GeoKeeper Assists in the Protection of Cultural Heritage Sites Threatened by Wildfires

This summer, Upper Nicola Band (UNB) worked closely with local contractors and BC Wildfire Services to protect culturally sensitive areas where fire guards were being proposed. UNB Councillor Brian Holmes was the key contact for the collaboration in identifying and mitigating areas of concern with heavy equipment and firefighting activities in UNB’s territory. Brian oversees a diverse range of land monitoring projects for his community and actively uses both the Community KnowledgeKeeper (CKK) and the community-based monitoring app, GeoKeeper. Following a query of his community’s CKK database, he identified critically important Cultural Heritage sites that were in the path of the advancing forest fire and loaded them into GeoKeeper as “reference” items. Kwusen had recently released reference items in the app – a feature that allows users to upload spatial layers and data sets into the app for reference while on the land. The feature provided Brian with the ability to board a Wildfire Service helicopter and locate his community’s sacred sites from the air.

Brian was pleased with the app, telling Kwusen it tracked his path “really well, even going 168 km/hr in the helicopter!”

For Brian, uploading mapped sites from Traditional Use interviews that are held in UNB’s CKK database into GeoKeeper is a valuable resource to provide timely information and direction to the planning team. He was able to quickly identify potential fire impacts and risks based on site locations and a predicted wildfire path. With these important areas displayed on a satellite imagery basemap and a blue location indicator showing his current location in relation to the sites, Brian is able to locate where the sites are on the ground below him from the helicopter.

Brian’s quick work locating these sites for the Wildfire Service may have saved them from being rolled over by heavy equipment in the fight against one of the largest forest fires in BC this year.

Reach out to support@kwusen.ca if you’d like to learn more about how GeoKeeper can support the protection of your community’s cultural heritage.