Power Lines in the Forest Protection Area of Alberta

The Three “E”s of Prevention

• EDUCATION

• ENGINEERING

• ENFORCEMENT

ENGINEERING

WILDFIRE STATISTICS

• 39/15/8

• 50/50

Number of Alberta Wildfires 1990 to 2000

36%

3%

61%

Lightning

Human*

Power Line

1998 FIRE SEASON1998 FIRE SEASON

Mitsue FireMitsue Fire

49,670 ha49,670 ha

$$$$$$$$$$

Priority Setting for Values at Risk

• #1 Human life• #2 Communities• #3 Watershed & Soils• #4 Natural Resources• #5 Infrastructure

RISK

• Values at risk• Surrounding Hazard• How lucky do you

feel?• Can you live with the

risk?• Can you live with the

liability?

The Wonderful World of Law

• The world as we knew it has changed

• Liability• Can we survive it?• Can we avoid the

courtroom?

New Issue?

• Power lines identified as an issue in the big fires of 1981

• Wildfire agreements created in 1991

• Mitsue may have been the catalyst to many other issues

What are the issues?

• Planning in isolation between main industries

• Communication and information sharing could be stronger

POLICY

• Spring 2000 Tree-Free Policy implemented

• For all new power line dispositions

• Attention received from Industry stakeholders

One Thing in Common

• Affected everyone doing business in the Forest Protection Area

In Response to the Attention

• Executive steering committee was created in summer of 2000

• Working group created

Working Group Membership• 3 Divisions of Land & Forest

Service• ATCO• TransAlta• Utilicorp• CAPP• Telus• Rural Electrification Assoc.• Alberta Forest Products Assoc..• FMA & Quota holders

FIRST THINGS FIRST

• Make sure everyone is at the table

• Seek to understand then be understood

• Begin with the end in mind

What do we want?• Balanced approach to

dealing with risk

• Sound management practices

• Prevent wildfires

• Provide reliable & cost efficient services to clients

• Minimal bureaucracy

• Minimize “Foot Print” on the landbase

CHALLENGE• Attempt to breakdown a

complex issue to find out what exactly is the problem

• Find simple/straight forward solutions

• How to consistently implement the solutions.

• How to ensure that we do not go back to the “old habits” of the past

KEY PRINCIPLES

• PLANNING– Cooperative

– Communicative

– Information sharing

• WORKING TOGETHER

HOW DO WE DO THIS?

• Ensure that everyone is speaking the same language– Communication– Cooperation– Agreements– Workshops– Consistent Process

THANK YOU