Bow Valley community fire fighters maintaining the Carrot Creek Fuel Break on the southeast boundary of Banff National Park.
The Carrot Creek Fuelbreak was harvested with low-impact mechanical fellers in the years 2000 to 2003. Although the fuel break is in a legislated wilderness zone, its clearing was permitted under the condition that Parks Canada would rapidly link it with aggressive efforts to use wildland fire to restore ecological integrity on adjacent landscapes. The clearing makes routine prescribed burning or occurrence of wildfire possible with minimal risk to Harvey Heights and the Town of Canmore.
Fuelbreaks are key links in a “roof to region” fire management program. Here, we discuss their complexities in focusing on two perspectives: 1) design and construction and 2) maintenance and operations.
