How Indigenous-Led Efforts are Restoring Wildfire-Impacted Forests – Macleans.ca

April 14, 2025

As wildfires in B.C. intensify, several Secwépemc communities are using traditional practices and Indigenous knowledge to reduce future fire risk.

In recent years, B.C. has experienced some of the most destructive wildfire seasons in its history. Warming temperatures, drier conditions, invasive species such as pine beetles and a past ban on Indigenous fire stewardship practices, such as prescribed burns, which has only recently been loosened, have meant forests are less resistant to fires than they once were.

So how do we recover from wildfires and reduce threats in the future? One way is to bring back a more balanced and resilient forest ecosystem for people and wildlife through Indigenous-led restoration, which is exactly what the Secwepemcúl’ecw Restoration and Stewardship Society (SRSS) is doing. This collaboration by several Secwépemc communities was formed after the 2017 wildfires that blazed through 192,725 hectares of traditional Indigenous territory.

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