Wetzin’kwa Community Forest

Northwest Fire Centre

Wetzin’kwa has four projects approved with an allocation of $253,654 in funding and generating 342 total person days.

Hudson Bay Mountain Road Fuel Break A – Prescription Development has been submitted for final payment – 62 ha.

BVNC/Seymour Ridge Fuel Break – Prescription Development is underway – 89 ha

Hudson Bay Mountain Road Fuel Break B –  Prescription Development has been submitted for final payment – 117 ha

Hudson Bay Mountain Resort Fuel Break A – Operational treatment – 89 ha

Two more projects are pending due to contractor delays and availability:

Hudson Bay Mountain Road Fuel Break A

BVNC/Seymour Ridge Fuel Break

Update May 2022

Spring is here, and with that our wildfire risk reduction treatments along the Hudson Bay Mountain Road are starting up again!

This work will be happening from approximately 9-18km on Hudson Bay Mountain Road until October 31st, 2022.

Field crews are currently working along Hudson Bay Mountain Road hanging ribbon to define fire treatment units, and wildfire risk reduction crews are working hard to help bring this project to completion.

The objectives of the prescribed fuel management is to improve public safety by altering forest fuels adjacent to primary access and egress routes within the Community Forest, to protect critical infrastructure (transmission lines, radio towers, Bulkley Valley Nordic Centre Trails, etc.) that occur within or adjacent to the identified treatment units, and to improve firefighter safety during suppression activities, as well as reductions in spotting potential adjacent to private land parcels and mountain resort infrastructure.

The primary treatment methodology will be mechanical stand thinning to achieve thinning targets and manual understory thinning to achieve reduced stocking targets.

Wildlife Tree Reserve Areas (WTRA) have been established adjacent to stream and wetland features, and wet ground areas are being avoided by operators to reduce impacts on sensitive soils. In order to utilize some of the trees that are being removed to achieve spacing targets, some of the timber will be commercially felled and processed locally. As well, wood will be brought to the local pellet plat to increase fibre utilization and reduce smoke impacts. On site chipping may also be employed where operationally feasible.

Update from Shane S. van de Water, BSF, RPF, Wildfire Risk Reduction Officer, Wetzin’kwa Community Forest – May 2021

“We have been hard at work on the Wetzin’kwa WRR prescription development projects as well as collaborating with BCWS and FLNRORD on adjacent WRR projects within the community forest. We have pulled together a small media team internally who will be helping to produce our public engagement materials.

As an example our team quickly pulled together a short video this past winter highlighting a collaborative WRR project with Mountain Resorts Branch. The video can be viewed here. Our media team will be out capturing prescription development material over the next few weeks. We’re excited to see what they produce as they have significantly increased their capacity to produce this material, have more lead time to gather footage, and have some great ideas for content.”

 We gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the

Province of British Columbia through the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development