With the Ross Moore Creek wildfire south of Kamloops appearing to be quieting down, residents and local politicians are thinking about the next steps as they move toward rehabilitating their properties.

TNRD Area L Director and Knutsford area rancher Doug Haughton says this is where the work is really going to start.

“What happens now with folks on the private land is we are going to try and get at this as quickly as possible.”

Haughtons comments come as there is a high risk of invasive weeds moving in, due to all the land movement from the fire.

He says the first steps in wildfire rehabilitation efforts will be to get the fire guards cleaned up and backplated.

“Then, I have already been in negotiations to get the salvage logging done and get the helicopter and the grass seed, and get it all re-seeded so we can keep those invasive weeds out and try and get everything back to normal.”

Once the grass is reseeded, Haughton says folks will need re-build fences, which he explains comes at a hefty cost.

“Fences are probably the most expensive part to do…I know it’s very expensive to do a kilometer of fencing now and it is expensive to get a helicopter and with grass seeds too, but that is the best money man can spend.”

Haughton says the goal is to get much of the rehabilitation work before the snow flies.

“We got to get this old wood out by winter and get it re-seeded, maybe the fencing can wait till spring, but we have to salvage as much as that wood as quickly as possible, get the grass seed on the land and let Mother Nature take it through the winter and go from there.”

Haughton stresses “great cooperation” will be needed by the BC Cattleman’s Association, Kamloops MLA’s Peter Milobar and Todd Stone, Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo MP Frank Caputo, and private land owners to recover from the Ross Moore Lake wildfire.