Whereas the current forest ecosystem contains significant unnatural old growth forest, excluding Interior Cedar Hemlock and Coastal Rainforest, and experiences damage from devastating wildfires and insect epidemics; And whereas the biodiversity and sustainability of forests in British Columbia is at risk, impacting human and wildlife health, ecosystem health, and the economy of the forest sector: Therefore be it resolved that UBCM request the Province of BC, in conjunction with Indigenous Nations, to modernize forest management policies and regulations, update biodiversity targets, and promote environmental stewardship, which are key in creating healthy forests, reducing fire hazards, and protecting community safety and critical infrastructure; And be it further resolved that UBCM request the Province of BC to support education on the value of reintroducing fire plan strategies to responsibly manage fuel sources as a healthy way to maintain the forest, ungulate, bird, and amphibian populations, and protect community safety and infrastructure.
Ministry of Forests Between 2021 and 2024, the Ministry of Forests made significant changes to forest and natural resource management in BC by increasing transparency of forest operations, expanding the flexibility of decision makers considering First Nations, community and non-timber values, and introducing the new Forest Landscape Planning FLP regime. FLP is a comprehensive framework for collaborative, coordinated management of all forest values on a landscape level, with First Nations, stakeholders, local communities and government. Balancing biodiversity, environmental and socio-economic values to create resilient forest ecosystems across the province, are key goals of FLP. Currently four pilot projects are ongoing and nearing completion, with another 11 FLP Tables being formed across the province. While FLP will enable innovative practices to manage all values on the land base, the ministry has taken additional steps to support the wildfire resilience of our forests. Fire Management Stocking Standards are currently being developed to ensure wildfire resilient reforested areas that support a multitude of values ranging from wildlife habitat through timber production and biodiversity. To address challenges presented by the recovery of areas burnt by catastrophic wildfires, new efficient mechanisms were created for the development of a coordinated approach to recover and reforest large scale damaged areas, and to allocate the required funding efficiently with minimal administrative effort. Newly created Areas of Catastrophic Damage are being established to facilitate this collaborative recovery process in partnership with local governments, First Nations, the forest industry and local stakeholders. In all those processes, the reintroduction of fire as a management tool plays a key role. The Ministry of Forests is working closely with BC Wildfire Service, and First Nations, to build in expertise and apply prescribed, and cultural burning across the land scape. These practices form an important tool in ongoing government funded initiatives to conduct wildfire risk reduction treatments for community protection in the Wildland Urban Interface. Funding mechanisms like the Forest Enhancement Society of BC, and the Crownland Wildfire Risk Reduction CLWRR initiative are essential in enabling and guiding these targeted operations. Over 110 wildfire risk reduction projects have been carried out through the Forest Enhancement Society alone. In addition, natural resource districts have successfully used CLWRR funding to implement a wide range of wildfire risk reduction treatments, fostering public safety and community protection. The BC Wildfire Service is the lead for public facing information on these programs and has greatly expanded its capacity for outreach to the public on the reintroduction of prescribed and cultural fire in ecosystems that have been historically maintained by fire. Legislative and regulatory changes implemented over the last six years have enabled government and forest professionals to respond to the vast variety of challenges presented by climate change, and changing socio-economic conditions, in collaboration with First Nations and communities. The Ministry of Forests is committed to active, innovative management of the land base, increasing the resiliency of forest ecosystems, and protection of communities, and will continue to realize its mandate through working with First Nations, municipalities, stake holders and the forest industry.