The Bow Valley between the communities of Banff and Canmore as viewed from Cascade Mountain in 1888 and 200x (Mountain Legacy Project).
The aging and increasingly fire-prone forests in the Bow Valley are an existential threat to local communities, visitors, and infrastructure. Simply stated, this is a “wicked problem’’ with many dimensions.
The governments of Canada and Alberta and communities of Banff, Canmore, Exshaw and Lake Louise have recognized the risk for over a century. Parks, provincial, and town managers have aggressively suppressed wildfires, incorporated FireSmart community standards, built fuel breaks, and lit prescribed burns. Extensive work has occurred around the highest risk areas near Banff and Canmore— a “roof to region” perspective has clearly been taken.
However, as forests age and the magnitude of the fire risk increases, this is not enough. Funding is limited, and organizational gaps exist between levels of government. The crisis is broadly recognized. Bow Valley agencies have established a team of experts (Bow Valley Interagency Wildfire Committee) to coordinate wildfire mitigation efforts across the region and maintain training and planning in preparation for emergency response in the Bow Valley. However, it is not clear how it is governed, how it makes decisions, how it will be funded or whether it will exist in the coming years.
In the future, an evolving “roof to region” approach will require that the vegetation around high risk residential and commercial infrastructure be intensively managed, likely by local community-based fire departments and foresters. This work must meet protection and conservation guidelines set by the national and provincial park agencies with broader regional and national fire management responsibilities. The community approach will provide the essential local-scale approach to monitor, prioritize, and implement wildfire risk reduction work. The Town of Canmore’s Community Fire Guards project in the adjacent provinicial parks is a first step in this necessary direction.
The evolution of this organizational structure will take time, and unfortunately, further events that trigger public and political responses to the escalating fire risk. In the short term, fire protection for the communities immediately requires immediate major increases in funding to maintain a long-term approach to developing and maintaining “firesmart” communities and landscapes. The proposal to establish a “Bow Valley Community Wildfire Protection Society” describes a mechanism to rapidly increase funding and retain income from wood harvested before forest mortality from the predicted mountain pine beetle invasion of the valley occurs.
Click here to download pdf of proposal for Bow Valley Community Wildfire Protection Society