(submitted photo/Saskatchewan Wildfire Management)

By Glenn Hicks

wildfire mitigation

Various wildfire mitigation projects proposed for city

May 29, 2019 | 1:58 PM

Up to a dozen important forest fuel reduction projects have been identified for possible treatment around Prince Albert and the hope is a five-year work period can start next year if the city agrees.

The proposed wildfire mitigation efforts are aimed at reducing the risk to communities and infrastructure and there is federal funding to cover 40 per cent of the cost. The city would be on the hook for 60 per cent.

Sites earmarked by the Saskatchewan Wildfire Management Branch and SaskPower for thinning and/or fire breaks include the Little Red area, Cloverdale, and some adjacent Crown land. The work may entail landscape harvesting, prescribed burns and conversion to other species and could involve the use of trained jail crews working alongside professional teams.

“There are blocks of jack pine that have lots of potential human ignition points that we want to clear out,” Larry Fremont an education and prevention coordinator with the Saskatchewan Wild Fire Branch told city council Monday as part of his brief presentation. He showed maps of the wildfire mitigation options being offered around town.

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“These fuel reduction projects help in the event of a fire and it gives us more opportunity to get in there and have some success fighting that fire,” the city’s Director of Community Services Jody Boulet told paNOW.

He added while there were 80 hectares of city land that would see the mitigation treatment, some adjacent Crown land would also be included.

“What you don’t want to do is make a big preventative measure investment into city property only not to have the same investment in adjacent Crown land,” Boulet said.

P.A. taxpayers would be responsible for $432,000 of the total $720,000 bill over a phased five-year approach according to Boulet in terms of the funding formula offered to municipalities from the federal Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Fund. If the city does not sign on to the arrangement the 40 per cent offer from Ottawa would be lost.

A map shows one of several wildfire mitigation projects being proposed for the Prince Albert area. The red striped area shows a proposed fuel break in Little Red River Park. (submitted photo/Government of Saskatchewan)

He assured local residents there would be public consultation with them and local organizations to be able “to demonstrate how this will be an improvement to the area and hopefully help prevent future wildfires.”

He explained an area like Little Red River would see aesthetic improvements.

“We have a lot of dead fall in the area that may fuel a wildfire but when you thin out an area and regenerate the forest it provides for a better appearance as an added benefit,” he said.

Boulet hoped city council would sign off on the work next month so the funding could be put in place for the 2020 budget.

The Wildfire Management Branch told paNOW once a signed contribution agreement was in place for the funding they planned to hold a media event where they could advertise the work and respond to any questions.

The options identified for possible wildfire mitigation work are as follows:

• Provincial 911 Centre/ Satellite Station (leased Crown land) – Recommend forest harvest around values and along access road
• Shell River Campground (Crown Land, Option – Park Land) – Widen road R of W that goes past campground to farmland to the south
• West Side of Peter Pond Road (Crown land) – Thin or clear along road
• West Side of Forest Avenue (Department of Highways) – Thin or clear along road
• West Side of Whitfield Road – south end, widen rest (South – private, rest – Crown)
• West Side of P.A. Landfill (Crown land) – Landscape harvest opportunity
• West Side of Highway 2 – small strip of pine between highway and DND property (Crown)
• North Edge of Provincial Fire Centre Compound and East along tracks up to Lempereur Road (Crown land)
• NW edge of Pine Grove Correctional Facility Property up to L Red River (City land)
• Cloverdale Area: thinning or harvest block (city land)
• Healing Lodge: thinning (First Nation Land)
• West Side of Carrier Lumber – Landscape harvest plan (city and Crown land)

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glenn.hicks@jpbg.ca

On Twitter:@princealbertnow