NORTH COWICHAN – New Democrat MLA for Nanaimo-North Cowichan Doug Routley is welcoming $189,780 to assist with wildfire education, planning and cross-training for municipality of North Cowichan, the Stz’unimus First Nation and the Cowichan Tribes.

“This funding will help inform people about the threat of wildfires, and how they can be prevented,” said MLA Routley. “People can now take a pro-active approach to wildfire risk reduction through education and planning.”

The specific breakdown of funding per community is as follows:

• Municipality of North Cowichan: $15,100 to assist with education, FireSmart activities for private land
• Stz’uminus First Nation: $25,000 to assist with planning, cross-training
• Cowichan Tribes: $149,680 to assist with education, planning, development, inter-agency cooperation, emergency planning, cross-training, FireSmart demonstration

North Cowichan, the Stz’unimus First Nation and the Cowichan Tribes are three of almost 90 local governments and First Nations throughout BC benefiting from almost $9 million in new provincial government grants to support wildfire risk reduction projects through the Community Resiliency Investment (CRI) program.

The CRI program helps reduce wildfire risks and impacts in BC communities by providing funding and support to complete FireSmart initiatives and fuel management activities. The program is administered by the Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM).

Since launching the CRI program in September 2018, the BC New Democrat government has invested more than $18.6 million to support 209 projects helping local governments and First Nations mitigate wildfire threats around their communities.

Learn More: https://news.gov.bc.ca/21721