Over the past several years, Ntityix Resources LP (Ntityix) has been working to reduce wildfire risk in the West Kelowna area.
Ntityix is owned by Westbank First Nation (WFN) and has completed projects treating around 300 hectares around West Kelowna and Peachland.
With funding from the Forest Enhancement Society of BC (FESBC), Ntityix’s work contributes to a long-term mitigation strategy that will help slow and ideally prevent the spread of wildfires in the area.
“Ntityix Resources LP and the Westbank First Nation believe the residents within the communities of West Kelowna and Peachland are supremely grateful for the funding provided by the Forest Enhancement Society of BC to carry out this work in the past and now into the future,” said Jordan Coble, WFN Councillor and Ntityix president.
Ntityix conducted its first cultural prescribed burn east of Kelowna last year with help from the BC Wildfire Service (BCWS). It focused on grasslands and open forests that had not had a fire go through the area in several decades. The burn helped reinvigorate the area and reduce the amount of excess wood and debris.
Ntityix and BCWS are planning a post-harvest controlled burn in the fall.
“This will be a more ‘surgical’ burn versus the broadcast, or more widespread, burning of the past,” said Dave Gill, RPF and general manager of forestry at Ntityix. “This work will reduce surface fuels in areas within five kilometres of the community.”
A FESBC media release noted that last summer’s McDougall Creek wildfire tested the effectiveness of risk reduction work completed by Ntityix in 2015. Approximately 8,000 hectares of the 13,500 hectare wildfire fall within WFN’s Community Forest.
“While it is challenging to precisely measure the impact of these efforts on the fire’s size, it is evident that they played a crucial role in safeguarding residential areas, highlighting the collective responsibility in mitigating wildfire risks,” the release stated.
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