Historical fire regimes and how they relate to the current forest/fuel structure and wildfire threat in north-central and northwest BC
Project Reference Number: 2020-01b
Project Status: Active
Led by: Dr. Kira Hoffman (BVRC Research Associate and Post Doctoral Fellow)
Funder: BC Wildfire Service, BC Parks, National Geographic
The natural range of fire regime variability are being examined through the construction of long-term datasets that describe past conditions influencing fire activity. Historical (i.e. tree rings and fire scars) and contemporary fire data from the mapped perimeters of historical fires, and from remote sensing is being used to characterize fire regimes across forest types.
A review of literature has been done. Fires of interest have been identified and available data compiled. Initial field reconnaissance and sampling have been done. We have analysed data from a 300-year-old Douglas-fir and 20- year-old pine chronology. A number of historical survey images have been re-photographed. We are developing partnerships with First Nations and putting together sampling plan for next summer working with these partners.
