$1 Million Grant for SIFCo’s Wildfire Protection Plan

SIFCo, the Slocan Integral  Forestry Cooperative based in Winlaw, has received $1 million from the Forest Enhancement Society of BC (FESBC) to continue with its landscape-level Strategic Wildfire Protection Plan.

“This is huge,” says manager Stephan Martineau. “Since 2009, we have steadily gotten  closer to creating a demonstration for the province of how a region can approach, at the landscape scale, climate change adaptation and wildfire preparedness.
With this commitment and support from FESBC, we are making another giant step in that direction.”
To effectively protect rural areas in BC, SIFCo’s plan proposes a landscape-level approach  rather than a piecemeal one. The plan lays out 12 strategic fuel managed zones located across main fire movement corridors identified through computer modeling, amongst  other things.

“The grant will go directly toward the treatment of over 300 hectares of land all located  within our 12 strategic landscape-level fuel breaks. It’s a team effort with FESBC and the ongoing support from the Selkirk Resource District.” said Martineau.