Final Thoughts Passive approach fuelling wildfires By Derek Nighbor W hile Canada’s 2024 wildfire sea -son has been less severe than the devastation we witnessed last year, there are still dozens of fires burning across the country. As we enter the peak of Canadian summer, things could quickly deteriorate. One thing we know for sure is that the frequency and severity of wildfires will only increase. Let’s not kid ourselves; there’s no escaping the fact that Cana-dians — and our governments — need to rethink how we address and mitigate these risks. This rethink requires nothing less than a paradigm shift toward more proactive management of our forests, fo-cused on practical solutions. We can no longer afford to be reactive, stubborn, or dogmatic, hoping the problem will simply go away. And the federal government has an important role to play, particularly in fostering partnerships and coordination between various rights holders and stake -holders across the land base. Last year, Canada endured the most catastrophic fire season in its history, with more than 19 million hectares of forest burned — 25 times more area than Cana -dian foresters sustainably harvest annu-ally. Leaving forests alone with little or no effort to manage aging stands, vege-tation, pests, or other ecological process-es is a recipe for further devastation and will greatly add to Canada’s forest carbon emissions problem. Even some of our national parks, those enduring icons of conservation, are turn-ing into net carbon emitters due to drought and wildfires, according to recent findings from the Parks Canada Carbon Atlas Se -ries. But the impacts of the burn don’t stop there. Wildfires also pose a serious risk to human health and air quality, community safety and critical infrastructure, and the economic viability of our forests. Modelling from the Canadian Climate Institute shows that without further ac-tion, the impacts of hotter temperatures on forestry, including wildfires interacting with pests and other disturbances, will re-sult in $4 billion in export revenue losses and 32,000 fewer jobs by the end of the century. We can’t continue down the path of passive, ineffective policies that leave our forests and forest-dependent commu-nities vulnerable. My colleagues in the forest sector have long felt frustrated — and frankly, puzzled — about how active management is often overlooked as a tool for mitigation. What does proactive management mean? It means hands-on intervention into our forest ecosystems. For example, making deliberate efforts to remove flam -mable materials in high fire risk zones, particularly forests that are older, denser and drying out. These forests are prime for combustion from a lightning strike or a spark from an off-road vehicle. Active management means harvesting timber with the aim of promoting forest regeneration and reducing overcrowding. It means preparing communities with the right tools to mitigate risks. It means reg -ular assessments of forest conditions. It means a greater role for indigenous peoples and more cultural burning on the land base. Critically, active management requires governments to turn to Canadian forestry workers as boots on the frontlines and an integral piece of the fire mitigation puzzle. No sector is better equipped to prevent catastrophic fires or promote forest regen -eration. We have the trained bodies on the ground in northern and rural communities. Make no mistake, we’re already see -ing a paradigm shift globally on the issue. Policymakers are recognizing that active forest management is an important tool. The Canadian Council of Forest Ministers is doing great work in championing wild -land fire management practices. In early June, the group released a fire prevention and mitigation strategy that puts proactive engagement front and centre. Look at Sweden and Finland. By em -bracing forest management as a crucial component of their climate strategies, Nordic countries have demonstrated that more intensive management has resulted in losing less forest to fires and pests, re -sulting in greater carbon mitigation and less overall emissions. In contrast, Canada’s annual timber cut has declined by roughly 25 per cent over the past two decades, and our forests are suffering. Our passive approach is fuelling the very fires that are ravaging our lands. It is time for the federal government to produce a clear roadmap for the way forward that includes collaboration from Indigenous peoples, provincial and mu-nicipal governments, and local rightshold-ers and stakeholders, including forestry workers. • Derek Nighbor is CEO of Forest Prod-ucts Association of Canada (FPAC). This column has been edited down to fit. The full length version can be read at: cana-dianbiomoassmagazine.ca. It was first published in The Financial Post and was re-published with permission from FPAC. SUMMER 2024 30 Canadian BIOMASS
Canadian Biomass Summer 2024: Page 30
