For Helen Sandy, a Secw茅pemc woman from the Sugar Cane Reserve near Williams Lake, cultural and prescribed burns are a childhood memory.
香蕉视频直播淎s a child, I participated in community burning," she said. "We used to even go to the woods around our house. The elders would get blankets, go there and they would pick up all the sticks [and] bring it back in the community."
That was done to make kindling for wood stoves, and it was one way of managing flammable materials.
香蕉视频直播淯s children went with them, and when it came time to burn the hay fields, we put up a big kitchen, where there was food made, and, every community member went out to the fields, either to do the burning or to help contain the burning,香蕉视频直播� said Sandy.
is the planned and intentional use of fire on a specific land area and is one way to care for the land and lower the risk of wildfires.
香蕉视频直播淔ire is a natural, normal process in many ecosystems across B.C., but intentional and controlled fire has been excluded from B.C.'s landscape for a long time,香蕉视频直播� said Amanda Graves, communications and engagement specialist at the BC Wildfire Service (BCWS). 香蕉视频直播淢any First Nations have used fire to steward land in their traditional territories since time immemorial.香蕉视频直播�
The Williams Lake First Nation has been working together with the BC Wildfire Service to bring back Indigenous cultural and prescribed burning to reduce wildfire risks.
The controlled burnings help to reduce the fine fuels such as smaller twigs, branches and shrub layers like juniper, said John Walker, stewardship forester for Williams Lake First Nation.
He adds this helps prevent fire from building enough intensity and rolling further.
One recent collaboration between BC Wildfire and the Williams Lake First Nation started in September 2022 at Flat Rock, a plot of land along the Fraser River near Williams Lake.
香蕉视频直播淚t香蕉视频直播檚 not only an important area for wildfire defense, but it also holds an incredible amount of cultural significance to the Williams Lake First Nation,香蕉视频直播� said Graves.
Two years before the project began, the Cariboo Fire Centre and the Williams Lake Community Forest worked with the Williams Lake First Nation to make sure everything was done right.
Elders had a chance to share stories and knowledge about the land.
The third and final burn for this year took place in April 2024, Graves said, adding there are 88 burn projects planned for 2025.
For Sandy, one barrier to continue practicing cultural and prescribed burning is the government not trusting the community to do the burning on their own. Even though the government works with elders by discussing what went on in the past, and how to incorporate these traditional practices, the burning itself is usually conducted by BCWS staff.
香蕉视频直播淭here's a lot of money being spent on hiring a crew to come in and do those prescribed burns properly,香蕉视频直播� said Sandy.
Sandy said she would like to see First Nations community members being directly involved in the burning process.
香蕉视频直播淚 need the people in wildfire management to know and understand that there probably are a lot of community members out there who would be willing to be trained [and] work towards making our community safer,香蕉视频直播� said Sandy.
It is important to take initiative and train Indigenous members how to protect the land from wildfires rather than paying people to come in and do what community members used to do 香蕉视频直播渇or nothing,香蕉视频直播� she said.
香蕉视频直播淚t would be really good to get it out there that we need to get back to the old ways of protecting ourselves [when] each community member is helping,香蕉视频直播� she said.
The province has said it wants to move forward long term with government-to-government agreements with First Nations around the use of controlled burnings.
An amendment made to B.C.'s wildfire regulations in 2024 provides Indigenous governing bodies with the option to enter into an agreement with the province to conduct prescribed burns themselves, rather than submitting and obtaining official approval for a burn plan.
What's being done
B.C. Wildfire Service teams up with Ktunaxa First Nation to co-host prescribed fire training exchange
The BC Wildfire Service has partnered with Ktunaxa First Nation near Cranbrook in a training program to share knowledge about prescribed burning.
The prescribed fire training exchange (TREX) program focused on training local fire management teams to work together with First Nations more effectively in managing intentional burnings.
The intentional burnings help reduce the buildup of dry wood that can fuel wildfires.
The program was run in September 2024, marking the pilot project as the first TREX program in B.C.
The Ktunaxa TREX program was developed with knowledge of local practitioners, communities and partners, and was guided by local relationships at the fire centre level.
香蕉视频直播淭his was a learning opportunity to provide a wide range of candidates with knowledge of prescribed fire,香蕉视频直播� said Amanda Graves, communications and engagement specialist with the Cultural and Prescribed Fire Team at the BC Wildfire Service.
Topics covered included planning, operations, fire ecology and the use of traditional fire practices, ensuring participants gained skills to manage fires in their own communities.
The model was adopted from the Fire Learning Network project in the Great Plains in the United States in 2008 and aims to solve training gaps that prevent large-scale prescribed burns from happening when necessary.
As of 2023, more than 140 TREX events had been organized across the United States, Canada, Spain and Portugal, providing training and hands-on experience to more than 3,800 people and putting more than 170,000 acres of helpful fire on the ground, Graves said.
This story was written by a student in as part of a partnership between KPU and Black Press Media.
