The BC Wildfire Service will be supporting Shackan Indian Band in conducting a prescribed burn covering up to 75 hectares, about 35 kilometres west of Merritt.
Fire Information Officer Nicole Bonnett says smoke may be visible to surrounding communities, and to motorists travelling along Highway 8. “Important to kind of let people know in advance that this type of project is happening, just because obviously there’s been a lot of fire activity in the recent seasons within the Kamloops Fire Center. And so when people see smoke in the air and they’re not sure where it’s coming from, it can be a little bit concerning for people.”
The exact timing of this burn will depend on weather and site conditions, but it could begin as early as Monday, Mar 3, 2025. Burning will proceed if conditions are suitable and allow for smoke dispersal during burn operations, though smoke may also linger in the following days.
“We do these projects to try to limit fuel sources, right, to make sure that you know that the potential of a significant wildfire is limited. So every prescribed burn project, or cultural burn project, depending on the type of burn that it is, will have different objectives for the shack. In project, there’s a number of different goals for the burn. So they’re the returning the natural necessary process of fire to the land base. They’ll be preparing the site for traditional food plants to re establish before grass and other vegetation can regrow. It’ll improve ungulate winter grazing, and then it removes forest fuels to reduce that longer term risk of wildfire. And it’s also going to provide a cross training opportunity for the BC wildfire service and the Indian Band.”
“There’s a whole lot of planning that goes into it, and the length of time that it takes to do that planning is also determined by the complexity of the project. So the values that are either within the burn area or adjacent to the burn area where the burn area is, how large it is, type of burn you’re looking for. There’s a whole host of variables, which means it’s quite different project to project.”
Key goals of this prescribed burn include:
- returning a natural and necessary process to the land base
- preparing the site to allow traditional food plants to re-establish before grass re-growth
- improving ungulate winter grazing
- removing forest fuels to reduce the long-term risk of wildfire provides cross training opportunity with Shackan Indian band community
“If anybody is interested in this particular project, or in any of the cultural and prescribed fire projects happening within the countless Fire Center that BC wildfire service is participating in, we do send out information bulletins about them, and we will they’ll be posted on the BC wildfire service blog.”
“The weather is kind of starting to be nicer outside, it’s a good time to start thinking about what Spring Yard work people might want to do on their own properties ahead of fire season. And there’s no time like the present to kind of start planning your your garden layout and looking at those fire smart, fire resistant plants. So fire firesmartbc.ca has a lot of good resources and garden and information on there is people are kind of looking at what they might like to plant in their yards for this coming season.”
The BC Wildfire Service YouTube is a resource to learn more about prescribed and cultural fire:
