Throughout the summer months, airtankers and fire-crews spray fire retardant across the territory for protection. It's a substance that makes fuel less flammable and slows a fire's progress. But some N.W.T. residents worry that same tool that helps protect the land may also be harming it.
Fred Andrew, president of the Tulı́t'a Renewable Resource Council, says he's seeing that harm first-hand.
It [has] an impact on songbirds and insects and muskeg,
he said. It's not very healthy.
It's something that was raised at a public listening session with the Sahtu Renewable Resource Board (SRRB) last winter. The Norman Wells session in February brought residents together to discuss how wildfires and climate change impact caribou.
People who attended the session said they wanted more information about what's in the fire retardant sprayed in their communities and how it impacts the region's land and water.
Studies show adverse affects on aquatic life
The N.W.T. uses two types of fire retardant, according to documents filed on the resource board's registry.
Short-term retardant called FireFoam WD881-C is sprayed directly onto a flame or just ahead of a fire perimeter. Long-term retardant called Liquid Concentrate 95-AMV helps to create a perimeter between fire and fuel, like wood or brush.
A memo (new window) from an environmental consultant tells the board that the long-term retardant had been found to hinder tadpole development and was in some cases lethal. It also cites a study from the U.S. Forest Service which found the product could cause long-term adverse effects
in water ecosystems, while another study (new window) found that runoff or even accidental application into small waters could have significant ramifications on aquatic life.
The territory's Department of Environment and Climate Change did not respond to questions from CBC News about community concerns or how it informs residents about how the product is being used prior to deadline.
In an emailed response to questions from the SRRB in February 2024, however, an official with the territorial government said the fire retardant products used in the N.W.T. are made mostly of ammonium polyphosphates, chemicals used in agricultural fertilizers and considered environmentally friendly and safe for use.
While not considered an environmental threat, every effort is made to avoid having fire retardants dropped from airtanker aircraft into water bodies,
the email, which is also filed on the SRRB's registry, reads.
Land sprayed by retardant 'almost like a graveyard'
Researchers in the Dehcho region have also noticed how fire retardant might be impacting the land.
At the Scotty Creek Research Station south of Fort Simpson, N.W.T., researchers recall a 2014 wildfire that burned about half the forested area.
Over a decade later, most of that area is covered by Labrador tea, lichen and black spruce — even the land burned by the fire. But in the areas hit by fire retardant, the vegetation isn't growing back.
The ground is either bare or covered in dead roots and fallen branches and twigs from the trees, it almost looks like a graveyard,
said Maude Auclair, the data manager for the research station.
The bare ground is absorbing more heat without the cover of vegetation, which is something Auclair suspects is also impacting permafrost. She said it's something that merits more attention.
[It's] definitely understudied and an important thing to understand, especially with the rate of wildfire activity increasing in the North … and how often we're using this stuff it would be super important to understand what the implications of this are.
Alternatives
The government of the Northwest Territories did not respond to questions about whether it's considering more ecological alternatives ahead of deadline.
A research organization in Ontario, however, is.
Based out of Royal Military College in Kingston, the RMC Green Team acts as an internal advisor to the federal Department of National Defence for environmental infrastructure and energy solutions.
Maria Skordaki, who leads the organization, says they're in the process of testing fire retardant and suppressant alternatives.
What they're looking to avoid is a class of chemicals called perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAS, which have "bonding" qualities (new window) that make it extremely effective at sticking to structures but that also make it extremely difficult to break down, Skordaki said.
It will stay there forever,
Skordaki said. Way beyond our lifetime.
She says concerns raised by Andrew and Sahtu residents are valid and that PFAS has made it into water sources, food and our bloodstreams.
One product Skordaki and her team are testing is eco-gel — an Ontario-made fire suppressant and retardant the company touts as being entirely plant-based and biodegradable.
She said it will still be years before that or any of the other products are widely used by the government. But, she said, the eco-gel is so far performing well in their tests.
Nearly a year after the 2024 listening session, the SRRB submitted a report about it to the territory's environment and climate change department on January 15. The department's minister now has 60 days to review that report and respond to it, before it's released to the public.