Adapting to climate change involves preparing a community to handle its effects. That means making Prince George resilient to further, unexpected events in the coming decades.
Average temperatures in Prince George have increased in the past 90 years. Annual average temperatures are expected to go up by 1.9 to 3.7 degrees Celsius by 2050 and bring warmer winters and long, dry summers. Prince George is already experiencing the impacts of climate change in the form of more intense wildfire seasons, forest pest infestations, and less snow in the winter.
Our Community Climate Change Adaptation Strategy
Prince George is taking action to address changes in forests in both its municipal parks and the natural areas within and surrounding the city. A recent flood risk assessment incorporated future climate projections and recommended adjustments to account for climate change and the mountain pine beetle. There is ongoing research on how to better design and maintain roads in changing conditions.
Current projects include:
- Examining climate change and local sensitive ecosystems.
- Analyzing freeze-thaw cycles and precipitation events.
Future projects may include:
- Exploring how the City can take advantage of the agricultural opportunities associated with a longer growing season
- Determining how to manage storm water for changing conditions.
- Determining how to concurrently adapt to and mitigate climate change.
Strategic priorities
Implementing Climate Change Adaptation in Prince George
The Adaptation Strategy was incorporated into the Official Community Plan through funding provided by Natural Resources Canada.
The funding also provided for research on local impacts and adaptation strategies.
Natural areas mapping
The City of Prince George is often referred to as the "City in the Forest" because of the abundance of trees and forested areas within and around the municipal boundary. These extensive forests and natural areas - including wetlands, riparian areas, grasslands, parks, and greenbelts - provide many benefits like recreation, aesthetic values, helping with air and water quality, and many important ecosystem and habitat functions.
It is important to understand natural areas in relation to long-term growth and development in order to make good decisions on land use. This is particularly crucial where "sensitive" or "rare" ecosystems are identified and where climate change may affect certain ecosystems more than others. Natural areas mapping helps with making informed choices on long-term planning (e.g. Official Community Planning), watershed planning, wildfire hazard mitigation, neighbourhood planning and building strategies to address climate change.
The Natural Areas project was initiated in 2010 and was completed in four phases:
- Mapping natural areas using standardized Terrestrial Ecosystem Mapping (TEM) and Sensitive Ecosystem Mapping (SEI).
- Assessing climate change impacts on natural areas.
- Simplifying ecosystem mapping for general use and uploading to PGMap.
- Developing management strategies and best management practices.
Wildfire protection
Climate change has a major impact on how long wildfire seasons last. Seasons extended in length by 19 per cent between 1979 and 2013. Hot, dry summers and earlier springs cause vegetation to grow and dry sooner over a longer period of time.
Climate change models project the mean annual temperature will increase by 3.7 degrees Celsius by the 2080s. This will result in more days where daily temperatures will exceed 30 degrees Celsius and lower precipitation in the summer months, all of which are expected to increase wildfire risk.
Prince George's climate change adaption plans include mitigating forest fire risk within the city. The City recently adopted an updated Community Wildfire Protection Plan to make Prince George more resilient to wildfire threats.
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