Woodlands are some of the most important communities in Canada. Rich with diversity, we see them as permanent and unchanging places, filled with wildlife, which we wish to preserve. We began fighting wildfires in a systematic way around the turn of the last century; historic photographs show people building fire lines and shovelling dirt over smoldering spots in our woodlands. In the past 30 years, however, there have been increased discussions about the automatic response of immediately quelling all wildfires—perhaps some wildfires do more good than harm. Afer all, change from storms, fires, and floods is part of the natural cycle of an ecosystem.
Read the following articles about wildfires and ecology:
Evaluate the websites and work with the information to answer the following questions:
Are these reliable information sources?
Do the authors of these articles give supporting evidence for their claims?
Do they give sources for their evidence?
What are the missions of these organizations?
Now go to the Canadian Forest Service webpage (cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/home). On the left-hand side of the page, click on Fire. What is the Forest Service’s position on wildland fire management?
On the right-hand side of the Forest Service: Fire page, click on the link for the Canadian wildland fire information system (CWFIS) and then select the Interactive Map. Check the boxes for Fire Danger and Active Fires on the left-hand side. Now select a summer month in the past year and click Update Map on the upper left-hand side of the page.
About how many active fires are shown?
What locations are more prone to fires?
Are there any fires in areas shown as having “low fire danger”?
Repeat this for the same month in 2 additional years. Is the number and location of fires about the same? Why might there be a difference from year to year?
Based on the information you have found, explain your position:
What should be done when a wildfire occurs?
What, if anything, should be done in an area to prevent or lessen a possible wildlands fire?