By Glenn Hicks

No ‘let it burn’ wildfire policy: Wildfire Management

Oct 31, 2017 | 2:00 PM

Provincial wildfire officials said categorically there is no ‘let it burn’ policy in Saskatchewan.

Indigenous leaders have been critical about a policy that, as they see it, compromises their Treaty right to fish and gather. They feel their resources are being left to the mercy of fires like the ones that got close to Pelican Narrows in September. There are also concerns about smoke compromising residents’ health.

But Steve Roberts from Wildfire Management said every wildfire is tackled based on various priority criteria.

“There is no ’let it burn’ policy in Saskatchewan,” Roberts said. “Every fire is assessed and every fire has decisions on actions to best manage it based on the threats it poses.”

Roberts said human safety was the number one priority followed by communities and critical infrastructure as determined by the province. After that comes commercial and industrial operations like timber and mines. The next level is individual values like recreational cabins or fishing lodges.

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Indigenous leaders want more fire suppression

Newly elected Prince Albert Grand Council Grand Chief Brian Hardlotte said residents are concerned about letting wildfires burn, because lands where berries grow and animals graze are continually lost. Letting the fires burn creates more smoke, he said, leading to more health related evacuations.

“You’ve got to put boots on the ground,” Hardlotte said. “You need to protect the values and the value to us is the land. Everybody’s affected by the fire and it puts stress on everyone.”

Hardlotte said he and the elders were well aware of how forest fire helps naturally regenerate the land, but there was also a need to sit down with senior levels of government to discuss policies around how to tackle things better.

“They need to suppress the fire, it’s as simple as that,” the Grand Chief said.

Wildfire Management said there can’t be 100 percent suppression

Responding to the need for increased suppression efforts Roberts said every available resource was deployed on the wildfires near Pelican Narrows and crews focused on the priorities of human safety, community and critical infrastructure.

He said it was not the policy in Saskatchewan to immediately suppress every fire as it starts like they do in British Columbia. He said that policy eventually results in mega-fires where old growth has been allowed to remain without natural fire breaks. Letting parts of the northern boreal forest burn was very much part of the ecological and natural management of the landscape as it has been for thousands of years.

“To truly protect the landscape, every fire would need to be extinguished immediately,” Roberts said. “Every area can be used by First Nations for trapping, hunting, fishing and recreation. Basically you’re saying that everything on the landscape is valuable and fire shouldn’t impact any of it. That would require 100 per cent suppression policy and that would assume fire is bad and that’s not scientifically valid.”

Roberts added fire helps generate moose habitat and the timber types that become trapping habitat. Also, key species require certain landscape level differences in vegetation types for shelter and feeding.

What the future holds

Roberts warned wildfires will only get bigger based on the nature of Saskatchewan’s regional forest and as priorities are set for suppression efforts.

But he stressed there is work that can be done to prevent wildfire from damaging communities.

“Proactive fuel mitigation projects are good examples where if you make bulldozer guards and breaks around a community you can delay evacuations and allow wildfire management to effectively deal with fires without them coming into town,” Roberts said.

But the reality is wildfires aren’t going away.

“I think there needs to be the recognition that there will be fires on the landscape.”

Glenn.Hicks@jpbg.ca

On Twitter:@princelabertnow