Recovery of culturally important forest plant communities after wildfire in interior British Columbia

In collaboration with the Nadleh Whut’en and Stellat’en First Nations and SERNbc, researchers from university of Northern British Columbia will look at the response of vegetation communities to fire disturbance in the Northern interior of BC. We hope to determine if burn severity alters expected recovery rates and richness of vegetation. We hope to accurately document plant stress in three plants of cultural importance, and note if changes in soils affect plant health and ability to regenerate for food and medicinal use. We will provide recommendations for what will be required to move forward with remediation of the burned land, including information on how soils may need to be tended, which plants and stores of seed are most highly impacted, and predict how plant communities in the burned area will recover.

Faculty Supervisor:

Lisa Wood

Student:

Stephanie Wilford

Partner:

Society for Ecosystem Restoration in Northern British Columbia

Discipline:

Other

Sector:

Agriculture

University:

University of Northern British Columbia