Grand Forks city council has tentatively approved a plan that could see the risk of wildfire reduced.
The city was approached by the Ministry of Forests, Land and Natural Resource Operations (MFLNRO) to help with a fuel management plan and according to the proposal, work would consist mostly of pruning and thinning of trees and removing of debris that could serve as fuel for fire (ponderosa pine needles etc.) primarily on city-owned land on 68th Avenue (Parcel Z), behind the Extra Foods and adjacent to Angus MacDonald Park.
City council approved the plan at a special meeting on May 15 but it is subject to some conditions, as there is still some work and discussion to be done before plans go ahead, including consultation with the public, particularly residents in the Angus MacDonald Park area.
While the work would be provided free of charge by local Wildlife Management Branch (WMB) crews, the city may have to incur some costs.
“At this point in time, that’s subject to my discussion with (city) staff and we will have to do it within the existing budget,” city Chief Administrative Officer Lynne Burch explained when asked how much the city would contribute. She said that money would have to come out of the city’s operations fund.
“The proposal is basically a partnership between the province and the City of Grand Forks and the province is looking to act on its fuel management plan that it has provincially and it has offered to conduct some fuel management activities on city property,” Burch said.
The MFLNRO wrote the city stating that it had a fire base located in Grand Forks and while the initial attack crew stationed there from March to September had the primary responsibility to respond to wildfires, there could be times when it could help with fire hazard reduction and forest fuel management.
James Katasonoff, forest protection technician for the Boundary Fire Zone, was away and could not comment, but did say in the letter to the city that, “This project is small in scope but it will meet some of the objectives set in the Grand Forks Wildfire Protection Plan and the fundamental objectives of fuel management as a wildfire prevention method.”
According to information provided by the city, WMB crews would provide the operational labour, which would come at no cost to the city as mentioned, and would manage themselves, provide their own equipment and first aid and “adhere” to work safe regulations.
The city would take care of consulting with the community, communication, assist with marking off the property boundary and disposing of the debris.
Items that would have to be determined before the start of the project would include negotiation of incidental expenses (chainsaw fuel and equipment maintenance), the method by which to dispose of the debris and while the city would be responsible for any chipping and debris removal, WMB crews could assist with chipping.
Burch said disposal of waste would be determined in the near future with Hal Wright, city operations manager.
WMB crews would create a buffer zone of 10 metres of untreated fuels adjacent to private property to allow for privacy and aesthetics with no tree falling taking place within two tree lengths of any private property line, structure or power line.
While the work ideally would be done between March and September of 2012, crews would be primarily responsible to take care of wildfire activity and if work from wildfires or other circumstances prevented the work from being completed this year, it would resume during the 2013 term.
“Wildfire management branch crews have offered to help the City of Grand Forks meet some of its fuels management objectives,” Southeast Fire Centre Information Officer Karlie Shaugnessy told the Grand Forks Gazette.
“It could occur anytime in the next few weeks to a few months down the road,” she said. “It depends when our crews are available. It’s to limit the risk of wildfire to the city.”