In British Columbia, the four most severe fire seasons on record have occurred in the past eight years. During this time, the reality of fire as a landscape-scale process has become increasingly evident. What were once localized impacts and costs have become regional or even national-scale catastrophes, affecting society as a whole. Managing fire risk is complicated not only by the scale of the fires but also by the fact that local conditions, such as topography, land use, and weather, are the primary factors influencing fire behaviour. Discussions on how to manage fire risk at large scales are advancing rapidly in coastal B.C., where communities are frequently located within or near the wildland-urban interface where fire risk is high.
Join this panel as they consider the intersections between social (local) and environmental priorities (regional) through watershed planning.
Key Elements of This Discussion:
- Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink!
- Source water protection: What is it and why should fire be a key consideration?
- The fire-forest-water nexus: Healthy watersheds as a potential solution (including the role of beavers…)
- Landscape thinking and jurisdictional opportunities
Speakers:
- Craig Stewart, MSc (he/him) Vice-President, Climate Change and Federal Issues, Insurance Bureau of Canada
- Oliver M. Brandes, PhD (he/him), Co-director, POLIS Project on Ecological Governance
- François-Nicolas Robinne, PhD (he/him) Forest Hydrologist, Government of Alberta
- Andrea Barnett, MPP (she/her) Wildfire Project Manager, POLIS Project on Ecological Governance