Fire / Fuel Management Planning – Summary
The City of Kelowna Parks Division has been conducting ‘fuel modification’ on cityowned park lands since 1998, which includes thinning, pruning and cleaning of natural
areas to mitigate fire hazard around the wildland/urban interface. However, in the
aftermath of the Okanagan Mountain Park fire, there was a new flurry of interest in this
program from concerned residents. A growing forested city-owned land inventory (160+
properties, encompassing 850 ha) also led the Parks Division to pursue development of
a Fire/Fuel Management Plan in order to help focus limited resources on the areas
where they were needed the most. A collaborative effort between Parks, the City’s
Planning Department as well as the Regional District of the Central Okanagan (RDCO)
enlisted help from a forestry consulting team to develop Fire / Fuel Management Plans.
These innovative plans are now being implemented and will serve as a model for other
B.C. communities.
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Project Description – Fire / Fuel Management Planning:
Background:
In late August of 2003, the Okanagan Mountain Park fire started as a lightning strike in
Okanagan Mountain Provincial Park, just south of the City of Kelowna. The fire quickly
grew under extremely dry and windy conditions, eventually becoming the most
destructive urban/forest interface fire in recent B.C. history destroying 25,000 ha of
forest, historic trestles of the Kettle Valley Railway and 239 homes. This dramatic
illustration of the potentially devastating effects of fire in the southern interior
underscores the need for proactive management and mitigation of wildland/urban fire
hazard.
The City of Kelowna Parks Division has been conducting ‘fuel modification’ on cityowned park lands since 1998, which includes thinning, pruning and cleaning of natural
areas to mitigate fire hazard around the wildland/urban interface. However, in the
aftermath of the Okanagan Mountain Park fire, there was a new flurry of interest in this
program from concerned residents. A growing city-owned land inventory also led the
Parks Division to pursue development of a Fire/Fuel Management Plan in order to help
focus limited resources on the areas where they were needed the most. The City of
Kelowna currently owns more than 160 properties in natural or forested areas,
encompassing about 850 hectares.
Parks approached the City’s Planning Department as well as the Regional District of the
Central Okanagan (RDCO) to see if a collaborative project could be developed.
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Discussions between the three parties led to a Request for Proposal (RFP), issued in
the spring of 2004, seeking a consultant to develop plans with the following components:

Landscape-level overview of fire risk for all wildland fire areas in the city, for
the City’s Planning Department;

Fuel management plans for all City-owned properties for the City’s Parks
Division; and

Fuel management plans for selected Regional District Parks for the RDCO
Parks Department.
The successful proposal was submitted by a team fronted by Diamondhead Consulting
of Vancouver, together with Timberline Forest Inventory Consultants. This group has
extensive experience in conducting forest resource inventories as well as the
development of fire and fuel management plans. The total cost of the project was
approximately $90,000. This was partly covered by a $15,000 grant from UBCM and
the B.C. Ministry of Forests, for development of the overview hazard assessments.
Data analysis and field sampling were performed during the summer of 2004. Recent
aerial photography (1 metre resolution) was used for initial analysis of timber and fuel
types which was followed up with sampling of plots on the ground. The project was
finished by December 2004 with the following results:

A forest inventory of all forested areas in the City of Kelowna including
information on species composition, age and ecosystem types;
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
An overview fire risk map taking into account factors such as fuel types,
topography, suppression capability and values at risk;

Maps of City and RDCO parks, showing their associated priority for fuel
modification;

Written report on the overview risk assessment and methodology; and

Fuel Management Strategies for City and RDCO properties including a ranked list
of properties, guidelines for assessment of newly acquired parks and future
properties and an assessment methodology for staff to use.
The report narrowed the initial 160+ City properties down to 44 priority areas which were
ranked in order of priority. Staff are currently working on fuel modification projects for
these areas. The City’s Planning Department will also be using the overview risk
assessment to update the City’s Official Community Plan and formulate new policies
around development of the urban/wildland interface.
Criteria for the Leadership and Innovation Award:
This project meets the UBCM Community Excellence Leadership and Innovation Award
criteria under the Social (health and safety) and Ecological (ecosystem management)
domains of sustainability. Proactive forest management mitigates fire risk and improves
public and worker (e.g. firefighter) safety by reducing the chance of a catastrophic
wildfire in urban areas. It also has numerous benefits in terms of ecological health and
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sustainability. Because of a past history of suppressing wildfire in British Columbia,
forest health and composition has changed. Forests have encroached into natural
grasslands while stand density and fuel loading have increased, leading to outbreaks of
forest pests (e.g. pine beetle or western spruce budworm) and changes in forest
structure and biodiversity. Historically, frequent fires in this area cleaned out the young
understory trees and left the mature overstory intact. The strategies in the fuel
management plan mimic this natural process, helping to restore these ecosystems
without the danger associated with wildfire.
To our knowledge, this was one of the first major Fire / Fuel Management planning
projects for an entire urban area in British Columbia. The project encompassed not only
an overview assessment of risk, a more common strategy, but went to a finer level of
detail in determining fuel management strategies and work that needed to be done
immediately to mitigate risk on public land.
Another aspect of innovation and leadership was the adaptation of the risk assessment
methodology. The methodology was initially developed by the Ministry of Forests and
Canadian Forest Service in order to assess risk for large forested areas, such as the
McGregor Model Forest in northern British Columbia. An urban area such as Kelowna
has some advantages in terms of access and suppression constraints, as well as unique
challenges created by urban encroachment into natural areas and very high values at
risk, therefore the model needed some modification. Thanks in part to funding from the
UBCM and B.C. Ministry of Forests as a “pilot project”, this information is also available
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to other municipalities and should serve as a model to assist in other parts of the
province.
Other innovative aspects of the project include:

The unique partnership between the City’s Planning and Corporate Services and
Parks and Leisure Services Departments together with the Regional government;

The use of the latest available technology such as high resolution aerial
photography, Geographic Information System (GIS) analysis and fire hazard
modelling software to help formulate management strategies;

Implementation of the fuel management plan has also included a unique
partnership with social and economic benefits. Fuel modification work is being
done through a partnership with Human Resources and Skills Development
Canada (HRSDC) and a local contractor, allowing unemployed workers are able
to gain training and experience. Job placement for these workers at the end of
the program has been excellent and the initiative has helped to stretch limited
municipal budgets.
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Council Resolution:
This will confirm that the following resolution was adopted by Council at the Regular Meeting of Monday,
June 13, 2005:
THAT staff be authorized to submit applications to the Union of British Columbia Municipalities for
awards in the Leadership and Innovation category as follows:

Application by the Urban Forestry Supervisor re the City’s comprehensive Fire/Fuel
Management Plan, one of the first major planning projects for an entire urban area in B.C.,
which provided a forest inventory and risk assessment, and determined detailed short and
long term fuel management strategies for City-owned lands;

Application by the Water and Drainage Manager re the City’s Ultra Violet Light water
treatment system. UV transmitters are being installed at all four lake intakes to enhance the
quality of the City’s drinking water; the UV light inactivates Giardia and Cryptosporidia, waterborne parasites.

Application by the Environment/Solid Waste Manager re the City’s gas recovery project at the
Glenmore Landfill. A microturbine will convert the gas to electricity which will be used to
power landfill operations. In the future, power will be exported offsite and potential revenues
could be realized.
AND THAT staff be authorized to submit an application to the Union of British Columbia
Municipalities for an award in the Partnerships category as follows:

Application by the Urban Forestry Supervisor re the City’s involvement with School District 23
in planning and executing the mass tree planting event on May 5, 2005 which may qualify for
the Guinness Book of World Records.
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