Learn more about the Steffens Estates Wildfire Risk Reduction Project in a new webinar from Forest Professionals British Columbia (FPBC).
Steffens Estates is a rural community located in the Nicola Valley, 20 kilometres north of Merritt and within the dry southern Interior ecosystem of BC. This landscape has experienced stand-maintaining wildfires every 10 to 20 years.
However, more than a century of fire suppression has allowed hazardous forest fuels to accumulate, creating conditions for extreme wildfire behaviour and increased risk to homes, infrastructure, and evacuation routes.
In 2022, the Lower Nicola Indian Band Development Corp. secured funding through the Forest Enhancement Society of BC to address these risks. Forsite Consultants Ltd. was engaged to develop a fuel management prescription, which included 70 hectares of commercial selection harvesting to thin the overstory and 184 hectares of understory fuel reduction using hand crews and small equipment.
Treatments focused on pruning, removing ladder fuels, and reducing debris to lower wildfire intensity and improve community safety. To date, more than 100 hectares have been successfully treated, with an additional 100-150 hectares planned over the next two to three years.
Beyond reducing wildfire risk, this project has generated local employment, created revenue for a First Nations-owned company, and demonstrated how wildfire risk reduction can be balanced with the protection of other values, such as wildlife habitat, water resources, and soil health.
Learn outcomes:
- Describe the historical and ecological fire regime of the dry southern interior of BC
- Identify key fuel management strategies applied in community wildfire protection projects
- Evaluate the integration of wildfire risk reduction with other forest values (wildlife, water, soils)
- Apply lessons learned from Steffens Estates to other community-based wildfire mitigation projects
- Recognize opportunities for collaboration with Indigenous organizations and local communities
Date: Wednesday, October 29
Time: 1-2:30 p.m.
Cost: free
Presenters:
- Don Gossoo, RFT
- Adam Sullivan, RPF
Gossoo is the general manager of the Lower Nicola Indian Band Development Corporation (LNIBDC), located in the beautiful Nicola Valley. He is a Registered Forest Technologist. Gossoo began his forestry career 40 years ago and has spent this time throughout BC with consulting firms, government, industry, and as a small business owner for 20 years, operating Gossoo Forest Management out of Merritt, where he has resided for 39 years. Don and his wife Lynn have been married for 33 years and have two adult children, Jennifer and Billy.
Sullivan is a senior planning forester and fuel management team lead within Forsite’s wildfire group, overseeing seven other professionals. Sullivan has 10 years of experience as a consultant in fire and fuel management and operational forestry. Since joining Forsite, Sullivan has primarily focused on wildfire risk management projects, including applying for and managing government funding grants to implement wildfire risk reduction projects around communities, completing fuel management prescription development, operational fuel treatment supervision, landscape-scale wildfire planning, and post-fire rehabilitation. Additionally, Sullivan has developed a strong background in supporting Indigenous organizations, rural communities, and community forests within the forest sector.
Recommended pre-reading:
