What is Fuel Management?

Fuel Management is the process of modifying forest and range fuels (trees, low branches, needles, and woody debris) to achieve specific land management objectives. For the Ministry of Forests and Range Protection Program, the primary objective is to manage forest fuels in and around communities in order to reduce the potential for devastating wildfires.

Over many decades fuels have accumulated in forested areas of the province. Fire is a natural process in the environment. When fire does not occur in areas over long periods of time, either naturally or because of fire suppression, forest fuels accumulate. This results in a possible decline in the health of the forests while the potential risk of wildfire may grow. As we have become increasingly successful at suppressing forest fires to protect our timber resources and communities, there are some cases where we have been inadvertently altering the forest landscape. Also, as fuels accumulate, fire behaviour increases making it more difficult to suppress wildfires.

By reducing fuels in areas where the forest meets community development (referred to as Wildland Urban Interface), fires will pose less threat to residents and will be safer for fire fighting crews. It has taken a number of decades to create the current fuel management challenges that we now face and they will not be solved quickly. Though there are no guarantees when fighting fire, fuel management initiatives will help reduce the possibility of devastating wildfire losses such as those experienced in the summer of 2003.