Caring for Your Shoreline Property with Fire Safety in Mind

There are two sides to every story, and it is no exception when it comes to caring for our shoreline properties. From one side, you’re told keeping shorelines natural is important for lake health, while the other side recommends reducing natural features to lower wildfire risk. It can be difficult to know what to do.

However, it doesn’t have to be just one approach! Both sides of this story are important for protecting your shoreline property. 

To put it simply, the Love Your Lake program focuses on maintaining natural features and having a vegetated buffer along your shoreline – the bigger the better. This helps reduce runoff into your lake, protects against erosion, reduces flood risks and provides important wildlife habitat. But there’s room for the other side – incorporating fire safety measures. 

For instance, keep the first 1.5 metres surrounding a cottage or building free of combustible materials, keep firewood piles at least 10 metres from buildings and clean gutters and roofs to remove leaves and debris. Incorporate fire resistant plants and when selecting trees for your property remember that hardwood trees generally burn much slower than softwoods. Within 10-30 metres from the cottage trim tree branches to a height of two metres from the ground and maintain three metres between the crowns of evergreen trees. Of course, there are other considerations to keep in mind including proper pruning to avoid tree damage and pruning at the right time of year to avoid harm to wildlife, especially during nesting season. Most birds, their nests and eggs are protected in Canada. Also, be mindful of local bylaws.

And if you’re near a wetland, even better! They act as a natural firebreak. As our weather becomes hotter and drier, it’s important to build smarter with more fire-resistant materials and to be careful of our actions. Many wildfires are caused by people and are preventable. Let’s do what we can to protect our shoreline properties from wildfires while also improving the health of our shorelines and lakes. We can do both!

For more information on how you can show your lake some love, visit LoveYourLake.ca. Love Your Lake is a shoreline assessment program developed by the Canadian Wildlife Federation and Watersheds Canada.

Written by Terri-Lee Reid, Freshwater Researcher with the Canadian Wildlife Federation