<\/p>\n 100% of the funding would come from\u00a0Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM).<\/a><\/p>\n As SRD Protective Services Coordinator\u00a0Shaun Koopman<\/a>\u00a0points out, this year\u2019s grant differs from previous years in that each electoral area would receive $50,000 in base funding.<\/p>\n A significant portion of this funding will go to updating or developing Community Wildfire Protection Plans.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Union of BC Municipalities considers any plan more than five year\u2019s old to be pretty much null and void,\u201d explained Koopman.<\/p>\n This would apply to all four rural areas in the SRD.<\/p>\n The SRD would also like to develop fuel management prescriptions that set out:<\/p>\n The remaining funds would go to\u00a0FireSmart\u00a0<\/a>assessments around buildings and \u201cremoving natural wood debris from properties who have placed this debris at the end of their driveway.\u201d<\/p>\n Photo above \u2013 Cortes Island forest view by Roy L Hales<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n During the discussion,\u00a0Regional Director Brenda Leigh<\/a>\u00a0(Black Creek \u2013 Buttle Lake) objected to $9,500 proposed for a pamphlet on FireSmarting, largely based on urban Campbell River rather than her area, when the Black Creek Oyster Bay Fire Department has already done this work.<\/p>\n Leigh added that from her experience a more appropriate Area D pamphlet would cost about $2,500 and \u201cWe need to look at resources that are available.\u201d<\/p>\n Koopman responded that the SRD could draw up a pamphlet more specific to Black Creek.<\/p>\n Cortes Island Regional Director Noba Anderson<\/a>\u00a0said that for the most part she would echo a lot of what Leigh said and asked, \u201chas there ever been consideration of prescribed burns?\u201d<\/p>\n Koopman said this could be considered under the grant, but it is something that BC Wildfires has been carrying out more in the Interior.<\/p>\n \u201cThat is something we could consider in the tenure if we get the grant. Asking the consultant for each of these specific landscapes, what would be more appropriate: fuel removal or a prescribed burn in the area.\u201d<\/p>\n Regional Director Gerald Whalley<\/a>\u00a0(Sayward to Kyuquot\/Nootka) said that aside from the SRD properties mentioned, the grant was not applicable to Area A.<\/p>\n Regional Director Jim Abram<\/a>\u00a0( Discovery Islands and Mainland Inlets) pointed out that Koopman can still tweak the application, they should approve the concept.<\/p>\n He added, \u201cThis is 100% money folks.\u201d<\/p>\n Nootka Sound by Tim Gage via Flickr (CC BY SA, 2.0 License)<\/p><\/div><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n Director Anderson moved, \u201cthat the Committee recommend that an application to the 2021 Community Resiliency Investment grant program be submitted for FireSmart activities in the electoral areas, and that Regional District commit to overall grant management if the application is successful.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll second it, begrudgingly,\u201d said Whalley.<\/p>\n The motion carried<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is a really sweet package for Cortes, I am glad that the committee supported it,\u201d said Anderson.<\/p>\n Quadra Island\u00a0by Andrea_44 via Flickr (CC BY SA, 2.0 License)<\/p><\/div> Rusted old truck in Sayward\u00a0by Tim Gage via Flickr (CC BY SA, 2.0 License)<\/p><\/div><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n This matter will go before the SRD Board at their\u00a0October 7th meeting<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Union of BC Municipalities\u00a0deadline for applications<\/a>\u00a0is October 9, 2020.<\/p>\n By Roy L Hales The Strathcona Regional District (SRD) may be on its way to acquiring a $244,000 grant to reduce wildfire risk in rural areas. Close to $76,000 of this could go to a variety of projects on\u00a0Cortes Island, more than $52,000 to\u00a0Quadra\u00a0and\u00a0Read Islands and more than $50,000 each to Electoral Area\u2019s A and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":10461,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[222],"tags":[1390,1318],"radio":[252],"origine":[280,266,231],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10465"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10465"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10465\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10465"},{"taxonomy":"radio","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/radio?post=10465"},{"taxonomy":"origine","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/origine?post=10465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Planning to reduce wildfire risks<\/h2>\n
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![\"wildfire](\"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/IMG_0581.jpg\")
<\/a>Discussion<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cortescurrents.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/15018184809_89492cca14_c.jpg\")
The Vote<\/h2>\n
Cortes Island (Area B) Benefits<\/h2>\n
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![\"wildfire](\"https:\/\/cortescurrents.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/19975323336_0af0074875_c-800x600.jpg\")
Other Discovery Island (Area C) Benefits<\/h2>\n
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Benefits for Area A<\/h2>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cortescurrents.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/6387810209_e3cfb62503_c.jpg\")
Benefits for Area D<\/h2>\n
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Going Forward<\/h2>\n
Associated articles on Cortes Currents<\/h2>\n
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Existing SRD Community Wildfire Protection Plans<\/h4>\n
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