Two grants are being sought by the Town of Whitecourt to further reduce the community’s wildfire threat

By Serena Lapointe

The Town of Whitecourt has been very successful over the years in acquiring grants from the
Forest Resource Improvement Association of Alberta (FRIAA). Created in 1997, FRIAA is a
non-profit that collects and administers industry funds to enhance the province’s forest
resources. Stumpage fees, paid by firms for the right to harvest and based on the market value
of standing trees, are measured in dollars per cubic meter.
Historically, according to www.friaa.ab.ca, these fees went into general revenue. FRIAA was
created to oversee the Forest Resource Improvement Program funds, which were designed to
ensure that some of the stumpage fees paid were used directly to enhance the forest resource,
benefiting Albertans.
From that modest beginning, FRIAA has evolved and now offers funding through several
programs, including the Community Reforestation Program, the Forest Resource Improvement
Program, the FRIAA FireSmart Program, the Mountain Pine Beetle Program, the Wildfire
Reclamation Program, the Caribou Habitat Recovery Program, the Community Fireguard
Program, and the Enhanced Reforestation of Legacy Disturbance.
There are 22 companies within its membership, including ANC Timber Ltd., Blue Ridge Lumber
Inc., Millar Western Forest Products Ltd., and Weyerhaeuser Company Ltd, and as a whole,
FRIAA is accountable to the Minister responsible for forestry, currently held by Minister of
Forestry and Parks, Todd Lowen.
Whitecourt has successfully received hundreds of thousands of dollars, including regular
vegetation management (mulching) under the FireSmart funding stream, zone work in the
forests within and directly surrounding the municipality, an updated Wildfire Mitigation Strategy
(2016), a Sprinkler Deployment Plan to use in the event of a wildfire, and public education
projects to increase awareness of FireSmart among residents.
Dollars were also obtained from the Community Fireguard Program to build a fireguard around
the eastern portion of the community, from Highway 43 near the Kanata Inn to the edge of the
community down behind St. Joseph’s School. Most recently, over the summer, it was

announced that Whitecourt, along with Woodlands County and Swan Hills, had successfully
secured funding from FRIAA for a Regional FireSmart Coordinator, who will engage with the
communities, to build local awareness, promote FireSmart practices and enhance the area’s
resilience to wildfires.
Now, the Town of Whitecourt is applying for two more grant opportunities through FRIAA. The
first is for the development of a Wildfire Resilience Toolkit, for $25,000. At the September 22
Town Council Meeting, Lee Hardman, Director of Community Safety, outlined what the toolkit
would entail. He explained that it would comprise four parts: FireSmart guidance documents for
developers, builders and homeowners, promotional and educational materials, stakeholder
engagement sessions, and training, plus a resource toolkit for municipal staff.

“This toolkit supports one of the key priorities of the Whitecourt FireSmart Working Group to
enhance community-level FireSmart integration,” explained Hardman. He said the group had
motioned at its meeting on September 16 to forward a recommendation to Council to support
the grant application. Whitecourt Town Council unanimously agreed to support it.
The guidance documents, as one example, will be tailored for developers, builders and
homeowners in Whitecourt, providing information on FireSmart principles and giving those
building a new project or doing renovations to learn about things they could voluntarily adopt
during the permitting or construction stage.
The second grant is one that the community has received many times before: The FireSmart
Summer Crew. The crew consists of four members who complete various pre-determined
vegetation management projects on Town and Crown land. This year’s request from FRIAA is to
complete work in zones 13, 14, 14a, 14b and 17.
Zone 13 is located behind Ravine Drive, and zones 14, 14a and 14b are behind Park Drive and
Beaver Drive, as well as in the treed section between Blueberry Drive and Caxton Street. Zone
17 is just behind the Hilltop East Industrial Park, off 33 Street and 33 Avenue. The grant
application also seeks funding to treat approximately 27ha in Zones 20 and 21, in the area
below the ski hill, along the tracks.
If the Town is successful in receiving funding for the 2026 FireSmart Summer Crew Project, it
would be another $199,000 in FRIAA dollars, helping to increase the community’s safety profile

in the face of a wildfire, which, given the last few years of heightened activity in Alberta’s forests,
is money well spent.
TAGLINE:
The Town is seeking dollars through FRIAA in hopes of upping the community’s safety. A
summer crew for next summer is one of the requests, as is a toolkit to help builders and
homeowners choose FireSmart-approved practices.