Project background:
The Wildland Foundations project aims to understand the impact of fire on wildlife, habitat, and forest structure; cultural sites; and Indigenous use of traditional lands. Over the next three years, Biodiversity Pathways and the Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute will work alongside four Indigenous communities in western Canada to co-develop data collection programs and describe Indigenous fire mitigation practices in four demonstration sites.
Demonstration sites
Demonstration sites are an initiative funded by Natural Resources Canada: place-based partnerships to test and showcase innovative adaptive vegetation management and forestry practices in an operational context.
Our four demonstration sites are in one of two stages of readiness with respect to extreme fire risk mitigation: three have been at least partially affected by extreme wildfire, while one has not yet been affected but is at high risk due to a century of fire exclusion.
As climates continue to warm, the intensity, size, and frequency of extreme fires impacting forests and communities across Canada will increase. Extreme fires have catastrophic and lasting socioeconomic and environmental impacts to Indigenous communities and their lands, affecting livelihoods, food security, and cultural and spiritual practices.
At three demonstration sites, we will bring together western science and Indigenous knowledge on fire impacts on the landscape. We will gather information to describe the impacts of fire on wildlife and plant presence and abundance, habitats and forest structure, and Indigenous cultural practices.
Our goal is to establish foundational knowledge to support the implementation and measurement of future restoration practices. Though similar information will be collected at each demonstration site to enable broader knowledge sharing between locations, community priorities will guide data collection objectives and design.
At a fourth demonstration site in southeastern British Columbia, we will support research and adaptive management practices to restore culturally important habitat and reduce the risk of high-severity wildfire in areas where past traditional burn practices have been excluded for a century. Management practices targeted as part of the research include prescribed burning, forest thinning, and selective retention harvesting. This work ties into multiple other Indigenous-led restoration and monitoring projects occurring in the area.
Take a tour of the demonstration sites:
Foxholes
Foxholes
The Foxholes demonstration site is located west of Fort Smith in the Northwest Territories. The Foxholes area is a favoured area for harvesting and cultural activities by community members. It is located near the Slave River, a significant part of the Mackenzie River system and a historic transportation route connecting the Lake Athabasca region with the Arctic Ocean. Found in the southernmost section of the Taiga Plans, the Foxholes area features mixed wood and jack pine forests as well as large bogs and fens over discontinuous permafrost.
A large portion of the Foxholes Demonstration site was burned in the Wood Buffalo Complex wildfire. Sparked by a lightning storm, this fire burned a total of 929,521 hectares in four months during the summer of 2023 and residents were evacuated for 37 days.
Demonstration site partner: Fort Smith Métis Council
The Fort Smith Métis are descended from Cree, Chipewyan and Slavey People who resided, used, or occupied the region around Fort Smith prior to 1921. There are over 1,400 Métis who possess this ancestral connection to the lands and waters in and around Fort Smith and collectively they are the largest community of Métis in Northwest Territories. The FSMC is currently engaged in the negotiation of the first ever Métis Land Claim and Self Government Agreement in Canada.
The FSMC Environment, Lands and Resources Department manages a broad environmental and community-based monitoring program. This program links Indigenous Knowledge, modern science, and emerging technologies together with a strong culture of collaboration with external partners. Through involvement in the Wildland Foundations project, the FSMC seeks to:
- Bring Indigenous knowledge and western scientific knowledge together to better understand forest fires
- Provide opportunities for FSMC members to be involved in scientific research being conducted on their traditional territory
- Prepare the Métis and the broader Fort Smith community for future wildfire events
Project activities to date include the deployment of wildlife cameras and autonomous recording units in the Foxholes area, and a community event exploring fire and its effects on community livelihoods and well-being.
Photo Gallery
Photos provided by H. Ayme and S. Toni
Horse River
Horse River
The Horse River Demonstration Site is located in the boreal forest of northeastern Alberta. In 2016, the Horse River wildfire burned approximately 1.5 million acres over two months, forcing the evacuation of Fort McMurray. As Canada’s costliest natural disaster, this fire dramatically reshaped the landscape, creating an important opportunity to learn how the land, wildlife, and cultural connections recover after extreme wildfire events.
Demonstration site partner: Lakeland Métis Nation
The Lakeland Métis Nation (LMN) actively exercises Section 35 rights in northeastern Alberta, working to protect their cultural heritage and strengthen the well-being of their members. Deeply connected to the land, LMN brings important knowledge and experience that helps shape a more complete understanding of the impacts of wildfire on both the environment and Indigenous ways of life.
