Thread by @matbourbonnais

Fire has dominated the news cycle recently for good reason. People have died. A BC community destroyed, thousands are evacuated, and the sky is once again filled with smoke. This is beyond a crisis and we need to respond with urgency. #bcpoli #Wildfires🧵
news.ok.ubc.ca/2021/07/29/sci…

In a white paper (link above) collaborators and supporters lay out the problem: our current strategies for landscape management and fire suppression are no longer sustainable or effective. We need to proactively mitigate wildfire risk and we need to act now. So what is at play?

1. Decades of aggressive fire suppression and landscape management have made our forests more vulnerable. The 'fire deficit' and increased fuel loads are putting our communities at risk:
nature.com/articles/s4146…

2. Climate change is driving the urgency to do something now. We are living the fire seasons that were predicted decades ago. And future scenarios for western NA are worse, with longer and more damaging fire seasons on the horizon:
agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.10…

3. We must redefine our relationship with fire and how we manage landscapes. Fire suppression and fuel treatment priorities are assessed primarily (only? show me otherwise) based on the risk to human life and economic values.

The importance of fire for Indigenous peoples and its natural and managed role in ecosystems have taken a backseat for over a century. Make no mistake we are paying the price. You can learn far more about this by following experts like @ChristiansonAmy
pbs.org/newshour/scien…

4. The negative social outcomes are not shared. Smoke impacts many, but Indigenous and rural communities are bearing the brunt. Change must be informed at local levels and government, scientists, and industry must do a better job communicating and engaging
thenarwhal.ca/lytton-bc-wild…

5. A plan has to be nonpartisan. There is no miracle cure that is going to happen in four years. Solutions will require significant and sustained investment. Sounds expensive? Fire suppression costs can easily approach $1billion in a bad fire season.
vancouversun.com/news/local-new…

So what can we do? We have some of the tools: the use of prescribed burning and fuel treatments around communities with local support needs to increase substantially in the short term. These initiatives have to be better supported by the govt.
cbc.ca/news/canada/br….

Other solutions require rethinking how we manage landscapes: retention and planting of fire resistant forests, protecting wetlands, rehabilitation and restoration of cutblocks, and economic strategies for dealing with fuels at landscape scales in ecologically sustainable ways.

Again, it is critical that a plan has long term support federally, provincially, and locally. You don't just treat a forest and walk away. Fuel treatments need to be maintained and they need to reflect the scale of the problem.

Critics of this approach will say we cannot possibly reduce fuels and manage risk at landscape scales. And yet forestry has been changing landscape fuel complexes for decades. It's past time to reevaluate these policies and attitudes.

Or, why not just invest in more airtankers, helicopters and crews? Canada has some of the best firefighters in the world, but this has been the strategy for too long and we know the outcome. Instead, why not prioritize training dedicated crews for wildfire risk reduction?

Firebreaks throughout the landscape can actually make fire suppression more effective. They help reduce fire behaviour and spread rates. Anchoring off a wetland, meadow, or big stand of aspen can allow firefighters to be more aggressive because it gives them a safe zone.

Prescribed fire can help reduce the likelihood of large destructive fires but there are all kinds of other benefits. Nutrient cycling, torching those pesky invasives and controlling forest disease, and improving graze and creating habitat (bears love a good burn!)

So what can you do as an individual? Get informed. If you live in a fire prone area, find out what fire risk reduction plans are in place for your community, how much progress has been made, and what the long term plans are.

If you live in an urban area and this all seems somewhat distant, those smoky skies out the window can represent a serious health risk that we don't fully understand. Being informed about wildfire and how it's being managed has never been more important.
bc.ctvnews.ca/wildfire-smoke…

We are long past 'incremental change' and 'cleaning your gutters' (although still do that!) as a way forward. It's time that we demand bold action from all of our political parties, leaders, and institutions and support those who are impacted by wildfires every year.

If you want to know more about wildfires some great people to follow include @firebobbc @SusanPrichard10 @pyrogeog @kiramhoffman @jillharvey_fire @UofA_FireWater @ChristiansonAmy @ThomasforBC @fireminded and many others