B.C.’s work to make forests more wildfire-proof is slow, careful and years behind

// custom header art window.tgam.meta.photo_desktop = "https://www.theglobeandmail.com/resizer/v2/2EZUAVGNHJBJFFNWYS2U7U44YY.JPG?auth=b22b63386f7a77ad95c2de6cb768ee33840824ffe66186f6689bdb67836149de&width=1200&quality=80"; window.tgam.meta.photo_mobile = "https://www.theglobeandmail.com/resizer/v2/2EZUAVGNHJBJFFNWYS2U7U44YY.JPG?auth=b22b63386f7a77ad95c2de6cb768ee33840824ffe66186f6689bdb67836149de&width=1200&quality=80"; window.tgam.meta.video = ""; window.tgam.meta.caption = "By burning forest debris in the woods near Lee Creek, B.C., Matty Captan and his teammates hope to deprive future wildfires of fuel that would make them harder to control."; window.tgam.meta.credit = ""; // custom header layout parameters window.tgam.meta.headline_overlay = false; window.tgam.meta.headline_overlay_vertical_position = "bottom"; // top, centre, bottom window.tgam.meta.headline_overlay_horizontal_position = "left"; // left, centre, right window.tgam.meta.headline_overlay_gradient = true; window.tgam.meta.two_column = true; window.tgam.meta.swap_column = false; window.tgam.meta.full_width = false; window.tgam.meta.dark_background = false; window.tgam.meta.dark_background_colour = ""; window.tgam.meta.centre_headline = false; window.tgam.meta.large_headline = true; window.tgam.meta.sans_headline = false; window.tgam.meta.label_text_colour = ""; window.tgam.meta.label_box_colour = ""; window.tgam.meta.label_text_colour_overlay = "" ; window.tgam.meta.label_box_colour_overlay = ""; window.tgam.meta.audio_bar = true; // custom header display overrides (optional): window.tgam.meta.display_head = "Limb by limb"; window.tgam.meta.display_deck = "To keep wildfires from burning unchecked, hundreds of thousands of hectares of B.C. forest need a makeover. That’s a slow, deliberate process that the province is far behind on"; window.tgam.meta.label = "Climate adaptation"; window.tgam.meta.byline = "Reporting and photography by Jesse Winter"; window.tgam.meta.byline2 = ""; window.tgam.meta.creditline = "The Globe and Mail"; Matty Captan shoves the barrel of a propane torch deep into a pile of snow-soaked branches, willing them to burn. It’s late December, and the occasional snowflake drifts through the mountain forest around him outside Lee Creek, in British Columbia’s North Shuswap. And while it may seem like an odd time of year to be fighting wildfires, that’s essentially what he’s doing – albeit slowly.