As the sole evacuation route for the community of Mackenzie—and with a critical telecommunications line in its right-of-way— Highway 39 was identified as a high priority, first in the 2017 Community Wildfire Protection Plan and again in the 2022 Community Wildfire Resiliency Plan for wildfire risk reduction. In 2018, work began on a wildfire mitigation project along the highway corridor, supported by a $1 million investment from FESBC and $350,000 from the McLeod Lake Mackenzie Community Forest (MLMCF), co-owned by the McLeod Lake Indian Band and the District of Mackenzie. Initial efforts focused on developing fuel management prescriptions and implementing limited treatments in high-risk areas along the corridor.
Four years later, the MLMCF launched a new phase of mitigation work to address remaining high-risk zones. For three years, crews conducted mechanical and manual thinning and pruning, fibre recovery of pulp logs and grinding hog fuel, as well as burning of debris along Highway 39. In total, 91.6 hectares were treated, reducing the risk of a compromised evacuation of the communities in the event of a wildfire.
“Wildfire risk reduction is critical to our communities, and community forests are uniquely positioned, in most instances, to help deliver this work. FESBC is a very important and positive force to this end,” said Dan Boulianne, Registered Professional Forester (RPF) and General Manager, McLeod Lake Mackenzie Community Forest. “Simply put, we would only have achieved a fraction of this progress without their support. FESBC and PricewaterhouseCoopers staff provided excellent support and guidance, helping our community forest and the District of Mackenzie succeed in deploying this funding effectively and achieving our wildfire risk reduction goals.”
Much of the work involved fuel reduction treatments in mature forests with conventional harvesting equipment such as skidders and bunchers. The MLMCF was intent on recovering as much fibre as possible for use in local biomass facilities, with some remaining unrecoverable debris burned on-site.
With treatments completed on most of the high-risk mature forest fuel hazards along the highway, the MLMCF has been shifting its focus to younger plantations, conducting early treatments to influence stand structure and prevent similar fuel loading and wildfire susceptibility in the future.
In keeping with this focus, the project included thinning a younger plantation using a specialized machine known as the Malwa Combi, which combines a harvester and forwarder in one. The MLMCF partnered with A.M. Anderson Ventures, the Malwa’s owner, and Spectrum Resource Group to trial the machine and assess the best combination of mechanical and manual treatments to meet prescription goals. The results proved the Malwa Combi to be an effective tool in this application, as thinning, processing, log recovery and debris piling were completed with minimal site impact, complemented with manual thinning and debris burning.
Ultimately, the MLMCF aims to assess the effectiveness of specialized equipment to achieve thinning objectives and, where feasible, establish cost and productivity benchmarks for future wildfire mitigation efforts.
To read more about other Indigenous-led projects throughout British Columbia, read the full Special Report released by FESBC, in collaboration with the BC First Nations Forestry Council.