PENTICTON, B.C.: The Forest Enhancement Society of B.C. (FESBC) has been invited to present at the Water Supply Association of B.C.’s (WSABC) annual conference to speak about their partnership project focused on reducing wildfire risk in Peachland. In this collaborative project, local First Nations Penticton Indian Band and Okanagan Nation Alliance, Gorman Bros Ltd., the Provincial government, and FESBC worked together to develop solutions to benefit and protect all citizens, wildlife habitat, ecosystem functioning, and cultural values of the land.
The project successfully married timber harvesting with cultural-ecological restoration at a landscape level.
“This was an excellent collaborative project,” said Dave Conly, RPF, FESBC Operations Manager. “Overall, the number of trees was reduced from 350 trees per hectare to 75, 2,400 cubic metres of pulp fibre was recovered, and 7,000 cubic metres of merchantable timber was harvested. The effort will help restore the forest ecosystem functions associated with low intensity stand maintaining fire regime, and contribute to a fuel break to protect Summerland, Peachland, and rural development from wildfire risk.”
Bob Hrasko, administrator for the Black Mountain Irrigation District, and WSABC chairman, heard about the success of this collaborative project and invited the project partners to present at the annual conference on the afternoon of November 8.