As humans we can be slow learners, and slow to change, but it makes my heart so happy to see the progress finally taking place to restore fire on the land in our area.
This work will not only help make our community safer, but our forest ecosystems healthier.
Burning over the weekend appeared to be taken in stride by residents. The community and its leaders now recognize how critical this work is after many years of hard lessons and public education.
In 2003, as homes around Kelowna burned, I was an initial attack firefighter for the province and I remember conversations in fire fighting circles about how the fire started in an area slated for prescribed burning to reduce fuel loading, but public concerns about impacts to air quality meant the political pressure not to burn left those fuels in place.
In 2010, as an initial attack crew leader, I remember the feeling in the pit of my stomach listening to a briefing about the potential for evacuating homes as a large forest fire threatened to cross the Fraser River near the Rudy Johnson bridge. It felt terrifying and frustrating both in equal measure.
How had we let things get this bad and why weren't we putting into practice the things we knew would make a difference? Fire experts and forest ecologists were calling for us to address the unhealthy balance in our forests caused by years of removing fire from the landscape. The Interior Douglas fir forests in the Cariboo Chilcotin are particularly adapted to fire.
By 2017, I was no longer a firefighter and wasn't living in Williams Lake, but I still felt frustration knowing in the seven years since 2010, we seemed no further ahead. This time, the evacuation happened, and the town had to face the very real threat fires pose in an unbalanced ecosystem.
Fast forward to now, and it is heartening to see the real progress being made, out on the trails, there are so many visible improvements to reduce fuel loading, following the recommendations of researchers based on science and experience.
Working to restore ecosystems in ways which allow us to live more in concert with our environment than in opposition will ensure we can continue to enjoy the benefits of having nature at our doorstep.
Leaders are finally listening to the advice of experts and believing the research in regards to Fire Smart and ecosystem restoration, so my question is, why not when it comes to the ecology of the lake?
The scientists and research shows the lake harvester is a band aid option which could even contribute to stimulating vegetation growth.
The only thing which will actually lead to a reduction in algal and vegetation growth in Williams Lake would be to address the input of nutrients, which includes from vast lawns and the removal of riparian vegetation.
The small areas of the swimming beach and boat launches named as safety concerns could be addressed through manual removal at a much more reasonable cost to the taxpayer.
But given our very human slow learning process, it makes one wonder if an ecological collapse of our lake is what it will take for leaders and staff to really listen.
Algal growth will not be stopped by removing the vegetation from the water, neither will warming temperatures impacting fish caused by the removal of riparian shade throughout the watershed.
The removal of plant growth using a large, expensive machine will not address the loss of oxygen in the deep layers of the lake as all of the organic materials break down. This oxygen depletion can kill fish.
Sigh. Will it take over 20 years for our community to begin to address the real issues, which are the human impacts on our watershed and nutrient input in the lake, or will we learn a little sooner this time? For the sake of the turtles, fish and our lake, I hope we're smarter than in 2003.
