Transitioning from reactive to proactive climate-resilient management strategies, and balancing the potential benefits and risks of wildfires

focus areas and researchers

The Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science is home to several research and education programs designed in anticipation of, and response to, increasingly impactful wildfires. Our research is conducted in close partnership with Indigenous communities, especially in the Okanagan.

Equipped with satellite-connected sensors, 5G network (in partnership with Rogers Communications), and artificial intelligence-assisted cameras, our researchers develop ways to monitor the forest landscape and fire with expansive reach and capacity.

Researchers:

Our “Living with wildfire in the BC Southern Interior” research cluster integrates various disciplines to address wildfire challenges in the Thompson–Okanagan region, one of Canada’s most fire-prone landscapes. We also co-lead UBC’s Centre for Wildfire Coexistence with cutting-edge research on wildfire management. Our researchers study wildfire imagery, fire valuation and management, wildfire nature–cultures, and the pyrodiversity–biodiversity relationship towards proactive adaptation solutions for resilient ecosystems and communities.

Researchers:

  • Mathieu Bourbonnais, Assistant Professor | Earth, Environmental and Geographic Sciences
  • Kevin Hanna, Associate Professor | Earth, Environmental and Geographic Sciences
  • Lael Parrott, Professor | Biology and Earth, Environmental and Geographic Sciences

Our researchers are key members of the new US–Canada’s Global Centre on Climate-Resilient Western Interconnected Grid, which aims to develop grid resilience for one of North America’s two major interconnected power grids in the face of intensifying wildfire and other extreme disturbances. Innovative and robust modelling tools that reflect the new reality of wildfire are also being developed.

Researchers:

  • W. John Braun, Professor | Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics and Statistics
  • Kevin Hanna, Associate Professor | Earth, Environmental and Geographic Sciences
  • John R.J. Thompson, Assistant Professor  | Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics and Statistics

A powerful predictive framework for proactive biodiversity conservation strategies in the face of climate change is being developed with strong focuses on the impacts of wildfire and post-fire salvage logging on forest mammals. Taking advantage of cutting-edge big data analysis tools, our researchers investigate the resilience of wild populations of plants, animals and soil microbiota to changing conditions, including links between behavioural flexibility to conservation efforts. Wildlife restoration and resilient ecosystem engineering programs are also being established based on latest advances in understanding the impact of wildfire and other forest landscape modifications on the whole ecosystems.

Researchers:

Towards mitigating the intensifying impact of wildfire and smoke on crops (including grapevine), our research programs partner with farmers and Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada researchers to develop smoke protection strategies and sustainable agricultural practices by combining climate data analytics, analytical chemistry, genomics, and soil microbiology. The Centre for Environmental Assessment Research and the “Living with wildfire in the BC Southern Interior” research cluster also focus on understanding the new reality and identifying solutions to build resilient communities in anticipation of severe wildfire and other destructive environmental/geographical events.

Researchers:

Wildfire programs

Get involved with climate-change resilience and wildfire research through related UBCO programs.

Earth, Environmental and Geographic Sciences

Fundamentals of Wildland Fire Ecology
and Management

Presented from both Indigenous and western perspectives, this program combines knowledge of western fire science and Indigenous ways of knowing with landscape and fire ecology and social sciences.

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Wildland fire landscape shot with a focus on a tree on fire in the foreground.

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