Building forest fire resilient landscapes in Canada
Wildfire Resilient Landscapes Network project kicks off its first firefighter training sessions
Over the past few years, intense forest fires have become all too common during the hot and dry summers in the Whitefeather Forest. Many in the community had to evacuate in both 2019 and 2021 under pressure from smoke and oncoming forest fires. Pikangikum people, however, have a long history of Indigenous fire stewardship, working as Crew Bosses in their own language and integrating their knowledge of cultural burning into fire and fuel management on the landscape.
The community is once again taking matters into their own hands. They are making strides to care for their own forest by training crews consisting primarily of youth from the nation. With financial support from NRCAN and a strategic partnership with Outland-Dexterra and their partners The Whitefeather Forest Initiative is training 144 Type 2 forest firefighters from Pikangikum First Nation that can be deployed to work in Pikangikum’s ancestral lands and beyond. The goal of this project is to provide training and employment opportunities for Pikangikum youth in natural resources, to build forest fire resilient landscapes, and to reduce Canada’s historical dependence on international firefighters given that Canada imported hundreds of individuals to fight fires in 2023
Read more on the Whitefeather Forest Initiative website: https://www.whitefeatherforest.ca/fired-up-kicking-off-the-first-firefighter-training-sessions/
The Whitefeather Forest Initiative is a member of the Wildfire Resilient Landscapes Network, a joint initiative between the Circular Bioeconomy Alliance and the Commonwealth Secretariat which aims to connect and share unique indigenous and community knowledge and experience in wildfire management with scientific knowledge and tools.
Image courtesy of the Whitefeather Forest Initiative
