The initial thinning of 52 hectares of the Kimberley Nature Park, which will receive hand treatment this summer, will be a learning experience for all involved Nature Park Society President Kent Goodwin says.

“We will learn as we go,” Goodwin said. “What is working and what isn’t? We will be watching while the work is being done and then when it’s completed we can go in and look at it and see what worked.”

The two sections will be hand thinned, with small trees and debris off the forest floor being put in slash piles for burning.

Ladder trees and some pine beetle kill will also be felled and piled.

This initial treatment is focusing on slopes that slopes that are steep enough that machine treatment would be impractical.

That does not mean there will never be mechanized logging in the park though.

“In the future there will likely be selective logging, but no decision has been made yet on where,” Goodwin said.

“We are going to argue that there are areas that are wet enough and beautiful enough that they shouldn’t even be hand treated.”

However, Goodwin agrees that the park has become more of a fire hazard

“Biologists tell us that because we haven’t allowed fire in the park for over 80 years, it is becoming more dense and thick and less natural.

“If you have a fire in a dense forest you lose the whole stand. In a thinned forest, more trees will survive. This thinning won’t prevent fires but it can lessen their intensity. It won’t be as big a risk to the town

This work is being funded under the federal Job Opportunity Program. There will also be funds from the UBCM available for interface fire work.