As part of its ongoing commitment to reduce wildfire threats, the B.C. government is providing more than $53,000 in community resiliency investment grants to support projects on the Sunshine Coast.

“The community resiliency investment funding will help Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities increase their resiliency to wildfire threats,” said Doug Donaldson, Minister of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development. “The program is designed to support projects at the local level to help keep British Columbians safe.”

This funding is part of more than $6 million in community resiliency investment grants that have been provided to 85 municipalities, regional districts and First Nations throughout the province, following the program’s first application intake.

The community resiliency investment program was established in September 2018 with $50 million to assist local governments and First Nations lower wildfire risks around their communities. As part of Budget 2019, the B.C. government has provided an additional $10 million.

Recipients of community resiliency investment grants in the Sunshine Coast area include:

• qathet Regional District: $45,000 to assist with education, planning, inter-agency co-operation, emergency planning and cross-training initiatives, and FireSmart activities on private land;
• Town of Gibsons: $8,295 to assist with FireSmart-related planning.

“These grants support FireSmart activities right in our own communities and will help protect residents from wildfire threats,” said Nicholas Simons, MLA for Powell River-Sunshine Coast.

Mitigating wildfire threats is a shared responsibility of the provincial government, local governments, First Nations, industry, stakeholders and individual British Columbians. The community resiliency investment program takes a holistic approach to risk reduction and fuel management treatments by considering fire prevention activities on provincial Crown land, private land, local government land and reserve land.

A key component of the program is that it lets communities apply for funding to cover up to 100% of a wildfire risk reduction project. Eligible applicants facing a lower wildfire risk can apply for up to $25,000, while applicants with facing a demonstrated higher wildfire risk can apply for up to $100,000.

The Union of B.C. Municipalities administers the community resiliency investment program and processes grant applications. The deadline for the next application intake is Oct. 18, 2019.

Learn More:

Community resiliency investment program: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/safety/wildfire-status/prevention/crip

FireSmart and the seven FireSmart disciplines: www.firesmartbc.ca

More information about the application process is available on the Union of B.C. Municipalities website: https://www.ubcm.ca/EN/main/funding/lgps/community-resiliency-investment.html