STAY CONNECTED: Have the stories that matter most delivered every night to your email inbox. Subscribe to our daily local news wrap.
Photo Credit: County of Grande Prairie
By Shane Clausing
highway 40 firesmart project

County of Grande Prairie seeking public input June 29 on Highway 40 West FireSmart Project

Jun 27, 2021 | 7:00 AM

The County of Grande Prairie is seeking public input on their Highway 40 West FireSmart Project.

Director of Community Services Dan Lemieux says they will be hosting a virtual engagement session on June 29 to provide an update to the public.

“Our meeting on June 29 is to show our findings to the local residents and leaseholders in those areas and to seek some input on what we’ve found. We are doing this because we want to hear from the public before we make a final report and recommendation that we present to council.”

The online engagement session will take place from 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. on June 29.

Lemieux says the goal of the FireSmart Project is to prevent wildfires from spreading in the area now and in the future.

“We are going to show a map of the entire area and we are going to show what we identify as the hazardous areas that need to be cleaned up and we’re going to share what our plan is to clean up those areas,” said Lemieux. “If we’ve missed anything, we’d like to hear from the public.”

The Highway 40 West project area encompasses over 1,100 hectares of land located north of the Wapiti River and west of Highway 40. It includes the Ranch, Dunes West, Deer Ridge Estates and Mystic Ridge subdivisions and is just south of Deer Run Estates and Park Meadows.

This project area is also Priority 3 of the County’s Wildfire Mitigation Strategy.

In order to fund the wildfire strategy, the County received a grant from the Forest Resource Improvement Association of Alberta’s FireSmart program for the work, which includes public education and engagement.

Lemieux thinks the overall plan of the project will be received very well by residents of the County.

“We are really pleased with the outcome and we are excited with sharing the outcome from the public.”

Lemieux added the County hasn’t previously had any forest fires in this area and hopes this strategy will help keep it that way.

by Shane Clausing