burn that is still in it's prime of productivity. Counts have been stable there while other areas are showing a decrease.

Yup^^^ so lets explore this.
FN have been doing this very thing in this region for probably 2000 years, manipulating the land by fire, to suit their needs if it didn't happen by circumstance, ie,, lightning caused fires, natural occuring fires etc to promote game pops.

I see fire management as front and center in this province if were ever going to accomplish anything, whatsoever.
Trouble is now the vehicular access after a wildfire needs to be curtailed and it pisses alot of people off.
It doesn't have anything to do with hunting, its more about the well being of a species, such as Mule deer,,, so I dont get the big deal about vehicular closures in some area's, like where a fire has recently cleansed the land.

[Sitkaspruce]

Sitka, I think now is the time for discussion to change the anti-burn strategy. Even if we were not talking about benefits to wildlife. Lets just talk about making communities more fire proof. Regardless of what is considered the most favourable to growing trees, broadcast burns need to be back in our tool box again. Wildlife will benifit as well as communities. Just look at the amount of cutblks that burned last summer. Do you think those fires would have been able to eat like they did if the fuel in those cuts was managed earlier in broadcast burns?

Dana, one problem with BCB is the intensity of the fire, depending on the fuel load. IF we could get companies to remove and utilize more wood, then a small BCB of low intensity will work. Right now, we have too hot of fires and this damages the soil, which results in poor growing trees with chlorotic, stressed stands. Remember that with the take or pay, companies went from 4" top to 8-10", with the rest left in bush, now mostly at the stump in many places. This fuel is wrong for both wildlife and BCB. The other concern is that studies have shown that burns of slash after logging only provide between 15-20 years of nutrients, where as the slow decomposition of the CWD provides many long term benefits to the stand. Of course, most of these studies are from the coast, where fires are not needed for regen. One from the interior showed that a lot of the thin top soil with duff layer was damaged by the heat of the fire die to the grasses and deciduous being removed by skidding/yarding activities which allowed the fire to burn hot and slow with just logging slash. That's why we only burned on steep slopes because we could get the fire to move faster and not apply a lot of heat to the soil. Lots of pluses and minuses to BCB, figuring out what is the right place and time takes too long, so why do it.......

Wildlife and logging used to be in the same paragraph, now they are not even on the same page.......

Cheers

SS

[dana]

Dana, one problem with BCB is the intensity of the fire, depending on the fuel load. IF we could get companies to remove and utilize more wood, then a small BCB of low intensity will work. Right now, we have too hot of fires and this damages the soil, which results in poor growing trees with chlorotic, stressed stands. Remember that with the take or pay, companies went from 4" top to 8-10", with the rest left in bush, now mostly at the stump in many places. This fuel is wrong for both wildlife and BCB. The other concern is that studies have shown that burns of slash after logging only provide between 15-20 years of nutrients, where as the slow decomposition of the CWD provides many long term benefits to the stand. Of course, most of these studies are from the coast, where fires are not needed for regen. One from the interior showed that a lot of the thin top soil with duff layer was damaged by the heat of the fire die to the grasses and deciduous being removed by skidding/yarding activities which allowed the fire to burn hot and slow with just logging slash. That's why we only burned on steep slopes because we could get the fire to move faster and not apply a lot of heat to the soil. Lots of pluses and minuses to BCB, figuring out what is the right place and time takes too long, so why do it.......

Wildlife and logging used to be in the same paragraph, now they are not even on the same page.......

Cheers

SS

Wonder what the debris loading was back in the 60's and 70's when we slashed and burned species like pl. All I know walking through those burned plantations now and it is amazing to see the growth.

i know you might not agree with me, but government is the one that sets rules from stocking standerds to free to grow to green up. They are just numbers that some buracrats have come up with. The blame is always layed on industry but they are just following the rules set by government.