Fuel management pile burning started in the South Green Lake area at the beginning of April.
Fuel management crews will be able to access more fuel piles this spring, which were stacked last year, because the snow is melting quickly.
A BC Wildfire Service (BCWS) Wildfire Technician said there was a fuel management contract put out by BC Parks in the Sunset Park and Boyd Bay areas in 2022. The contract was awarded to a First Nations crew, and their work was completed last year.
BCWS is assisting BC Parks with the project for the remainder of the work.
The project started on the north side of Green Lake and at Nolan Creek. Now, only Boyd Bay and the Sunset campgrounds have to be finished, which the technician said are about 50 per cent completed.
It is a two-fold project. Primarily it’s to mitigate standing and accumulated fuel on the ground to reduce wildfire hazards. Secondly, it is to clean up and maintain the park grounds.
BC Parks put the contracts for this project out for bid and allocated a budget for that work.
The technician said no contract with BCWS and BC Parks is needed.
“Instead, it’s an agreement outlining the project requirements and a letter of approval for [BCFS] to conduct the work in a provincial park. Since all work is being completed during regular hours, BC Parks doesn’t need to pay BCWS for this service.”
The work in the campsite will be starting after April, after the crew training is completed, and after the snow has melted so there is access to the rest of the project area.”
However, there are still several piles that have to be disposed of from the work that was completed last year.
“Workers have restrictions on open burning and venting determining what days [BCWS] is allowed to burn. This ensures burning is not completed during high fire hazard or low atmospheric conditions when it may smoke out neighbouring communities. Due to these requirements, sometimes it takes longer than expected to complete pile burning.
“To my current knowledge, no contracts will be awarded to complete the rest of the burning for this year. Most of the work within Boyd Bay and Sunset [campgrounds] will be completed by BCFS’ Stormriders Unit Crew [based out of 100 Mile House].”
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