The County of Grande Prairie is asking for public feedback on the Highway 40 west FireSmart Project.
The Highway 40 west project is priority three of the County’s Wildfire Mitigation Strategy which aims to reduce wildfires in the region and reduce the risk of loss of life and damage to infrastructure because of wildfire.
Director of Community Services Dan Lemieux says a professional forester is analyzing the project area and providing recommendations on future vegetation management.
“The county will use the detailed analysis from the professional forester to inform its approach to wildfire mitigation on public lands on Highway 40 west area.”
Lemieux says maps have been developed for the area which is planned to take over 1,100 hectares of land located north of the Wapiti River and west of Highway 40. The area includes the neighborhoods of Ranch, Dunes West, Deer Ridge Estates, and Mystic Ridge subdivisions and is just south of Deer Run Estates and Park Meadows.
A virtual engagement session will be taking place on June 29th which Lemieux says the public feedback from the event along with the findings from the forester will be taken into consideration for future development.
“We encourage the public to help us shape the future of FireSmart efforts that will protect the areas where we live work and play.”
The strategy was developed in 2015 and since then, priority one and two consisted of the vegetation management in the Dunes and Aspen Ridge Area in 2017 and southeast of Bear Creek in 2018.
