Skip to content

Crater Creek Wildfire Salvage

Community Survey

As you know, the summer of 2023 was devastating in terms of wildfires and their impacts in BC and we in the Similkameen did not avoid being included. The Crater Creek Wildfire burned approximately 47,000 hectares of forest in the Crater Creek/Paul Creek region between July and October of 2023.
Many of our local forestry contractors were involved in fighting the Crater Creek fire, providing heavy equipment and operators, supervisory personnel, and qualified first aid personnel during the actioning of the burn.
Once the fire was declared out by BC Wildfire Services, the decision was made for the USIB, LSIB, and Weyerhaeuser to collaboratively organize and execute the salvage of burnt timber in the area. This decision was made with the health of the land in mind, and the goal of assisting in it’s healing as best we can.
Since that time, most fire salvage works have been completed. These include cultural assessments of the burnt area, Forestry Service Road construction, and fire salvage harvest activities (felling, bunching, skidding, and processing). At this time, there is still timber to be loaded and trucked to Weyerhaeuser’s Princeton sawmill. Due to spring weather creating unfavourable road conditions the decision was made to halt hauling operations until conditions have dried out enough that loaded logging trucks will not be causing undue impacts to the land.
The next step in this process is rehabilitation of the area and the USIB is looking for community input into what this process will entail. To keep community informed, the salvage committee is planning a community site visit to the burn/salvage area; everyone who is interested in providing input is welcome to attend.
Please fill out this quick survey to provide your feedback on the process thus far and help inform the planning of the community fieldtrip to site. We ask that you please submit your survey no later than May 20st 2024 so we are able to integrate community requests into the field day.
1.Name
2.1) Community association (USIB, LSIB)
3.1) Have you been receiving/seeing the monthly Crater Creek Salvage newsletters? Did you find them helpful/informative?
4.1) Are you interested in attending the Community Field Day to the Crater Creek Wildfire burn/salvage area?
5.1) Are you interested in attending the Community Field Day to the Crater Creek Wildfire burn/salvage area? Understanding that this will likely be a full day event (approx. 9am-4pm)
6.1) If you would like to attend the Community Field Day, do you have any dietary requirements?
7.1) Is there anything specific that you are interested in seeing during the Community Field Day? (e.g. newly constructed forest service roads including stream crossings and water management on said roads, timber retention within salvage cut blocks, riparian management, etc.)
8.1) If you are unable to attend the field day, would you be interested in a community meeting during which Weyerhaeuser representatives would give a short presentation and be available to answer question afterwards?
9.1) Do you have any questions regarding the Crater Creek Wildfire activities to-date? Including but not limited to: actions undertaken for suppression efforts during the fire’s active period, the innovative approach of the collaborative committee to expedite fire salvage activities, the planning and execution of strategies employed during fire salvage harvesting, etc.
10.1) What do you think we (USIB NR staff and our forestry industry partners) can be doing as preventative action to reduce wildfire risks in our territory?
11.1) What do you think are top priorities for rehabilitation work within the Crater Creek burn/salvage area? (e.g. removing and rehabilitating roads, rehabilitating fireguards, replanting native plant species in the burn area, limiting motorized access to the best of our abilities, etc.)
12.1) What are your largest concerns regarding the state of the land post-wildfire and timber salvage activities?
13.1) In the event that we are able to replant native plant species in the burn, which species would you like to see being replanted and where?
14.1) With the understanding that we (the USIB and our partners within the forestry industry) are not in a decision-making position regarding the initial suppression of active wildfires, but one of supporting suppression efforts, what do you think that we can be doing to mitigate the effects of wildfires located within our territory? (e.g. developing a Wildfire Committee to clarify the chain of command and streamline communication/action during initial stages of a wildfire within our territory, developing a USIB Fire Mitigation Crew to undertake fuel reduction work and inform initial actioning of future wildfires, create an Initial Contact list of knowledge holders within our community to inform BC Wildfire Service during their primary suppression efforts (e.g. placement of fireguards, high-priority areas for protection, specialized services required such as a structure protection crew, etc.).
15.1) Do you have any other questions, concerns, or comments about the Crater Creek Wildfire and subsequent salvage and recovery work?
Thank you for taking the time to complete this survey, your input and feedback are greatly appreciated. If you have any questions or comments that you were unable to address in this survey, please feel free to reach out to myself, Amy Brewer, at amy.brewer@usib.ca and I will do my best to get you answers.