Salt Spring fire lessons became Clearwater’s prevention learning.
“We hope our work will be a case study to help other communities facing similar issues.”
That was how Grace Fields described one objective of the forest management research being done in the Mount Maxwell watershed on Salt Spring Island.
Fields is the project coordinator and experimental lead for Transition Salt Spring’s Climate Adaptation Research Lab (CARL). She spoke during a presentation at Clearwater Library on Friday evening (April 5). Close to a dozen local residents, several of them with backgrounds in the forest industry, attended.
Fields said the Mount Maxwell watershed provides water to over half of the island’s residents, but the water is not of good quality, and most of the watershed is at high risk of wildfire ignition.
The research lab she works for is trying several strategies to reduce wildfire risk.
One strategy they are trying is variable density thinning, which involves applying various thinning intensities within a stand. The technique results in a stand miming an old-growth forest with a wider variety of species and tree ages. It also allows for better growth and should reduce wildfire risk.
They have conducted two trials in the watershed so far and are monitoring soil moisture, tree growth, and canopy closure.
Other strategies being tried include piling logs, wood chips and other debris together to mimic a nurse log or hugelkultur raised bed.
The main cause of poor water quality in the watershed is sediment, mostly caused by road runoff.
To control the problem, they are removing unnecessary ditches and culverts, replacing conifers with deciduous trees where appropriate, and slowing the flow in waterways through small dams and rocks.
They are looking at reintroducing beaver to the area, but first they need to provide enough deciduous trees for them to eat.
Biochar can help the soil
Brian Smallshaw, a biochar expert from Salt Spring Island, also spoke during the presentation at Clearwater Library.
Although some might question the definition, Smallshaw said biochar is essentially just charcoal.
He said the Indigenous people in the Amazon Basin used to create it, apparently as a byproduct of making charcoal in pits. A certain amount was always left behind, and when covered with soil, any crops planted on top did exceptionally well.
European explorers called the soil mixed with biochar “terra preta,” or black earth.
The biochar or charcoal itself soaks up water plus bonds nutrients that can be released gradually to benefit the plants.
Smallshaw makes small open kilns that allow people to make their own biochar in their backyards. The following day, he demonstrated one of them during the Seedy Saturday event at Dutch Lake Community Centre.
