K2 Outreach in the communities of Clearwater and Barriere, BC – April 21 and 22, 2010
During the week of April 19, 2010, three members of the K2 Research Team spent time in Clearwater and Barriere, BC to share the initial findings of the project, and to hear observations about climate change from residents.
We thank everyone for their participation and contributions in this collaborative effort!
On April 21, a public presentation and discussion was held with over 40 participants of all ages and affiliations. We compared key findings from the initial project (K1) with local observations on the ground (For a review of the initial project, please visit the Backgrounder page of this website)
The following day, members of the K2 team met with nearly 60 people in seven discussion sessions. Participants included:
- BC Ministry of Forests and Range
- BC Timber Sales
- Clearwater Community Forest
- Woodlot licensees
- Junior Council of high school students
- Tourism Wells Gray
- Official Community Plan Steering Committee and District Council
- Clearwater Ski Hill Society and Wells Gray Outdoors Club
- Barriere folks (including the Mayor and a Councilor).
(Jump to presentations and background information below)
Findings
It was confirmed that a number of the project findings for forests do in fact reflect what people in Clearwater are seeing, namely:
- At lower elevations, on drier areas, cedar is dying out, whether it is planted, naturally regenerated and mature
- On south facing slopes around Vavenby, Douglas fir is failing, as did in the Dustbowl era
- On the dry plateau areas, 2/3 of lodgepole pine older than 30 years has been attacked by mountain pine beetle; practices have shifted to mixed species planting of spruce lodgepole pine, Douglas fir, and western larch to avoid widespread impacts in the future
- In the wet, higher elevation areas, bark beetle and budworm are attacking balsam more
Click here for a listing of local observations of changing conditions.
Suggested K2 project priorities
At the forestry sessions participants were asked to identify priorities for the K2 project to examine. These included:
- Mid-term volume supply impacts
- Future harvesting locations
- Regeneration
- How to anticipate disturbance risks
- Interface fuel management options
- Stand tending treatments, density and heavy snow impacts
- Management beyond free growing status
- Strategic planning
Working Groups are being developed to refine the project priorities. For more information about these Working Groups, including becoming a member, please click here.
Community impacts and adaptation actions
Discussions with community groups in Clearwater and a small group in Barriere highlighted that community’s knowledge of possible impacts from climate change is growing, and people are quick to think about potential actions. In Clearwater, groups will be considering how to include climate change in the tourism sector, for example the impacts of less snow at lower elevations, and the Official Community Plan will examine flood and wildfire risks. The K2 project team is available to support community adaptation.
We will return to the community late in 2011 to share findings from the K2 project and check again whether they reflect the observations of community members.
Information links
Below are links to presentations, handouts and reference information provided during the these sessions (please note that not all of these documents were produced by the K2 Team):
About the project
- K2 Project description and relevance to Clearwater
- K1 Initial project findings
Forest changes
- Summary presentation on the influence of a changing climate on Kamloops forest ecosystems
- Detailed Ecological Narratives and Summaries, from K1
- Developing Questions table - comparison of ecological sensitivity with management sensitivity and recommended management actions for the Kamloops TSA, from K1
Tourism information
Community information
- Introduction presentation: Clearwater Climate Change Adaptation Community Info
Information from other sources suggested during the sessions
- Climate Overview 2007 – Hydroclimatology and Future Climate Impacts in BC
- A Summary of Climate Change Effects on Watershed Hydrology Extension Note
- BC Snow Trend Report
- Integrated Ecological Impact Assessment: Climate Change and BC’s Forest and Range Ecosystems (attached)
- Climate Change and Canada’s Forests
- From Impacts to Adaptation: Canada in a Changing Climate 2007
