The City of Delta is planning measures to help reduce the risk of wildfires in Watershed Park.
A contractor this year will undertake treatment due to the park’s size and proximity to residential neighbourhoods.
Part of Delta’s Community Wildfire Protection Plan, the project will involve management of vegetation along pathways and roadways in and adjacent to the popular park.
The city also says it is focusing treatments on areas near the residential fence line to protect houses and on the areas surrounding the fire hall and Pinewood Elementary.
The project will include, among other things, falling a portion of small trees with trunks of a certain diameter while retaining larger live trees, falling “danger” trees and pruning tree branches up to a height of three metres, removing surface fuel while maintaining large woody debris and standing dead trees for wildlife habitat.
The focus is to ensure that in the event of a fire, the intensity is low enough that fire damage is limited.
Trail closures will start the week of Sept. 4, 2023. There may be additional intermittent closures of brief duration, the city advises.
