Meet the winners of the 2025 Wetland Centres of Excellence Case Study Competition

Understanding boreal wildfires

One of the world’s largest ecosystems, the boreal forest wraps around the entire globe and provides habitat for thousands of species. Communities worldwide who live in or near the boreal forest are faced with adapting to the increasing threat of wildfires.

Like many Canadians, the winning team was familiar with the effects of wildfires. “When there were forest fires in Québec and we got a lot of smoke here,” says Owen, “all week you would look up and there would be no sun, just grey.”

For their case study, the team was tasked with the key question: to help manage wildfires in Canada’s boreal forest, will you choose to create firebreaks, restore wetlands, or both?

While both wetlands and firebreaks can be protective against wildfires, they each come with unique benefits and challenges. Firebreaks can have an immediate impact on the landscape and be crucial in protecting important infrastructure. Alternatively, wetlands can have a long-lasting positive impact on the boreal forest by retaining water on the land, storing carbon, and providing habitat for native plants and animals.

Diving into the research

When beginning their research, the group quickly began to understand the complexity of building firebreaks in the boreal forest, from building methods and costs to potential environmental impacts.

“We looked at the fire break solutions, and I had never realized how many different ways there are to create them,” says Owen.

The judges were impressed by the group’s exploration of firebreak building methods from heavy machinery to hand tooled fire breaks.

“Researchers are looking into ‘green’ firebreaks right now that have specific planting plans and it reminded me of a nice middle ground option to maintain some biodiversity and carbon while still lowering fire severity and risk,” explains judge Rick Murray.

After considering the building costs and the potential benefits of firebreaks, the group turned their attention to wetlands.

A wetland policy for fire resilience

The group’s interest in wetland conservation led them to consider the role policy can play in protecting boreal forests.

“Our solution was to create a government policy to support wetland preservation because they act as a natural fire break,” explains Owen. “Our main idea was to preserve wetlands by not allowing development and harmful actions.”

“We wanted to keep it basic, [wetland conservation] can help, let’s do it!” says Noah. They explained that while policy solutions aren’t always quick, knowing the positive impacts of wetlands made them confident in their proposal.

“Preserving these wetland ecosystems helps the environment just by not destroying anything,” says Owen.

Competition day success

As competition day approached, the team presented to their classmates and prepared to represent their school nationally. “Presenting to people who work in this field and understanding the impact of these decisions was stressful, and it felt like there was more pressure to do well,” says Noah.

Despite their nerves, the team’s in-depth research combined with their high energy made for an enthusiastic presentation.

“I appreciated that the group listed their decision-making factors and considered the strengths and limitations of the case studies,” says Murray, “they had a lot of fun bringing this together and that came through in their presentation.”

“I love working with these guys,” says Oliver.

“I think our ability to enjoy the process and have fun was a huge strength of our team,” adds Owen.

DUC is proud to congratulate Noah, Oliver, and Owen for their thoughtful and considered research into boreal wildfires. DUC works throughout the Canadian boreal forest to conserve wetlands and support wildfire resilience.