Beginning the journey of fire and ice

At the Boone Pickens football stadium with Sam in April 2009 on my recruitment trip to Oklahoma State University Questions, questions all around. Answers, answers, yet to be found! If you're checking out this website, you know me well enough about what some would call my inquisitive nature! My thirst for expanding the scientific world around the intimate relationship I have with the North Country has crossed my path with Dr. Sam Fuhlendorf (http://nrem.okstate.edu/faculty/Fuhlendorf.html). A bison society meeting, an email and 2 good Ministry of Environment friends along with some stars being in line and a phone call have come together resulting with me pursuing my Masters degree at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
Stephen Pyne, Me, Sam Fuhlendorf - Friends of Fire, April 2009.

In just one of many ironic twists of fate, Conrad Thiessen (Wildlife Biologist - Ministry of Environment) invited me to collar 5 Wood Bison (Bison bison athabascae) cows in February of 2009. With the usual suspects as part of the team (Rob Woods - Wildlife Biologist and Ranger Al Hansen - Parks Area Supervisor both also with MOE) we headed up north to the Liard River and enjoyed playing outside at -30C with Dr. Helen Schwantje, the Provincial Wildlife Veterenarian, and the Nordquist Wood Bison herd. Conrad politely suggested that I may want to study this herd for my Masters ... 1 month later, Sam was in Fort Nelson as our main speaker at the "What's HOT and what's NOT: Fire and Weeds in NEBC" conference. The deal was made at Boston Pizza and Sam and I shook on it. Dr. Marten Geertsema, Regional Geomorphologist for the Ministry of Forests and Range, joined my grad committee the following night and it was decided that one integral part of our research together on pyric herbivory in north east BC will include the Nordquist Wood Bison herd.

Conrad's new invention on the GPS collars so that oncoming traffic will have a better view of the bison along the Alaska Highway. Rob had just tranquillized the cow behind me and Ranger Al was guarding our backs against the bulls that were hanging around. This is also the new way that my office will be able to keep track of me when I'm in the bush. It should save some frustrations!
A good crew was assembled to help work with the bison including Pamela Moon and Floyd from the Kaska in Lower Post who are monitoring the bison in a joint study with Ministry of Environment and the Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation.

The Liard River, the Alaska Highway and mosaics across the landscape of Fire084
As irony would have it's way again, we had planned to burn an area west of the Liard River hotsprings but decided to wait to ground truth it for burn boundaries until summer 2009 as we were unfamiliar with that country. At the end of the prescribed burn season, just like Gator (Allan Silver, Protection Officer for the Fort Nelson Protection Zone) called it, we saw a lot of fire in the north east boreal forest. The week after we were done prescribed burning, mother nature implemented her own burn prescription on the Smith River Fire 84, known from here on as Liard Fire 84.
Marten on the fireguard on the east end of Fire84 - checking slope stability. I attempted to follow straight up with him but took to the forest to climb instead.
With Marten in Liard Fire84 and bison sign - pyric herbivory already in action and the smoke hasn't even settled.
If that ain't pyric herbivory, I don't know what is eh?
Fire in the Northern Boreal forest of Canada. Marten and I after a few days of field work on the Liard.

With the support of the Wildfire Management Branch, I was integrated into the working knowledge of this fire. Fire Behaviour Analysts, Incident Commanders, Protection Officers and the great guys from the Prince George Fire Centre (Brent Bye and Stan Harvey) spent time with me talking about Fire 84. Fire crews sent in pictures of the fire and bison activity. The Wildfire Management Branch provided support in viewing the fire and bison activity and 3 crews lent their brains and muscles to build our range exclosures. This 23,000ha plus fire has now turned into an integral part of our research area.



She was still smoking in August when Sam came back up north.
Brent Bye, Allan "Gator" Silver, Alex Patterson and Chris Stanley - the best guys to work fire with.

Too often, fire has a negative connotation. On our rangelands in North East British Columbia, there appears to be a number of controversial opinions around the use of fire. As foresters, agrologists, guide outfitters and First Nations, we know that fire is integral to the boreal forest. So why should we ever consider taking it out of a fire dependent system? Is fire really the enemy that some make it out to be or in reality, is fire really the only way to manage the rangelands and forests of Canada's great north country? How and why could we place a blame on fire for the significant difference in structure between the inside and outside of this range reference area?

It's only just the beginning of this story about my journey of fire and ice.
Marten, me and Sam - a great team
Chris Schippmann, Liard River Adventures, a good friend and an outstanding research assistant.