A report outlining a recovery plan for Williams Lake from last summer’s wildfires emphasizes the economy, mental health and well-being of local residents.
The Draft Williams Lake Recovery Plan was prepared by Trevor Kier who was hired in December on a contract by the City to work for six months as a wildfire recovery manager.
The report will now be forwarded to Emergency Management British Columbia and the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development.
Mayor Walt Cobb said similar to a report prepared for the Cariboo Regional District, it emphasizes the supports needed to help people working in tourism and agriculture.
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Coun. Laurie Walters said she appreciated reading the report as an overview of the wildfires and the different components around labour recruitment and training, how the forest sector, small business and tourism were impacted.
“Hopefully this report will move things forward in terms of proper recovery,” Walters said. “The mental health component was also mentioned and that’s a really important one.”
In the report, Kier said there remains continued caution and concern in some local industries such as agriculture, recreation and tourism.
The forest industry, he added, is close to full employment of labour and machinery due to the efforts to capture as much value of the burnt timber as possible given its two-to-four year forecasted shelf life.
Kier also noted real estate prices are up from 2017, and sales activity was solid in May.
“As of June 2018, there is a general sense amongst residents and business representatives in the community that the City has come through most of the short to early mid-term economic fluctuations of recovery in a good way,” the report noted.
“Activity for many businesses and sectors appears and is reported to be within seasonal norms.”
There are some varying experiences though with how well some areas are recovering economically.
“Those businesses that were significantly impacted by the wildfires such as outdoor recreation and tourism operators, ranchers and seasonal based businesses may be in a multi-year recovery phase and quite sensitive to further economic disturbances.”
In July the City is undertaking an economic development strategy that will address the new economic realities the City and area is facing in a number of sectors; the pending impacts on the forest industry post wildfires.
The report also mentioned the hope to develop a Central Cariboo Chilcotin forum to discuss current, pending and future potential changes to forest and land management practices.