Prescriptions and burn plans are not independent documents. When developed in isolation, ecological intent can be lost, burn plans become interpretive, and burn teams are left making field decisions without clear direction or a feedback loop to improve future planning. Regardless of fuel type, the planning principles remain the same.
This three-day workshop explores how to develop prescriptions and burn plan elements as an integrated planning system, connecting ecological and resource management objectives with fire behaviour, treatment design, operational implementation, and monitoring.
The goal is simple: write prescriptions that can be implemented, evaluated, and improved.
Who This Workshop Is For
Designed for practitioners who develop, review, or support prescriptions and burn plans in forestry, fuels management, ecosystem restoration, and wildfire risk reduction.
For prescribing professionals, the workshop focuses on translating management objectives into clear, defensible direction for prescribed fire implementation.
For burn plan developers, it provides an understanding of what should already be established in the prescription, how to recognize information gaps, and when to recognize professional pieces for the burn plan.
What You'll Learn
By the end of this workshop, you will be able to:
Develop a prescription using your own project or a provided scenario.
Integrate prescriptions and burn plan elements to support operational decision-making.
Translate management objectives into fire behaviour expectations, treatment layout, and ignition intent.
Design stratification and field plots based on fuels, fire behaviour, and desired fire effects.
Apply intermediate fire behaviour knowledge to treatment design.
Incorporate monitoring that evaluates outcomes and supports adaptive management.
Recognize professional responsibilities and the boundaries between prescription development and burn planning.
Improve the efficiency of field assessments, planning, and implementation.
Communicate prescription intent clearly to Burn Bosses and operational teams.
You'll also participate in a discussion panel with experienced practitioners exploring prescribed fire implementation, collaboration, and professional obligations.
What Makes This Workshop Different
This workshop is grounded in how prescriptions that support burning are developed, reviewed, and implemented in real prescribed fire programs. Rather than treating prescriptions as standalone documents, we examine how ecological objectives, fire behaviour, treatment design, ignition strategies, and monitoring inform one another. The emphasis is on professional judgment, operational feasibility, and creating clear documentation that supports implementation without unnecessary reinterpretation.
Course Format
Three days of classroom instruction, field exercises, applied scenarios, and professional discussion. Participants are encouraged to bring an existing project or use a provided scenario to apply the learning throughout the workshop. BC provincial templates provide the working framework, but the principles are applicable to prescribed fire planning across Canada.
Included With Registration
Three days of in-person instruction and applied field learning
Comprehensive prescription development manual
Practical exercises and project scenarios
Values-based prescription development checklist
Practitioner discussion panel
24 continuing professional development (CPD) hours, plus pre-course preparation
Registration and Pricing
Early Registration: The 2026 price at $745 CAD
Register by March 1, 2027.
Regular Registration: $795 CAD
Effective March 2, 2027.
The 2026 workshop sold out with a waiting list. The capacity is 24 particpants. This will be the only offering of Prescriptions for Prescribed Fire in 2027.
Recommended Experience
This workshop builds on intermediate fire behaviour concepts, including fuel typing and fire behaviour interpretation. Completion of S-390 Intermediate Fire Behaviour, or equivalent experience, is recommended but not required.
Instructor Colleen Ross, RPF, AFE Certified Wildland Fire Ecologist, Certified Burn Boss
Colleen brings over two decades of experience developing prescriptions and burn plans for prescribed fire, fuels management, and ecosystem restoration projects. During her time in government, she was responsible for reviewing burn plans, providing insight into the technical and operational requirements of prescribed fire planning.
Today, she works with clients to develop prescriptions and burn plans and mentors practitioners through writing their own burn plans, helping them connect management objectives, fire behaviour, desired fire effects, and operational considerations. As a practicing BCWS-certified Burn Boss, Colleen brings both a planning and implementation perspective to her instruction, emphasizing prescriptions and burn plans that are practical, defensible, and achievable on the ground.
2026 Participant Feedback
Participant feedback helps shape new course content, practical exercises, case studies, and field components. With practitioners representing ecosystems and operational environments from across British Columbia, this workshop became richer, more relevant, and more representative of the diversity of prescribed fire challenges across the province. In addition to some minor improvements to accommodate the complexities found across fire management, overall participants consistently described the workshop as:
Practical, engaging, and immediately applicable to their work.
Led by a knowledgeable instructor, guest speakers and panel members with extensive operational experience.
Rich in real-world examples and collaborative learning opportunities.
An excellent balance of classroom instruction, discussion, and field application.
A valuable opportunity to build professional networks across agencies, First Nations, municipalities, consultants, and industry.
Supported by high-quality course materials, visuals, and field resources.
Perhaps the most rewarding feedback was hearing that participants left with new professional connections, greater confidence in prescribed fire planning, and tangible changes they intend to make in their own projects, from engaging collaborators earlier and listening more closely to the land and rights holders, to building stronger prescriptions that support the safe and effective return of good fire to the landscape. Feedback for updates have been incorporated into the 2027 content. Thank you!