Forest fires in the past few years have consumed record areas of Canada’s forests. Part of the problem has been the perception that all fires are bad, and that we need to put out every fire as quickly as we can instead of letting lower intensity fires happen. In the vast boreal forests that stretch across northern Canada, forest fires are a natural regime. Forests have always burned, and some even need fire to regenerate.

For a century or more we have tried to snuff out any fire that catches, leading to a buildup of fuel, which makes fires all that much worse when lightning or human negligence provides a spark. The reality is that fire suppression will never eliminate fire from the forest.

“Western Canada is experiencing a definite trend of greater wildfire size, intensity and severity,” says David Elstone, a registered professional forester based in North Vancouver, who has worked in the forest sector for over 30 years. “That’s concerning. It’s causing foresters and non-foresters alike to rethink forest management.”

That rethinking has picked up pace as of late, and the forest sector is leaning into its relationships with Indigenous Peoples and local communities to collaborate on wildfire strategies. These collaborations are crucial. Not only do First Nations have much to teach about managing fire on the landscape; they are also innovating, joining forces with the forest industry in rehabilitation projects for forests that have burned to turn devastation into opportunity.

First Nations have centuries of experience in cultural burning, the practice of lighting smaller, more frequent fires to encourage certain forest types and to reduce the risk of fires that spiral out of control. “There’s a lot of Indigenous knowledge that needs to be incorporated back into managing the land,” says Elstone.

Elstone, managing director of Spar Tree Group, says that we can also work to change perceptions of huge expanses of dead and dying forests across the landscape, laid low by fires. Right now, such forests are problematic as they are potential fuel that could reburn again, further adding to the destruction of the forest and threatening nearby communities. But these dead trees are also an opportunity: this is fibre the industry can harvest, through what foresters call “salvage logging,” to supply mills and other users who need timber. Salvaging, as with other forms of forest activity, needs to be appropriate for the ecological characteristics of the site.

“Remember, our forest industry is not just lumber — it’s a whole spectrum of forest products that use different qualities of logs and different parts of the log,” says Elstone. “We need to make sure we have policies that support the utilization of burnt timber.”