British Columbia’s Wildfire Challenge
Canada is a land of forests, mountains, and wild coasts, but also home to more than 80,000 species of plants and animals, from moose to elk and the grizzly bear. Canada’s additional richness lies in hosting over 300 endemic species found nowhere else in the world, with each region having its unique character. Among all its provinces, British Columbia holds a special place, home to as many as 76 endemic species.
However, the sounds of animals, the rustling of leaves in the wind… can fall silent. Fires can stop them.
The consequences of fires are well known: loss of homes, biodiversity, and irreparable damage, as well as smoke spreading across borders, which, according to the study, led to an increased risk of mortality and hospitalization among hemodialysis patients in the eastern and midwestern United States in 2023. This year alone, more than 400,000 hectares have burned in Spain, while the forest fire season across the European Union has recorded a cumulative burned area of more than one million hectares, reportedly the highest value ever recorded in the EU since 2006. In Canada, that number is seven times higher, with more than 7 million hectares burned.
Therefore, it is of great importance to answer the question: when it comes to wildfire management, should we focus on response and recovery or embrace proactive, long-term fire mitigation and prevention?
Wildfire management
In the case study ‘Wildfire management at a crossroads: Mitigation and prevention or response and recovery?,’ published in Science in October 2025, Robert Gray, Robin Gregory, and Calvin Sandborn propose four recommendations. They use British Columbia (BC) in Canada as a case study. As they point out, although they focus on BC, this same question, along with lessons learned and their main recommendations, applies to regional and national governments in dozens of countries.
As noted, the recommendations are: set clear resilience goals based on economic and risk analyses; foster public understanding and support for short-term sacrifices like prescribed burns; implement collaborative, hands-on landscape-scale interventions with scientists, Indigenous leaders, industry, and communities; and leverage public concern and scientific evidence to secure long-term political commitment and funding for preventive wildfire management.
We asked Robin Gregory, Senior Research Scientist at Decision Research and Adjunct Professor at the University of British Columbia, about the biggest challenges facing British Columbia and Canada as a whole. He also shared his thoughts on where the greatest changes or improvements are needed. Professor Gregory is the first author of the book “Structured Decision Making: A Practical Guide to Environmental Management Choices.” The book explains how to use Structured Decision Making for complex choices in environmental management, combining key methods and practical examples.
Robin Gregory on Canada’s Wildfire Challenges
What are the biggest challenges for BC, and for Canada as a whole?
Robin Gregory: Two of the biggest challenges are setting clear targets for the amount of fire that the public is willing to accept and then quickly initiating detailed engineering and environmental/social/cultural analyses. The clear targets are necessary because it is up to the public, and their taxpayer dollars, to decide what level of wildfires they can live with (recognizing that there will be uncertainty associated with any alternatives) – knowing that if additional funds are provided to prevent catastrophic wildfires, then lower levels of funding will be available for other priorities. The multi-dimensional, multi-disciplinary analyses of likely consequences are necessary because a clear understanding needs to be provided so that informed decisions can be made and adhered to over several decades.
In which area are the greatest changes or improvements needed?
Robin Gregory: With reference to the two main challenges noted above, the greatest changes required will be to improve communication and engagement with an informed public, so that transparent and sustainable investment decisions can be made, and to improve the quality and accuracy of analyses, so that information is available with respect to the full range of consequences associated with different levels of wildfire activity – economic, environmental, physical and mental health, social and cultural impacts but also understanding the implications for governance (who makes the decisions? Federal or regional governments? What’s the role of Indigenous populations?) and the anticipated effects on different groups within society.
What can other countries facing wildfires learn from Canada? For example, in Europe, the situation has been quite alarming. Looking ahead to the next 10 years, what will be crucial for BC and Canada?
Robin Gregory: A main lesson concerns the dangers of waiting and procrastinating. Scientists often want to wait until better-quality information is available. Politicians often want to wait until the next election cycle before committing large amounts of money. But while meetings and special committees complete their deliberations and publish their reports, the risks associated with wildfires – due to the effects of climate change in particular – continue to increase, and the goal of significantly reducing the fuel load on a landscape level continues to recede into the far future. Far better, in my opinion, to immediately begin enacting major management changes (focused on mitigation and prevention) and to realize that much will be learned along the way, so managers need to be adaptive and flexible as learning occurs.
The recommendations emphasize the importance of basing decisions on multidisciplinary analyses. In addition, it is important to note that proactive measures, while requiring adaptation and learning over time, allow for the reduction of damage and the long-term preservation of natural resources, lives, and communities. A focus on long-term planning, prevention, public engagement, and the application of experience is essential for preserving and supporting regions and countries facing increasing threats from wildfires.
Image: Catching fire/The Univeristy of British Columbia
