Elephant Hill

A devastating forest fire blazed through the regions of Elephant Hill during the summer of 2017, burning over 192,000 hectares of land. To bring the destruction to scale: 1 hectare is roughly the size of 1 rugby field. Just picture 192,000 burning rugby fields. In order to reforest this entire area, it will take roughly 13 million trees, years of hard work, and thoughtful planting techniques. This area had the largest area of continuous high intensity burn in the 2017 wildfire; much of it burned to mineral soil. In other words, this fire burned so hot that when water bombers dropped water over the fire, it evaporated before even reaching the trees.

Normally, the seeds from the trees would spread across the forest and will naturally reforest the area. But due to the wildfire’s intensity, many of the seeds were burnt too severely, and the seeds that did survive weren’t enough to reforest the area in a timely manner. Without reforestation, the ecosystem will be left in a dire state. By intervening, our planting efforts will help speed up the reforestation of Elephant Hill. Without our intervention, it will take 40-50 years to naturally reforest. 

The damaged ecosystems will have a new chance of survival, and better opportunities to thrive. The project will speed the rate of recovery by reducing regeneration delay and improving the uniformity of recovery. Other landscape features such as wildlife trees, surviving patches of live timber and coarse woody debris were incorporated into the reforestation efforts.