Centre for Wildfire Coexistence

Led by co-directors, Dr. Mathieu Bourbonnais (UBC Okanagan) and Dr. Lori Daniels (UBC Vancouver), the Centre will support innovative approaches and novel discoveries co-created in collaboration with other research experts, Indigenous Knowledge Keepers, government agencies, private land owners and forest, fire and land management professionals.

Given our new climate reality, holistic and transformative changes to fire and forest management are urgently needed to achieve ecosystem and community resilience, and learn to coexist with wildfire.

The Centre aims to realize meaningful outcomes in the following areas:

FAST FACT: Landscape-level planning is the development of science-based land management plans for extensive areas within a region. The CWC will contribute to transformative changes across landscapes to increase forest heterogeneity and restore disrupted ecosystems by integrating Indigenous Knowledge with western science to improve resiliency to climate change.

“The wildfires I see now aren’t the same wildfires I saw 10 to 15 years ago. They’re a different beast.” – Dr. Mathieu Bourbonnais, The Future of Wildfire

Wildfire affects the health and wellbeing of both human and wildlife populations.

When fires approach communities, they force evacuations and can lead to property loss or, more devastatingly, the loss of life. For example, two people lost their lives in a 2021 catastrophic wildfire that destroyed 90% of the Village of Lytton, BC.

Areas scorched by flames also displace wildlife, pushing some species closer to extinction. When inhaled, the fine particulate matter present in smoke can have negative health effects on individuals, particularly those with respiratory or cardiovascular disease.

A 2021 study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that up to 50 per cent of air pollution particulate matter 2.5 microns or smaller found in some western regions of the United States is caused by wildfire — levels that have been ramping up over the past decade.

However, some fire is essential for the maintenance of healthy forests.

While the megafires seen within the past decade are unprecedented in their scale and intensity, fire still plays an important role in forest health and renewal. It removes dry, woody debris from the forest floor that can fuel more intense blazes. It also clears the way for renewed plant growth, supporting forest rejuvenation and overall health.

Reconstructions from tree rings reveal that low-severity fires once maintained diverse, resilient forests across much of BC’s interior region. These fires were ignited by both lightning and Indigenous fire stewardship.

“Many of our tree species are adapted to diverse weather- and climate-related disturbances, such as fire, wind and insect outbreaks. But historical and evolutionary boundaries are being pushed.”
– Dr. Lori Daniels