Living with Fire
Collaboration and partnership define the way forward in reducing wildfire risk by removing timber from the forest floor, practicing cultural and prescribed burning while promoting ecological health.
Collaboration and partnership define the way forward in reducing wildfire risk by removing timber from the forest floor, practicing cultural and prescribed burning while promoting ecological health.
In Spring 2021, BC Timber Sales (BCTS) and BC WIldfire Service (BCWS) completed a prescribed fire near North Kootenay Lake, BC.
Filmed in October 2022 outside of Peachland BC, this collaborative burn project included several partners, including the Penticton Indian Band, Westbank First Nation, Okanagan Nation Alliance, Gorman Brothers Ltd., Okanagan Shuswap Resource District, the Ministry of Forests and the BC Wildfire Service.
This case study features several members of the Penticton Indian Band/syilx Nation, including elders and knowledge keepers. Filmed at snpink’tn, located in the Southern Okanagan Valley within the Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen, we discuss how fire has been used as a land management tool by the people of the syilx nation for thousands of years, the importance of ecosystem health, and the value of Indigenous culture, traditions and protocols.
Filmed in July 2022, the Owl Creek Cultural Burn was implemented by Lil’wat Nation with support from BC Wildfire Service in Mount Currie on Lil’wat Nation Traditional Territory just outside of Pemberton, BC.
Nation Traditional Territory outside of Pemberton, BC with the objective of protecting the community. The case study provides an overview of the three phases of a prescribed fire lifecycle and shows the value of partner collaboration when implementing a project of this scale.