Fires a remedy for 'geriatric Sask. forests, official says

Many areas deemed long overdue for renewal

By James Parker

of The StarPhoenix

It will be little comfort to Finance Minister Eric Clines expense forecasts or cottage owners who have seen their properties go up in smoke, but a senior official with the Environment Department says Saskatchewan forests must burn.

Al Wilicocks, director of the environment 'department forest ecosystems branch, said recently the province has a "geriatric" forest which is overdue to be swept clean by fire.

"We have so much overmature forest right now," said Willcocks, who has overseen a controversial expansion of the provinces forestry industry.

"Look at Nisbet Forest (near Prince Albert). That should have burned 30 years ago. Ive been teffing people its going to burn. It was great we could protect the homes with all the hard work we did. But ecologically, it (the fire) is great news."

Wilicocks was referring to the Crutwell fire, a blaze which scorched more than 9,000 hectares just west of Prince Albert in June. City residents watched with alarm as firefighters struggled to extinguish the menacing flames. The fire is still being mopped up.

The Crutwell fire underscored the extensive damage caused by forest fires this year.

As of Tuesday, a day which saw a low forest fire hazard across Saskatchewan for the first time in months, 857 fires have burned 852,000 hectares of forest in the province, with most of the damage done in areas where the government responds immediately to fires (the full response zone).

That compares to a 10-year average at this date of 530 fires and 346,000 hectares destroyed. Last year at this time, 609 fires had burned 171,000 hectares.

Saskatchewan has a 12-million hectare commercial forest and 35.5-million hectares of forest in total, more than half the province.

From April 1 to July 31, the provincial government spent $78 million fighting fires year, compared to $51 million during all of last year. (During the same three-month period, Alberta spent $207 million fighting fires).

Forest fires have destroyed cottages at Turtle Lake, forced the evacuation of several northern communities and left some rural municipalities on the hook for millions of dollars in costs, most of which has been forgiven by the provincial government.

Willcocks conceded the costs involved in fighting fires are disastrous and the danger they pose to people and property is serious. He suggested the danger could be eased if forestry production was boosted even more.

"When lightning starts and you have high trees, what happens is you have alot of dead material. You have kindling to start the fire. Those fires up at Dore (Lake), you couldnt even find the fire because the smoke was hanging there for 500 acres. We brought in helicopters and we almost crashed one because you couldnt see the fire

Wilicocks said he almost weeps when he travels on the Hanson Lake Road in northeastern Saskatchewan and views forests which were destroyed by fire in 1995.

"Its so beautiful now. Its a young forest. I like young trees. When I cut a forest down, I think about the young trees Im going to create

Mark Johnston, a scientist at the Saskatchewan Research Council, said the boreal forest has evolved over thousands of years with fire as part of its ecology. He said all species of trees are capable of coping with periodic fire and regenerating quickly after a fire.

"If you look at the age-class distribution of the forest in Saskatchewan, you see that the majority of the forest is reaching a point that under the long-term average it would probably have a fire. In that sense, the forest is old. Whether its too old or not depends upon what youre seeking in terms of the value of the forest?

Johnston said Willcocks expresses the "fibre production" view of forests.

"That view is that a younger, rapidly-growing forest is desirable from a fibre production point of view. Thats not necessarily the case from other perspectives. The forest has lots of different values for different people. It depends upon who you are as to whether that old forest is a bad thing."

Wednesday, August 7, 2002