Water resource mapping to support wildfire response in West Kootenay communities
Last summer, the Slocan Valley faced a challenging wildfire season that left more than just charred forests. Homes were lost, infrastructure damaged, tourism revenue impacted, and entire communities, including the Villages of Slocan and Silverton, were forced to evacuate.
To better support wildfire suppression efforts, Living Lakes Canada is expanding its water resource mapping project to include Winlaw and the Red Mountain Road/Enterprise Creek communities. Local partners on the project include Slocan Integral Forestry Cooperative (SIFCo) and the Red Mountain Road and Enterprise Creek Emergency Preparedness Society (REEPS).
Public meetings are being held in Winlaw and Silverton in early June to raise awareness and invite residents to share local knowledge about freshwater sources to help support wildfire response.
“Mapping water sources before wildfire season is a critical step in building true readiness,” said Michelle Griffiths, Program Coordinator of the Slocan Valley Wildfire Resiliency Program at SIFCo. “When a wildfire breaks out, there’s no time to search—knowing exact locations of reliable water access points and sources can mean the difference between containment and catastrophe. This kind of preparation helps to keep both communities and ecosystems safer during a wildfire event.”
This initiative builds on a successful 2024 pilot project in Argenta, where Living Lakes collaborated with the Argenta Safety and Preparedness Society (ASAP). Together, they developed comprehensive digital maps identifying all water sources in the region to help quickly orient wildfire crews during emergencies. One month after the report was published, the Argenta Creek Wildfire broke out. The new resource played a key role in supporting BC Wildfire Service with accelerated response time and may have saved portions of the Argenta community, with only one small building lost to the wildfire.
Many remote West Kootenay communities have limited road access and rugged terrain, which can make it challenging when locating water sources to fight approaching fires. By combining water data and modelling from Living Lakes’ Columbia Basin Water Monitoring Framework with local community knowledge, this project details water access points and projected flows, high-pressure standpipes, pump deployment sites in streams, locations of buildings and residences, and access routes.
“By working together, community partners and Living Lakes Canada can gather critical water source information that can be shared with emergency responders so they can hit the ground running,” said Nicky Blackshaw, Vice President, REEPS. “My hope is that this collaboration will help our rural community better prepare for the next emergency.”
The Winlaw project area includes areas east of the Slocan River between Pedro Creek and Lemon Creek watersheds. The Red Mountain Road project area extends from Memphis Creek to Silverton Creek.
Local community members can support the project by sharing information about potential water sources, including creeks and agricultural or household irrigation systems. Participation is voluntary, and data from private lands will only be included with landowners’ consent. No registration is required to join the community meetings.
Red Mountain/Enterprise Creek Project Area
Tuesday, June 10, 2025
6:30 – 8:00 pm
Silverton Memorial Hall (203 Lake Avenue, Silverton, B.C., V0G 2B0)
Winlaw Project Area
Wednesday, June 11, 2025
6:30 – 8:00 pm
SIFCo Resiliency Centre (6841 Appledale Park Rd, Winlaw, B.C., V0G 2J0)
Data will be integrated from open data sources, and both public and private lands throughout the summer of 2025. The final reports and maps will be released in 2026. Two versions of the maps will be produced: a public version with sensitive details removed, and a professional version accessible only to community partners and wildfire response agencies.
For more information, please visit www.livinglakescanada.ca/wildfire. If you are unable to attend a meeting, but are interested in contributing local knowledge to the project, please contact wildfire@livinglakescanada.ca.
This Living Lakes Canada project is generously supported by the Columbia Basin Trust.
