Mapping Canadian Interface Areas

Abstract

This project aimed to produce the first map of the Canadian wildland-urban interface (WUI). We also extended the interface concept beyond the traditional “urban” structures of the wildland-urban interface to include industrial structures (e.g. oil and gas structures) or infrastructure values (e.g. roads, powerlines, railways); producing two additional national maps to reflect the interface areas of these potentially vulnerable industrial structures (i.e. the wildland-industrial interface) or infrastructure values (i.e. the wildland-infrastructure interface) with wildland fuels. The interface maps provide a baseline for future work but also have a variety of practical applications such as fire management planning and decision support, insurance, municipal planning, and fire mitigation.