A string of wildfires in the Sea to Sky region has the federal
government clamouring to protect First Nations communities hit by the pine
beetle.
Chuck Strahl, the minister of Indian and Northern Affairs and
MP for the Pemberton Valley, announced last week that the federal government
was adding $10.8 million to the Mountain Pine Beetle Program, which supports
efforts to reduce the risks of wildfire in First Nations communities.
The announcement came on Aug. 20, just days after
lightning-sparked fires ignited forests on Mount Moe, Mount Currie and
Whistler’s Nordic subdivision on Aug. 17 and 18.
Strahl said in a statement that the funding is meant to help
First Nations councils apply FireSmart principles help protect reserves against
fire damage. The money comes in addition to $5.1 million that the federal
government has put towards communities impacted by the mountain pine beetle
since 2004, according to a statement.
The money could come in handy for the Mount Currie band of the
Lil’wat Nation, which has lately expressed concern about dead trees near the
Xit’olacw townsite, the location of the Xit’olacw Community School and the
Mount Currie Health Centre.
The townsite also houses nearly half of Mount Currie’s reserve
population, according to Greg Bikadi, president of the Lil’wat Business
Corporation.
“When we look up above Xit’olacw in particular there’s some
mountain pine beetle bug kill up there,” he said.
Bikadi added that the threat of wildfire to Mount Currie is
“negligible,” but he admitted that it’s certainly there now that the pine
beetle has eaten away at trees surrounding the reserve.
“If you actually look at the mountains immediately, say to the
east of the reserves in particular, there is still some bug kill going on out
there,” he said. “A good part of the mature pine has been hit.”
Bikadi added that concern has mounted in the Lil’wat community
after the wildfires on Aug. 17 and 18.
“There’s always the consideration,” he said. “It's one of those
things, it's a natural disaster, hard to predict, as is the big earthquake
that's supposed to hit us. We need to mitigate risk as best we can.”
For its part, Mount Currie started a FireSmart program some
years back that involved clearing underbrush in areas that could be vulnerable
to wildfire, according to Bikadi.
“It wasn't necessarily a full FireSmart program but it was more
based on reducing that risk of wildfire within the community,” he said. “We
started in the core and then worked our way out to the perimeter, in particular
in that new townsite up in Xit'olacw.”
The N’Quatqua First Nation near the township of D’Arcy has also
expressed concern about the effects of the mountain pine beetle.
A 2006 report by the N’Quatqua projects that 90 per cent of
pine trees near the head of Anderson Lake could be in the red stage of
infection by 2011 — this, despite reporting that only one per cent were
infected in 2006.
Rebecca Barley, a councillor with the N’Quatqua First Nation,
said in an e-mail that the community has participated in FireSmart strategies
and addressed fuel management on its lands, but said more work needs to be done
around the community.
“One look to the mountains and the red beetle kill trees let
you know that this is a real issue in our area,” she wrote.
The mountain pine beetle kills a tree by laying eggs under the
bark. Larvae then feed on the inner bark of the tree and cut off its supply of
water and nutrients, according to Natural Resources Canada. Pine trees can then
turn red or grey, depending on the stage of infection.
Pine beetles also release a fungus that kills living cells in
the bark and sapwood, which works together with the larvae to kill most of the
trees.
The process can turn the trees into forest fuels, according to
Bill Wilson, a researcher with the Victoria office of the Canadian Forest
Service.
“Clearly the fuel loads will increase as the pine trees die
from the beetle attack,” he said. “The science to date indicates that for the
period when the trees have an abundance of red needles on them, the fire threat
just from that condition versus, say, green trees, increases.”
Wilson added, however, that once needles fall off the trees, a
free-standing tree killed by the pine beetle can be just as much of a fire
threat as a green tree.
“Red needles on the tree are more vulnerable to fire than live green needles,” he said. “What happens is the red needles on the tree are more vulnerable to fire than live green needles, but once those needles are gone, the fire threat is basically equivalent to a live forest.”
