Fire Management for Prince Albert National Park – Planned and Random Ignition Prescribed Burns

Author(s)
Jeff Weir
Resource Date:
1999
Page Length
11

A modified fire management strategy has been developed for Prince Albert National Park as the historic full suppression strategy is no longer consistent with the Park’s mandate to protect for all time the ecological integrity of an area representative of the Southern Boreal Plains and Plateaux natural region. In order to maintain the ecological integrity of this region, ecological processes such as wildfire must be managed with minimal interference. The intent of the full suppression strategy was to minimize the area burned and consequently to exclude this process from the region. A recent study of the Park’s fire frequency has documented a significant change to less frequent fire disturbance since 1945 which has been attributed, in part, to fire suppression actions. Consequently, a modified fire management strategy has been developed that is intended to restore the ecological role of fire in Prince Albert National Park.