TRU researcher receives funding to study forest fire ecology

KAMLOOPS – An incoming Thompson Rivers University (TRU) faculty member has been granted a Canadian Research Chair in fire ecology.

Dr. Jill Harvey will investigate how wildfires and drought impact forests in the B.C. Interior. She said a warmer and drier climate has made wildfires in B.C. more common.

“Understanding the connections between wildfire, drought and forest responses is crucial to protect natural resources and determine how British Columbia landscapes may change in the future,” Harvey said. “I will examine historical wildfires, cultural legacies of Indigenous burning, and how forests are recovering after recent wildfires. This research will provide important information to understand how forests and grasslands are changing over long periods of time.”

Harvey has also received nearly $75,000 in funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation that will support the development of the Fire and Forest Ecology Centre (FFEC).

The FFEC is designed to advance research on the ecological effects of fire and climate change on montane forests. It will enable the collection and processing of new field-based datasets to support innovative research activities. The laboratory infrastructure at TRU will be crucial in training students and disseminating research results.

The goal of Harvey’s research is to have better informed forest- and fire-management practices to improve the resilience of Canada’s forests. By using tree rings as well as forest and climate datasets, her research seeks to determine how often and severe wildfires were in the past, and to identify patterns of forest recovery after wildfires.