Community Wildfire Protection Plans

Pikes Peak Wildfire Prevention Partners WorkshopPresented by: Marti CampbellApril 12, 2014

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Old Story, Same Plot

“Your own safety is at stake when your neighbor’s wall is

ablaze.”

Horace (b 68 BC, d 27 BC)

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Why Live in the WUI?

People choose to live in the WUI for many reasons, including:

• Aesthetic value• Natural vegetation • Privacy• Recreation

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Forest Risk Management

Research has shown that reducing forest fuels helps lower fire intensity:

• Lower fire intensity results in less environmental damage to forests, soils, watersheds and wildlife habitat

• Thinning the forest helps make them more resilient to insects and diseases

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Privacy

Using vegetation to maintain privacy may create a hazard:

• Access to your home may limit emergency response

• Vegetation too close to your home is a fire risk for you and fire personnel

• The forest may be severely impacted by insects, disease or fire

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Recreation

• Many people associate recreation with campfires

• Up to 90 percent of wildfires are caused by human actions and errors

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Living in the WUI

If you live in the WUI, it is your responsibility to:

• Reduce the risk of wildfire to your home and property

• Participate in neighborhood safety programs

• Be a good steward of the forest

• Protect the natural resources around your home

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Risk Management

We each manage risk every day:

• Lock doors?

• Use a crosswalk?

• Have smoke detectors?

• Obey traffic laws?

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Risk Management

Does risk management prevent disasters?

• Managing risk reduces the chance of a disaster occurring, but does not eliminate it.

• Wildfire risk in the wildland-urban interface (WUI) is well known.

• Management of wildfire risk needs to be a priority for everyone who lives and recreates there.

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Risk Management

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Community Safety

Be part of the solution:

• Routinely clean gutters and remove flammable vegetation at least 5 feet from your home/structures

• Reduce fuels at least 30 feet around your home

• Be especially careful with any outdoor fire

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Available Programs

Firewise Home

Ready-Set-Go

Community Wildfire Protection Plan

Firewise Community

Fire Adapted Community

Although each of these programs have different levels of participation, they all have the same

purpose – reducing wildfire risk in the WUI

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Choosing a Program

• Community Wildfire Protection Plans are only one of several risk management tools

• If you have not already done so, choose a wildfire risk reduction program

that fits the needs of your community

• Begin planning for a safer community today!

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Different Programs – Same Principles

• Locate the values and assets

• Identify the hazards and risks

• Design and accomplish effective projects to protect values and reduce hazards and risks

Communities can participate in more than one program.

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Focus and Set Priorities

• Not all community values are at high risk

• Not all high fire risk areas impact the community

• Not all treatment methods will be effective in every location

CommunityValues

High RiskLandscape

Fuel Mitigation

Projects

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Pros and Cons

The community discovers where the hazards are located and decides how to reduce the highest risks to protect what is important to residents

The community works together to reduce the risks of catastrophic wildfire

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Pros and Cons

The document does not address specific local hazards or provide clear, achievable direction for mitigating risks

Because it is not specific and/or does not have community support, it ends up sitting on the shelf

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CWPP – A Plan of Action

• Combine hazards and values to select highest priorities

• Form partnerships and get advice from professionals

• Design projects in small, achievable “bites”

• Write the plan and get it approved

COMMUNITY WILDFIRE PROTECTION PLANS

GUIDELINES FOR IMPLEMENTATION

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Community

A community can be defined as a social group of any size whose members reside in a specific locality.

Meet with other community members to gather opinions and information about your locality

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Taking Action

This is not just about your property – get an overview of your neighborhood!

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Community Risk

• Heavy continuous vegetation

• Accumulation of dead or down fuels

• Steep slopes• Vegetation crowding road shoulder• Switch back, narrow

roads, small bridges

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Taking Action

Why should the community take action?• Landscape-scale mitigation more effectively reduces fire

risk and intensity, helps protect watersheds and other natural resources, and improves forest health and wildlife habitat

• Working together increases the safety of all residents and builds a stronger sense of community

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Partnerships

“Many hands make light work.” John Heywood

• Neighbors• Fire Departments• Professional Foresters• Insurance Companies• Local Governments

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Implementation

• Work with interested neighbors

• Demonstrate mitigation results

• Apply for funding assistance if needed for future projects

Implementation: to carry out; put into action; perform

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Use the Plan

More than 210 CWPPs have been approved in Colorado; 42 of them

are in this three-county area. Is your community

covered?

http://csfs.colostate.edu/pages/CommunityWildfireProtectionPlans.html

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Demonstration Projects

• Roadway improvements – clear along the road shoulder to improve emergency accessibility

• Common areas (parks, playgrounds) – mitigate to enhance the clean appearance and create a fuelbreak

• Schools, commercial buildings – protect the local economy by using Firewise fuels reduction techniques for all to see

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Common Area Hazards

Reduce the fuels – reduce the risksBefore

PPWPP Project – D. Strohm

After

PPWPP Project – D.Strohm

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Remove Continuous Fuels

Improve the view – and reduce risks

Before After

PPWPP Project PPWPP Project

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Thin, Prune, Clean Up

Black Forest School Section 16 Hiking Trail

PPWPP ProjectBefore – D. Root During – D. Root

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Mitigation Works!

Black Forest School Section 16 Hiking Trail

PPWPP Project

Final Project Appearance 2008 After Black Forest Fire 2013

D. Root D. Root

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Keep Moving

Make sure the time and work invested in plan development is not wasted:

• Use and update the information in your CWPP and assessment to stay on track

• Recognize that completed projects will require maintenance

• Move projects up the list as others are completed

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Funding Opportunities

CSFS Natural Resources Grants and Assistance Database

http://nrdb.csfs.colostate.edu/

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Your Mission

• Develop a successful, ongoing fuels reduction implementation program

• Take action to protect community values in area of high fire hazards with effective mitigation treatments

• Lead by example, encourage participation

• Take time to tell new residents what you are doing and why it is important for them to join in the effort

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Other Resources

Your Colorado State Forest Service District Forester:• Dave Root, Woodland Park, 719-687-2921

(Park and Teller counties)• Kristin Garrison, Franktown, 303-660-9625

(Douglas County)

Websites: www.csfs.colostate.eduwww.firewise.orgwww.fireadapted.orgwww.ppwpp.org

Thank you!