Manning Park Fuel Mitigation

This project involved 17.4 hectares of mechanical and manual treatment behind the Manning Park Visitors Centre and staff residences within Manning Provincial Park. The treatment was completed by Cabin Operations Ltd. in collaboration with Sarkris Contracting Ltd.

The primary objective was to fire smart and treat a linear fuel break around critical resort infrastructure to create a defensible and safer control line for suppression efforts. Along with a defensible space, the objective was to also reduce potential fire behaviour within the stand during a fire event. This was done by mechanical thinning and manual thinning of overstory and understory stems, along with pruning and debris management (piling burning). The mechanical treatment was completed using a harvester and forwarder, which limited any disturbance within the park.

Habitat conservation was a carefully considered due to the abundance of wildlife and the unique habitat that occurs in the park and throughout the Cascades. And the project also targeted bark beetle infestations, which considerably contributes to the overall wildfire risk of the park.

Finally, this project was also defined by protecting key critical infrastructure within the park, such as the Manning Park Visitors Centre, telecommunications towers, powerlines, and staff buildings.