Due to improving weather conditions and fire suppression, Recreation Sites and Trails BC — in consultation with the BC Wildfire Service — will re-open select recreation sites and recreation trails within the Cariboo Fire Centre at 12 noon on Aug. 25, 2017.

Effective at noon on Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2017, campfires will once again be allowed in some areas of the Northwest Fire Centre: the Skeena Stikine Forest District (the Cassiar Fire Zone and Bulkley Fire Zone) and the Coast Mountain Forest District (the Skeena Fire Zone).

For reasons of public safety, the BC Wildfire Service is implementing additional road closures around the White River Complex wildfire, which is burning about 47 kilometres northeast of Canal Flats in the Southeast Fire Centre.

BC Timber Sales (BCTS) forestry operations in the Snowden Forest, north of John Hart Lake, are planned to restart in spring 2018, with operational phases continuing through 2019.

A cold front bringing strong and variable winds, with gusts up to 60 km/h, is expected to move through the Cariboo Fire Centre on Friday, Aug. 18 and into the weekend. There is also a risk of lightning throughout the fire centre.

With streams and rivers in the Middle Fraser, Similkameen, Coldwater, Nicola and Kettle watersheds experiencing very low flows, and weather conditions expected to remain dry, residents of the Cariboo and Thompson-Okanagan regions are urged to reduce their water consumption.

An independent, respected national water and governance expert has been commissioned to support the review of the pollution in the Hullcar Aquifer, recently announced by Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy George Heyman.

Due to recent rainfall and cooler temperatures — and in consultation with the BC Wildfire Service — BC Parks reopened portions of Mount Assiniboine Provincial Park for public use on Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2017.

The BC Wildfire Service is reminding members of the public that they must stay clear of firefighting aircraft that are collecting water from lakes and other bodies of water.

Effective Nov. 30, 2017, the British Columbia government will end grizzly bear trophy hunting throughout the province and stop all hunting of grizzlies in the Great Bear Rainforest, Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development Minister Doug Donaldson announced today.