Fuel Break Planning Guide

This booklet supports the integration of community benefits into fuel break planning in boreal forests. It can be used alongside other tools like Community Wildfire Protection Plans and technical fuel break resources. Here we outline several broad steps to ensure the fuel break meets your community’s needs.

Fuel breaks with benefits can enhance firefighters’ ability to manage wildfires around communities and provide additional benefits to the community throughout the year. There are different fuel break options depending on your community's priorities and resources. Some require consistent maintenance and investment of time, resources, and people-power over many years. Other fuel break benefits require less investment or maintenance over time.

All fuel breaks with community benefits require an initial process that should, among other things:

• Identify what type of fuel break(s) you are creating based on your wildfire protection needs

• Collaboratively identify holistic community priorities

• Consider how the fuel break will be used for fire suppression

• Gather input about potential community benefits and discuss the feasibility of including them in the fuel break. Participatory mapping, roundtable discussions, community workshops, or other multi-stakeholder collaborative exercises are helpful here

• Assemble partnerships for implementation and maintenance

• Compare and communicate the risks of implementing a fuel break vs. not doing anything

In most situations, a Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) can meet these goals. In other situations alternative planning processes, including Firewise, may be more helpful or complementary.

To plan a fuel break with benefits, communities and individuals should:

• Create goals and objectives for the proposed project

• Recruit subject matter experts to inform your community’s ideas, such as local and Traditional Knowledge holders, foresters, researchers, engineers, and fire practitioners

• Evaluate trade-offs, including costs, environmental constraints, fuel break effectiveness, cultural practices, permitting, community priorities, location, and methods of fuel break construction 

• Realistically consider  how the changes you are proposing will be used by the community to avoid unintended consequences

• Decide the who and how of implementation

• Engage local residents in planning, including discussions of the responsibilities of homeowners

• Apply for any necessary permits

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Multi-use fuel breaks can be expensive, but funding is available from a range of sources (including creative and unexpected ones) depending on: 

• The goal of the fuel break

• Community benefits, including culture, health, recreation, food security, tourism, etc.

• Land ownership

• Potential for timber, firewood, biochar creation or other forest products

• Self-sufficiency or commercial opportunities

Consider funding from:

• Federal, territorial/state, regional or local government (consider different departments or agencies depending on the benefits you are interested in)

• Research partnerships

• Philanthropy or NGOs

• Industry

Building a fuel break with benefits requires coordination with your community as well as various partners and experts, including foresters, Traditional Knowledge holders, researchers, engineers, and fire practitioners.

• Communicate timelines and potential disruptions to your community. The construction timeline of your fuel break will depend on season, weather, permitting, worker availability, methods of construction and type of fuel break

• Collaborate with partners to implement the shared vision

While initial construction demands particularly intense effort, regular and strategic maintenance will ensure the fuel break continues to benefit and protect your community long-term. The maintenance specifics will depend on your community’s goals and will likely require flexibility and adaptability throughout the lifetime of the fuel break.

• Community education and participation can help to maintain and support the fuel break

• Consider site monitoring at regular intervals

• Invite people in your community to engage with the benefits that your fuel break has to offer:

  • recreation

  • prescribed and cultural fire

  • food security and harvesting

  • cultural activities

  • research