T - Association of BC Forest Professionals

Viewpoints
By Bruce Blackwell, RPF, RPBio
FForest fire management within the
Forest Fire Management within an Urban Forestry Context
context of urban forestry has, in recent years,
been the focus in many communities in
British Columbia. Community leaders and
residents have come to realize that forests
within and adjacent to their communities
pose varying degrees of forest-fire risk
that require active management. Forest
professionals are best equipped to take on
the responsibility for this management.
The management of community green
spaces historically has been designed as a
static process and little consideration has
been given to the temporal dynamics of forest
succession and disturbances such as wind
storms, fires, diseases and pathogens. There
is often limited public understanding of the
complex forest processes that can influence
the small to medium-sized fragmented
forest parcels within an urban setting.
The appropriate management response to
a given forest-fire risk profile is based on the
combination and level of emphasis of several
key elements: communication and education,
training, emergency response, structure
protection and vegetation management. For
example, in an urban forest area with a highrisk
profile, equal weight may be given to all elements.
Alternatively, in this same high-risk example,
active intervention through vegetation
management may be given a higher emphasis.
This change in emphasis is based on the values
at risk (consequence) and the level of desired
protection required. In a low-risk situation, the
emphasis may be on communication and education
combined with emergency response and
training. In other words, varieties of management
responses in different jurisdictions and/
or within the same jurisdiction are appropriate
and can be defined by the wildfire-risk profile.
In communities throughout the province,
new urban parkland or green space is often
acquired by donations from new developments.
These areas may not be suitable for housing
development because of issues such as steep
slopes or because they are environmentally
sensitive areas. These same areas typically have
poor access, steep terrain with limited suppression
capability and an increased probability
of erosion and slope failure following a fire.
Communities often inherit these parcels without
a clear understanding of fire and other forest
disturbance related risks. The consequences
of disturbance events in these parcels are
heightened by their close proximity to homes,
businesses and community infrastructure.
Another key issue that is often overlooked
when considering urban forest fire management
is the protection of critical infrastructure.
Critical infrastructure can include, but is
not limited to, emergency communication
equipment, water treatment facilities, and
hydro-electric transmission and distribution
networks. These types of facilities are all considered
essential for community sustainability
both during and after a fire, and the ability of a
community to provide basic services would be
impaired by the loss or damage of these facilities.
Fire management planning and response
must be focused on the protection of these
facilities to limit the impact of an urban fire.
A review of bylaws in fire-prone areas
of the province points to a general lack of
understanding about urban development in
areas at risk from forest fires. Many recent
fires in British Columbia have demonstrated
that it is not just a forest in close proximity to
homes that causes ignitions and fire-related
losses, but that embers from spotting (air-borne
burning material from distant forest stands)
can alight on vulnerable surfaces and create an
ignition within urban housing developments.
Many communities throughout BC contain
developments constructed with materials that
are vulnerable to spotting ignition. This issue
could be largely addressed by creating bylaws
that enforce the use of fire-rated roofing and
building materials in areas of the community
that are vulnerable to spotting. Other bylaws
that are considered important in terms of
wildland fire protection include those that deal
with landscaping vegetation and materials,
appropriate setbacks from forest vegetation and
emergency response and evacuation access.
Bylaws associated with urban forests have
often been focused on tree protection. More
recently, communities have come to realize
that forest succession has resulted in a growing
management problem associated with older,
defective trees that are a public safety hazard.
Structured hazard tree programs have been
developed within a number of communities
and the recent mountain pine beetle outbreak
has alerted many municipalities and regional
districts to this specific problem. In areas of
moderate to high forest fire risk, these same
14 BC FOREST PROFESSIONAL | MAY - JUNE 2007
hazard tree programs could and should be
broadened to include a standard of fuel
management that inventories and manages
identified fuel and fire risk in urban forests.
Given the public’s expectation of
sustainable forest management and sound
forest stewardship, it is important to establish
guidelines and standards for fuel management
within urban forests. The significant variability
of forest ecosystems and the related management
of specific forest habitats require quality
inventories of sensitive ecosystems that could
be negatively impacted by fuel treatments.
Fuel and fire mitigation treatments must be
designed to limit impacts on these areas while,
at the same time, providing appropriate levels
of protection from negative fire effects.
The complexity of fire and forest management
within the urban forest emphasizes the
need for a broad and comprehensive community
based communication and education
program that incorporates local government,
businesses and individual residents. Support
for active management within the urban
forest will be limited and may even stall in
the absence of a sound communication effort
that clearly explains the relationship between
changing forest succession, disturbance
ecology and fuel management in a specific
urban park or green space. Websites, local
council meetings, community meetings
and field trips are all considered appropriate
communication vehicles to outline forest
dynamics and related fire and forest management
concerns within the urban context.
It is clear that forest professionals have a
responsibility to communicate, advise and
design appropriate strategies and management
responses to the complex issue of urban
forest fire management. To succeed, active
management of fire risk in an urban setting
must be based on a sound understanding of
disturbance ecology, forest structure and
function, community values and needs, and the
policy, planning, regulatory and operational
framework of a given community. �
Bruce Blackwell M.Sc. RPF, RPBio is a forest
ecologist and principal of B.A. Blackwell and
Associates Ltd. and has been involved in forest
fire management in British Columbia since 1979.
He has spent his career working as a consultant
throughout British Columbia, Alberta and Alaska
and lives in North Vancouver with his wife Denise
and three children Laura, Heather and Alan.