21TDRWFD825 - Fox Creek Crown Land Vegetation Management 2020/21

Alberta Agriculture and Forestry in its mandated priorities to protect human life, communities, watersheds and sensitive soils, natural resources and critical infrastructure from the threat of wildfire is required to perform hazardous fuels reduction projects as a means to reduce the risk of wildfire losses, maintain public and firefighter safety and to control cost expenditures.

The Wildfire Management Branch views FireSmart community wildfire protection as a priority and has been developing plans and implementing wildfire mitigation strategies to reduce wildfire exposure to Alberta's values-at-risk.

The Whitecourt Forest Area is planning to complete FireSmart work on Crown land near the community of Fox Creek. The proposed Project area is located at NW-32-62-19-5 and SW-05-63-19-5 (see attached PDF map) and is approximately 20.5 hectares in size.

a) The intent of this Project is to reduce the potential fire behaviour through the reduction of forest fuels. This will be achieved by pruning branches up to two (2) meters, thinning unmerchantable conifer to provide a 2 - 3 meter crown spacing, removal of dead and downed woody debris and by creating trails that would provide safe access for firefighting activities in approximately 16.1 hectares of the area. In addition, there is approximately 4.4 hectares to be cut, piled and burned to create a fuel free area. Debris management will be accomplished through mulching and pile and burn. This work will be completed by hand crews, mulchers and applicable mechanized equipment and will be expected to have a minimal ground disturbance footprint. Each block in the Project area has a prescription to be provided that will be the guiding treatment for each block and includes the following kinds of treatments: thin, prune, mulch, dead and down removal, cut-pile-burn. Field changes can be discussed with the supervising Forest Officer for approval upon a site inspection. Note that the work may require a combination of hand crews (chainsaws, pruning saws, etc.) and suitable mechanized equipment. Treatment areas FXC-01, FXC-02, and FXC-03 are thin, prune, mulch and dead and down removal, and treatment areas FXC-05, FXC-06 and FXC-07 are cut, pile, and burn.