Wildfire Risk Reduction Outreach
Executive Summary
The Golden Cycling Club would like to provide information about the Wildfire Risk Reduction Project that is beginning in the Fall of 2024. The GCC received funding through the Community Resiliency Investment Program – Columbia Basin Wildfire Resiliency Initiative. This initiative supports Basin communities to build capacity and strengthen wildfire resilience and wildfire risk reduction as it relates to the seven FireSmart™ disciplines. The initiative is a partnership between the Province of BC and the CBT.
Fast Facts:
- Where? Municipal lands; Northeast of the Rodeo Grounds. Trails in the area:
- Premature Excavation, Selkirk Slacker, Rodeo Drive and part of Snake Hill
- When? October 2024-November 2025
- Why? Fire suppression in this area has created a robust Douglas-fir forest.
- What? Up to 13 hectares will be treated (minimum of 9 hectares)
- How? Mechanical (small machines) and hand treatment (by foot). See map for details.
The treatment will not impact canopy cover and should not alter the visual value of the area. It is also not anticipated to affect recreation values (aesthetics or riding quality). Care will be taken to preserve all trails. There will be no pile and burn carried out within 5m of trails and all efforts will be made to minimize burning in the treatment area
During the treatment there will be temporary closures of trails. Signage will be posted at access points and social media will be updated as necessary. The ribbon colors to make the areas will be: Green and black striped to mark the boundary, Orange to mark the riparian exclusion zone
The project consists of the following phases:
- Capture ground and terrestrial data – complete
- Identify treatment units (mechanical vs hand) – complete
- Biology Technician review – complete
- Prescription Development – complete
- Field Review – current
- Operational Implementation (Treatment) – October 2024-November 2025
- Final Reporting – December 2025
How it Began?
The GCC applied for funding in 2023 through the Community Resiliency Investment Program – Columbia Basin Wildfire Resiliency Initiative. As active members who live and work in Golden, the Board of Directors thought this would be an opportunity to give back to the community, while not interrupting the “regularly scheduled maintenance programming”. This is why the GCC has contracted Pioneer Forest Consulting to take care of the development of the prescription and overseeing the treatment.
What is Wildfire Risk Reduction?
In the absence of naturally occurring wildfires – or when trees have been damaged by disease or pests such as mountain pine beetles – forests can become very dense. Large amounts of flammable material (“forest fuels”) may accumulate, including smaller trees, shrubs, other types of vegetation, tree needles and dead leaves.
A treatment on the ground is intended to mimic a natural fire regime. The primary goals of the type of treatment is to decrease the intensity of future wildfires and minimize the potential for a crown fire to spread or “spot” (when embers are carried away by the wind to start new fires nearby). This is achieved by decreasing the amount of forest fuels available to burn by reducing hazards on the ground, flammable fuels and dense trees that make it difficult to fight a fire.
The specific objectives for this project are:
- To manage for public safety;
- To manage for ecosystem restoration and wildlife habitat values;
- To reduce potential severity of wildfire impacts from excessive fuel loadings;
- To create safer wildfire suppression/defense opportunities;
- Minimize impacts to recreation trails in the area;
- To maintain mature forest attributes; and
- To mimic natural fire ecology of the area.
The Fuel Treatment area is located on Golden Townsite municipal land on Mount 7, SE of the Selkirk Hill/Bear’s Paw Heights subdivision and the Bowle-Evans FSR. There will be both mechanical and hand treatment areas (see map). The prescription site is in a very high recreation use area and it is classified as a high priority treatment area in the Wildfire Risk Reduction (WRR) Tactical Plan for the Golden Area. The easy access and the high number of recreational users in the area increases the probability of human-caused ignition.
Fire suppression over the years in this area has created a robust Douglas-fir Forest. The prescription endeavours to treat up to 13 hectares, with a minimum of 9 hectares in the budget. The treatment is not anticipated to influence the canopy cover which should not alter the visual value of the area. The aesthetics and riding quality of the multi-use trails in the area will also be maintained to the highest standard as care will be taken to preserve the trails. Activities associated with the project will include thinning of the understory trees, pruning branches of conifer trees, reducing surface fuels, debris piling/chipping/mulching, open burning and off-site debris removal.
Note: no pile and burn will be carried out within 5m of trails and all efforts will be taken to minimize the amount of burning that is necessary.
Ribbon colors: Green and black striped to mark the boundary, Orange to mark the riparian exclusion zone
During the treatment, you may encounter:
- Temporary closures of area and trails. Signage will be posted at access points and social media will be updated as necessary.
- Crew trucks parked along roadways
- Crews on foot (or small machines) carrying chainsaws, brush saws, jerry cans, and other forestry equipment
- Small machinery moving through the area (chippers, ATV, etc)
- Sounds of chainsaws, leaf blowers, chippers, or other similar equipment
- Smell of smoke and / or visible smoke
- Additional traffic on road (dump trucks)
If anyone is looking for more information about this project, please reach out to Kelly Cytko, Executive Director of the Golden Cycling Club: executive@goldencyclingclub.com