Through the Wildland Foundations project, LMN is working alongside researchers to study the long-term impacts of extreme wildfires on biodiversity and traditional land use. This collaboration blends scientific approaches with Indigenous knowledge to support meaningful recovery, strengthen community resilience, and create a clearer path forward for living with wildfire in Alberta’s boreal forest.
Photo Gallery
Field work photos provided by H. Ayme
Foothills
Foothills
The Foothills Demonstration Site is located near Edson, Alberta, in the Lower Foothills Natural Subregion. The majority of the demonstration site burned in a large wildfire (over 250,000 hectares) in late spring of 2023. The rolling landscape of the Lower Foothills acts as a transition between the Upper Foothills and other natural regions. The site is bisected by the Pembina River and includes local lakes such as Minnow and Wolf Lakes.
Demonstration site partner: Foothills Ojibway First Nation
Foothills Ojibway First Nation (FOFN) ties their hereditary leadership and governance to the Two Row Wampum and the Treaty of Niagara (1764). The families that affiliate with FOFN have hidden away to protect the traditional governance and education structures by refusing to adhere to Treaty 6 or settle on a reserve. Past generations were able to protect their children from residential schools and continue the practices that are tied to the land and the ongoing care and protection of the land and our people into the future through our ongoing cultural practices. FOFN is currently based in Hinton, Alberta, where our families have settled more permanently since the mid-1900s after periods of ongoing movement in the Foothills and Rocky Mountains of Alberta after coming to the sacred sites in the mountains following the signing of the Treaty of Niagara in 1764.
FOFN is growing their research capacity through partnerships with Biodiversity Pathways and other science-based organizations working to build the networks of relationships that will allow for the ongoing care for our lands and the restoration and healing of lands and communities. This work will be done through bridging our traditional knowledge and practices with science and technology to build a more just and sustainable future.
FOFN will be working on expanding community engagement and land-based activities to define mutual research priorities including the selection of study site locations and ethical protocols that allow for the exploration of biocultural indicators in wildfire prevention and restoration. This project will allow for expansion of FOFN work to monitor biocultural sites across our territory to include factors that influence wildland fire dynamics.
Photo Gallery
Photos provided by K. Dokis-Jansen
Galton
Galton
The Galton Demonstration Site has not yet been impacted by a high-severity wildfire, though the effects of a century of fire exclusion are apparent and affecting wildlife, forest health, and wildfire risk. The Galtons are a mountain range in the southern Rocky Mountains on the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountain Trench. The lower elevations are home to grasslands and Ponderosa pine/Douglas fir forests, while denser forests of subalpine fir are found higher up the slopes. Due to fire suppression, open range and open forest landscapes are seeing forest encroachment which reduce quality forage for ungulates, increase predation risk with reduced sightlines, and increase the risk of high-severity wildfire with increased fuel loads.
Demonstration site partner: Yaq̓it ʔa·knuqⱡi‘it (Tobacco Plains) First Nation
The Galton Demonstration Site is part of a broader network of research and cooperation in the region. Across the Galtons, Wigwam River, and Flathead basin, Yaq̓it ʔa·knuqⱡi’it First Nation is working closely with Biodiversity Pathways, the Government of BC, and Fernie Rod and Gun Club to better understand the effects of different habitat restoration methods on wildfire risk and wildlife habitat.
Yaq̓it ʔa·knuqⱡi‘it First Nation are at an advanced state of wildfire risk planning and supporting wildlife habitat and are implementing management actions. The objective of the Galton Demonstration Site is to research the effect that various management actions (prescribed burns, manual forest thinning, and selective retention harvest) have on wildlife, wildlife habitat, and wildfire risk. As part of this, the project seeks to better understand and overcome landscape and process barriers that are preventing the implementation of culturally relevant prescribed burning on traditional lands. The prescribed burning and the development of an area Ecosystem Management Plan is simultaneously designed to reduce extreme fire risk while improving habitat in a manner consistent with traditional community practice. Lessons learned from the Galton Demonstration site will support government, Indigenous communities, and other organizations by clearly outlining the process and authorizations necessary to engage in culturally relevant prescribed burn practices and other management actions on crown lands, and provide knowledge about burn applications that enhance habitat conditions post-burn.
Photo Gallery
Photo credit: Mike Graeme
With financial support from
Wildfire Resilient Futures Initiative
Under the Wildfire Resilient Futures Initiative (WRFI), Natural Resources Canada will implement programs and activities up to $285 million over 5 years, starting in 2023-24. WRFI invests in new programs and activities to reduce wildland fire risk in our communities and landscapes and is delivered through 3 interrelated activities. WRFI is an initiative within the Government of Canada Adaptation Action Plan, in support of the National Adaptation Strategy, launched on June 27, 2023.
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