Old growth forests and their role in fire protection and illegal dumping in the backwoods were just some of the issues discussed when the Peachland Watershed Protection Alliance rallied last week.
The group gathered along Highway 97 in Peachland during the day to turn attention to the issues facing area forests and kept the attention on the matter throughout the night.
At a town hall meeting, Taryn Skalbania, a founding member, spoke about the current wildfire situation and showed its connections to current forestry practices.
She told the group that, “A diversified forest with aspen, birch, and alders among the evergreens would help slow down wildfires and make them more manageable.”
Interface fires are on the minds of Okanagan residents, and the group as well as local politicians addressed the issue during the day’s events.
“One of the resolutions that we passed was to ask the provincial government for increased funding for fire prevention. It is a matter of time (that) we’ll have a fire here. We need to be prepared,” Peachland Coun. Randey Brophy said.
In addition to wildfire and diversity of stands, the group took time to discuss the pollution facing local forests.
Sheila Kerr works with the Okanagan Forest Task Force (OKTF) and said in May, a Watershed Cleanup amounted to 13,000 pounds of garbage being removed.
Kerr described the current project of removing garbage from a spot in the woods at the top of Peachland’s Sanderson Road, where they have removed 14,600 pounds of garbage, and are not yet finished.
“OKTF does this all through the Okanagan, and that spot is the worst we have ever seen,” she said.
“A big pile of wood remains, and the District of Peachland is going to help by chipping it up and removing it. We can’t leave that amount of flammable debris in place.”
She said people go up there and dump their yard waste.
“Besides it being illegal, it helps spread invasive species,” she said.