Every year it seems like the forests are a little drier, the rivers a little lower. Drought and wildfire have become the rule rather than the exception and that is bad news for wildlife, for fish, and for British Columbians who rely on healthy watersheds.
It’s hard to imagine doing a worse job for our environment than we have demonstrated over the past couple of decades. We drained wetlands, straightened streams, logged forests, built highways, and ripped millions of beavers from the landscape.
The result is dry forests, destructive fire seasons, and choking smoke that hangs over much of the province every summer. Dry riverbeds are unable to support salmon populations, or any wildlife for that matter. A dewatered landscape is a towering forest of matchsticks waiting to burn. Alternatively, healthy watersheds support abundant fisheries, healthy wildlife, green, resilient forests, and ensure that there is fresh water in our taps.
So, how do we get from here to there? Fortunately, some of the answers are simple, natural, and inexpensive.
The B.C. Wildlife Federation is actively supporting solutions that refresh and rejuvenate our forests and keep water on the land through the summer. Cultural and prescribed burns were employed by First Nations for thousands of years as a forest management tool long before Smokey the Bear was conjured up. We are working with First Nations and the provincial government to mitigate fire risk, reduce the intensity of wildfires, and restore our forests and wildlife.
Grasslands were historically renewed through low-intensity fires, which prevent tree encroachment, rejuvenate the understory, and maintain open grasslands and mature forests.
Under a fire suppression regime, fallen branches and ingrowth increase fuel loads, encroach on grasslands, and increase sage infestation. Increased fuel loads lead to more intense wildfires that are difficult to control, burn hotter, harm wildlife, destroy healthy forests, and burn people’s homes to the ground.
Indigenous people had managed the area through cultural burning practices for thousands of years to maintain productive forests and grasslands for the benefit of wildlife and other food sources. Prescribed and cultural burning helps restore native grassland and shrub-steppe ecosystems providing improved forage for large mammals.
BCWF also employs crews to install wooden structures that mimic beaver dams, adding complexity to fish habitats, holding water on the land, and slowing runoff.
Beaver dams are a marvel of nature, creating natural wetlands that are home to myriad species in addition to the furry families that build them.
Dams improve habitat for salmon and water sources for large mammals such as moose. Holding water back through the rainy season regulates water temperatures for fish and creates green zones that are resistant to wildfires during the summer.
A recent study of beaver dams across Western Canada and the United States found that beaver dams improve water quality and reduce the spread of wildfires. Beaver ponds create fire refugia, patches of land that can remain untouched even when the forests around them burn. Areas without beaver dams lose three times as much vegetation during wildfires as areas with plentiful beaver dams.
BCWF’s 10,000 Wetlands Project has recently installed more than 100 beaver dam analogues and dozens of post-assisted log structures using locally sourced materials such as stones, wood, mud and vegetation. It’s a low-tech, inexpensive, and highly adaptable strategy that restores natural balance to our watersheds.
When a beaver constructs a dam across a stream, it creates a sizeable pond. From this pond, the beaver carves out an intricate network of channels, which it uses to navigate and transport materials. As the water spreads out, it transforms the landscape into thriving wetlands.
Beavers don’t always choose convenient locations for their construction projects, so our wetland team chooses locations that won’t lead to flooding or damage to built infrastructure such as roads.
Mitigating wildfire risk, improving water quality, and restoring wildlife habitat doesn’t require massive public works. There are natural solutions at hand if we choose to support them.
Watershed security funding is trickling out. We will need a torrent to future-proof our rivers, lakes, and forests.
B.C.’s $100-million Watershed Security Fund is operated as an endowment to ensure long-term sustainable funding. But that means that as the endowment grows slowly, grants are trickled out at just a few million dollars a year in amounts that are shared between many applicants. According to the BC Watershed Security Coalition, a $1-billion fund, supported by provincial, federal, private and philanthropic investments would provide $75 to $100 million annually, required to make real progress on healing our watersheds.
Jesse Zeman is the executive director of the BC Wildlife Federation.
