Vancouver park board passes motion to update fire management plan for Stanley Park

As Canada faces its worst wildfire season on record, Vancouver's park board is calling for updates to the 14-year-old forest management plan for its largest park.

The Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation passed a motion Monday to update theStanley Park Forest Management Plan.

"Back when the plan was created we didn't have summer droughtsas long as we have them now," said Park Board Commissioner Tom Digby, who proposed the motion two weeks ago.

"The park is not immune to the wildfires ravaging Canada."

Digby says updating theplan is long overdue in the midst of climate change.

He says long dry spells have elevated the risk of wildfire at Stanley Park, a rainforest in Vancouver's downtown that covers an area of 400 hectares.

The motion directs staff to develop an updated risk mitigation plan to include the removal ofdead trees, and to engage with host First Nations to incorporate Indigenous perspectives on managing wildfire.

Park's dead trees could fuel fires

One of the main concerns highlighted in the motion is the ongoing looper moth infestation that has killed about 20 per cent of the park's trees.

"We have a lot of dead trees in Stanley Park. So they provide a huge amount of fuel for wildfire," saidJohn Vaillant, author of the best-selling book,Fire Weatherabout the 2016 Fort McMurray wildfire.

Vaillantsays he has grown increasingly concerned aboutStanley Park and its surplus buildup of low ground fuel or deadwood.

He saysif a strong gust of wind were to carry a burning ember and drop down on a dead tree, it can burn and spread rapidly enough to burn the entire city down.

Digby saysIndigenous prescribed fire burning will help reduce dead fuel, lowering future wildfire severity and intensity. Prescribed fires are primarily done to get rid of built-up fuelsuch as needles, grasses, twigs, fallen branches and downed trees.

The 2009 mitigation plan didnot directly incorporate Indigenous perspectives on wildfire risk in Stanley Park.

"[Indigenous prescribed burning] isa brilliant idea," Vaillant said."It should be front and centre in the updated plan."

Vaillant says urban residents might not necessarily like prescribed burns because of the smoke it generates, "but the price you pay for a few days of smoke, is a safe forest for the rest of summer."

The Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nation DevelopmentCorporation refused to comment on their involvement with the soon-to-be updated Stanley Park ForestManagement Plan.

"We work closely with the Park Board and will have more to share when have something to say on the issue," an MST spokesperson wrote in an email to CBC News.

Hydrating wetlands to create 'fire breaks'

Digby also wants to hydrate the park aquifers.

The idea, he says, was brought to his attention by Paul George, one of the co-founders of the Wilderness Committee and the B.C. Green Party.

"We should be filling up ponds with water during winter and fall when there's enough rain so that we have these watery areas all around the park to slow down fire," said George.

Ongoing efforts to address fire risks

The park board has directed staff to prepare an assessment report onthe looper moth infestation and fire risk by September this year.

The report will help inform a budget for the implementation of theupdatedStanley Park Forest Management Plan by next summer.

In the meatine, to address immediate risks, the park board says it has increased the number of rangersenforcing a prohibition on camping within the park.

They say they are alsoregularly removingflammable materials, and workingclosely with the Vancouver Fire Rescue Services (VFRS) to closely monitorfire risks.

In an email to CBCNews, Fire Chief Karen Fry saidwildfire risks are always a concern for the city and that everyone shouldpractice fire safety inside the park: no open flames, no fires and no smoking.

"VFRS has recently taken delivery of three replacement wildland vehicles, of which one will be located within the response areas to Stanley Park," she wrote, addingother equipment is also available for firefighters if needed.