Collaborative approach to ecosystem restoration

Slashing (or thinning) trees is all part of ecosystem restoration.

image credit: Photo submitted

More than a dozen government agencies and organizations are working together to restore ecosystems in the Cariboo-Chilcotin.

Using a combination of selective thinning and controlled burning, the Cariboo Chilcotin Ecosystem Restoration Steering Committee (CCERSC) have been working together since 2008.

Prescribed burning is used by the Wildfire Management Branchs Fire Centre as a way to do some training, says the Fraser Basin Council.

This shared cost strategy makes ecosystem restoration less costly, resulting in more sites being restored.

The CCERSC works to restore habitat in 100 Mile, Williams Lake, Quesnel and surrounding areas.

Wildfire is part of the natural cycle for ecosystems in B.C.s interior and helps the divisions between the ecosystems remain productive.

For example, wildfires ensure that grasslands and open forests forests made up of large trees with open area in between remain a mix of the different plant species for the animals who rely on them.

Without fire maintaining the grasslands, small trees begin to take over and eventually fill in the grass or open forest area, creating a densely-treed forest.

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Collaborative approach to ecosystem restoration