Trepanier Wildfire Rehabilitation

In 2011 a wildfire burned a large portion Trepanier Creek, west of Peachland. The area is home to a popular hiking trail known as the Trepanier Greenway, much of which falls within Westbank First Nation’s Community Forest. The goal of this project was to rehabilitate the burned area, making it safe for tree planters and recreationists by removing danger snags, and to then restock the area denuded by the wildfire with a mixture of Douglas-fir and ponderosa pine. Trees were replanted at a lower interface density to eventually restore a forest on the burned area as natural regeneration on the burned area has been sparse. Planting the area will also facilitate earlier carbon sequestering than if left for natural regeneration. Tree planting will also result in improved winter range for mule deer.