The province announced on Monday (Dec 23) the land impacted by the Torkelsen Wildfire in 2018 has been rehabilitated.
The Ministry added fireguards to help slow the fire’s spread.
During the rehabilitation, the ministry removed woody debris from streams, moving vegetation that was cleared from fireguard areas, sowing grass seed to help prevent soil erosion and managing water flows on the landscape.
Jim D’Andrea, Wildfire Suppression Resource Manager said one of the ministry’s main concerns was the fish habitat.
“We just ensured that all of the fire suppression activities that occurred in there restored the fish habitat back to its natural condition,” he said
The Torkelsen Wildfire was sparked by lightning and began 25 kilometers south of Fort Babine in August 2018 and eventually burned 2.524 hectares.
The ministry has a two-year window to complete the rehabilitation project for a wildfire according to D’Andrea.
He said the time frame for the Torkelsen Wildfire was perfect.
“We succeeded in rehabilitation on this fire within a one- year time frame there were 14 wildfires out of the 2018 fire season that we have to rehabilitate ranging from the south side of Burns Lake all the way to Cassiar up in Telegraph Creek to date we have 10 of those 14 wildfires rehabilitated,” D’Andrea said.
The fireguards crossed 96 streams, mostly on the east side of the Torkelsen wildfire site.