By Matt Simmons, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Narwhal A cold spring rain spatters the deck outside a small coffee shop in Smithers, B.C., as Kevin Kriese explains why he believes people need to change how they think about wildfire. A former assistant deputy minister with the provincial government and recently retired chair of the B.C. Forest Practices Board, Kriese is now a senior wildfire analyst with the POLIS wildfire resilience project. He’s tall and athletic (an avid skier) and a passionate advocate for land-based solutions to ecological challenges. He speaks with the confidence of someone who has spent his entire career navigating seemingly intractable problems — but admits getting people on board with the idea of living with more fire on the land is no easy task. “Fires do…
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