What I will say is that we have a very strong.... On average, we're investing about $7 million a year in forest fire management. When we have a high fire year, a lot more resources come into the agency, but within that budget we have prescribed fire burns for the agency across the country. That's happening on an annual basis. Obviously, the plan is being adjusted according to different natural factors, like if it's too hot or too cold. There are obviously set conditions for doing a prescribed burn. Each year a significant amount of planning goes into what the prescribed burns will be. It is one of our best tools in managing for ecological integrity in our parks.
We've been very successful over the last two decades with bringing fire back into the landscape. We do have a history of fire suppression that goes far back, but that has really significantly changed for the agency.
In terms of our ability to manage fire on the landscape, as Gilles alluded to, we've done prescribed burns in St. Lawrence Islands National Park adjacent to community sites. We have the technical expertise, as well as the support of other agencies, as required, to deliver on that fire management. It is one of the tools we use in our tool box. Each site and each place has ongoing monitoring of set indicators so that we can report on the state of our places. As part of the active management of those places, fire is used where appropriate as a tool.
We have done a fair bit of work over the last years to understand our various parks and the natural processes that should be functioning within them. Understanding forest fire cycles over time is a big part of that. Grasslands, obviously, they'll burn at a much lower intensity but higher frequency than a boreal forest. Understanding that allows us to make those decisions. It is really an integral part of our tool box now. It is not anything that we hesitate to use under the right conditions.
Around our use of fire there is a lot of communication and education programs that we do with local communities and others, so that there is a high degree and comfort and understanding about the role of fire in a natural landscape. We wouldn't burn an area without a lot of consultation and communication with local residents, but it is without question one of the tools we use, where appropriate, for managing for ecological integrity.