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Yukon communities receive funding for FireSmart projects

Yukon communities receive funding for FireSmart projects
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Fire Smart signage along McLean Lake Road in 2009. (Ian Stewart/Yukon News file)

The Yukon government is putting approximately $850,000 towards FireSmarting neighbourhoods and communities across the Yukon this winter.

Damian Burns, director of wildland fire management (WFM), said the wildland fire branch works each year with municipal and First Nations governments, non-profit organizations, and community organizations and partners, to decide where the annual FireSmart funding will go.

The bulk of funding usually goes to the City of Whitehorse, he said, because that’s where the greatest population and infrastructure is located, but every community in the territory is in a similar situation in terms of being surrounded by forest, so they all need to be considered.

Particularly right now, he said, because of the current condition of forests in the North.

“Our success in fighting forest fires in the Yukon over the last several decades has led to forests that are very mature.”

Burns said this makes for what WFM would call a “heavy fuel load,” meaning any fires that do start have plenty of fuel to keep them going.

When assessing areas for potential risk, Burns said one of the big things WFM looks at is the density of spruce and pine. The best management for dense areas, he said, follows a standard treatment.

That includes having a team, including a FireSmart coordinator, fire risk specialist, and mapping technician, look at tree spacing to ensure there’s enough space between individual trees. The team also considers thinning and pruning the trees, and assessing the “ladder of fuel,” which is the distance between the forest floor and the lowest branches of a tree.

Burns said WFM also looks at input from communities.

“Sometimes we have neighbourhoods that don’t want this kind of treatment behind their homes,” he said. “So we don’t go there unless it’s very high-risk.”

If the treatment is necessary, but there’s still pushback from a community that wants to maintain green corridors, he said WFM increases communication by sending experts to speak to residents of the neighbourhood and explain to them what fire management looks like, and why it’s required.

“People start seeing crews or flagging tape behind their yard and they can get a little bit frightened,” he said.

“Once we do get that (education) across we have a great deal of success.”

Burns said the money allocated is given directly to communities and organizations, which then choose from a list of contractors who specialize in fire management. It’s those contractors, not WFM, who go in and do the work and spacing, pruning, and thinning.

Burns said he can’t currently identify the specifics of the projects being undertaken this year.

Funding for the 2018/19 season of FireSmarting is as follows:

Village of Teslin - $25,000

Teslin Tlingit Council - $40,000

Tagish Volunteer Fire Department Society - $30,000

Carcross Tagish First Nations $25,000

South McClintock Community Association - $35,000

Lorne Mountain Community Association - $35,000

Wolf Creek Community Association - $40,000

McLean Lake Residents Association - $55,000

Kwanlin Dun First Nations - $35,000

Biathlon Yukon - $5,500

Riverdale Community Association - $54,960

Ta’an Kwach’an Council - $30,000

Porter Creek Community Association - $37,300

Hidden Valley School Council- $25,000

Ibex Volunteer Fire Department - $20,000

Champagne Aishihik First Nations - $25,000

Village of Haines Junction - $35,000

Kluane First Nations - $20,000

White River First Nations - $20,000

Village of Carmacks - $25,000

Little Salmon Carmacks First Nations - $20,000

Town of Faro - $25,000

Watson Lake Outdoor Club – $30,000

Watson Lake Volunteer Fire Fighters Association - $30,000

Liard First Nation - $60,000

Tr’ondek Hwech’in - $30,000

Contact Amy Kenny at amy.kenny@yukon-news.com



Amy Kenny

About the Author: Amy Kenny

I moved from Hamilton, Ontario, to the Yukon in 2016 and joined the Yukon News as the Local Journalism Initaitive reporter in 2023.
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