Banff Firebreak
Watercolour and crayon
©2021 Charlene Brown
One of the unforeseen results of many decades of successful forest fire prevention in North America has been thousands of square miles of overmature, tightly packed, highly combustible conifers, particularly in National Parks – a perfect storm of wildfire hazards as climate change worsens conditions around the world. .
Beginning about a hundred years ago, firebreaks such as the one in this painting were cut to protect inhabited areas. This firebreak is now pretty well filled in, and can no longer be easily seen, and a multi-year plan to improve and expand it was launched last year.
The original break was a clear-cut on the north face of Sulphur Mountain, with no replacement of trees. I understand the new one will extend over a much larger area on the west slope of the mountain, with some thinned clusters of trees left in place, and additional deciduous plantings, so that’s the way I’ve painted it. Deciduous trees provide shade for groundcover as well as acting as fuel breaks because they ignite much less readily than conifers.
