Whereas the Province of BC faces the worsening effects of climate change, with wildland urban interface fires becoming more and more prevalent; And whereas many residents and properties impacted by wildfire are located adjacent to Crown lands; And whereas residents are encouraged to mitigate the threat of fire to their properties following FireSmart principles, Crown lands adjacent to private property are often not mitigated: Therefore be it resolved that UBCM ask the Province to commit to working with interested parties to develop a policy which would allow residents adjacent to Crown lands to follow FireSmart principles on those adjacent Crown lands within a prescribed distance of private property to reduce the risk of wildland urban interface fires.
Ministry of Forests Ministry of Forests recognizes the shared responsibility for wildfire mitigation between the Province and local governments. The Ministry works with UBCM and the First Nations Emergency Services Society FNESS, as program partners, to continuously review the Community Resiliency Investment program and identify improvements to the program based on feedback from communities. These recommendations will be considered by the program partners. The Crown Land Wildfire Risk Reduction program is administered through the Ministry of Forests in collaboration with BC Wildfire Service BCWS, Natural Resource Regions and Districts, BC Parks and Mountain Resorts Branch. The focus of fuel management planning and treatments is on provincial Crown Land around higher risk communities. The Forest Enhancement Society of BC FESBC invests in projects that reduce wildfire risk to help better protect communities. The BC Community Forest Association BCCFA has a long-term partnership with BCWS to support community forests in their ongoing efforts to make communities and forests more resilient. The Ministry continues to bring together partners as part of a whole-of-society approach. In 2025, government expanded BC Timber Sales mandate to bring additional expertise and capacity to support wildfire risk reduction around communities, and initiated Forest Landscape Planning processes in additional areas of the Province which will address wildfire mitigation objectives. The Ministry also continues to expand partnerships through the BC FireSmart program, including Local FireSmart Collaboratives.