The BC Ministry of Forests will be conducting an operational fuel management treatment involving a thin-from-below approach will start this fall in several treatment units, amounting to 22.5 hectares, adjacent to the Cranberry Lake residential area between September 2024 to March 2025.

Please see the attached notice for more information and the map of the location of treatment units.

Removing excess fuel is expected to reduce overall wildfire occurrence, severity, and spread as well as allow better access for crews responding to any potential wildfires in this area.

A shaded fuel break will be developed as part of this treatment to reduce the risk of wildfire and improve forest resilience. The fuel break will provide an area that will reduce flame lengths and the rate of spread of wildfires approaching the community and surrounding properties. During the development of this fuel break, some dense small stemmed trees will be removed to reduce the overall fuel load in the forest, while retaining enough canopy to shade the ground and prevent future understorey overgrowth.

Crews will remove danger trees, heavy undergrowth, and prune lower branches of remaining trees up to 2 meters. If merchantable timber is produced during this process, it will be decked and sold to offset the costs of this treatment. In areas where high levels of remaining material is anticipated to occur, it will be chipped and removed off site. Remaining material in other areas will be placed in piles no larger than 2 meters tall and 3 meters wide, in locations that will not damage the remaining stand. These piles will be burnt in accordance with the Ministry of Environment’s Open Burning Smoke Control Regulation, if conditions permit, this fall, winter, and/or spring.

Smoke will be visible in the Cranberry Lake residential area when pile burning does occur.

This treatment is expected to mitigate the risk of wildfire to the Cranberry Lake community and provide a safer evacuation route for the public if necessary.

For more information about this project contact:
Pierre Aubin, RPF, Land and Resource Coordinator (WRR)
at the Sunshine Coast District office located at 7077 Duncan Street, Powell River BC
Email: Forests.SunshineCoastDistrictOffice@gov.bc.ca; or Telephone: 604-485-0700