Visit our website: www.unce.unr.edu

PROGRAMSto prevent losses from

WILDFIRE

The University of Nevada, Reno is an equal opportunity affirmative action employer and does not discriminate on thebasis of race, color, religion, sex, age, creed, national origin, veteran status, physical or mental disability, sexualorientation, in any program or activity it operates. The University of Nevada employs only United States citizens andaliens lawfully authorized to work in the United States.

In 1997, the Living With Fire (LWF) program was created to bring together variousagencies and stakeholders to teach people how to live more safely in the high wildfirehazard environments of the eastern Sierra Front.

LWF focuses on pre-fire activities that homeowners can engage in to greatly improvethe chances their homes will survive a wildfire. This initial project was sponsored by Universityof Nevada Cooperative Extension (UNCE), the Nevada Agricultural Experiment Station andSierra Front Wildfire Cooperators (12 Nevada and California firefighting agencies).

This collaboration takes a three-pronged approach:

* Research. With the same high-tech tools NASA uses – satellite imageryand geographic information systems – university specialists developed 72wildfire hazard rating maps covering 3,200 square miles and delivered themto firefighters.

* Recommendations. Specialists coordinate consistent recommendations fordefensible space distance and vegetation management.

* Education. Educators train professional landscapers and neighborhoodgroups in defensible space and firescape techniques.

LWF took to the airwaves in 2000 (see page 2) and republished itssuccessful Living With Fire tabloid (see page 2). The program has received attention, notonly in Nevada during the Arrowcreek Fire when homeowners received theemergency evacuation handout,but throughout the West and nationally as well.

Contact:Ed SmithUNCE Natural Resource SpecialistPhone: (775) 782-9960, FAX (775)782-9968E-mail: smithe@unce.unr.edu

Living with Fire

In April 2000, Ed Smith received one of only ten BronzeSmokey-the-Bear Awards given annually by the U.S.Forest Service, The Advertising Council and theNational Association of State Foresters. The awardrecognizes “sustained, outstanding, statewideservice in wildland fire prevention over a minimum oftwo years.”

Living With Fire also received a 2000 Silver SpikeAward of Excellence from the Public Relations Societyof America, Sierra Nevada Chapter, and the First PlaceCommunity Service Award from the Nevada PressAssociation. 1

Public-EducationCampaign

During the summer 2000 fire season,Living With Fire educated westernNevada residents about the need toprotect homes against wildfire through:

* Television PSAs and interviews* Radio PSAs and 30-minute shows* Outdoor Billboards* Living With Fire tabloid inserted in western Nevada newspapers, as well as in Elko, Humboldt and Lander Counties * Newspaper interviews * Workshops featuring defensible space* PowerPoint presentation* Exhibit shown at Nevada State Fair and the Tahoe Fire Fest

Popular Living With Firetabloid saves homesduring 2000 fire season

Western Nevada firefighters creditedtheir success in saving some Reno housesduring the 2000 fire season to the

homeowners’ efforts in adopting defensiblespace and other strategies recommendedin the popular guide.

The 12-page publication showshomeowners how to protect their propertyfrom the threat of wildfire. Step by step, theguide shows people how to create aneffective defensible space around theirhome, giving recommended vegetation,fire-safe landscape designs and practicesto remove dead vegetation. It discusses the

best roofing materials, and gives homeconstruction tips and wildfire evacuationprocedures.

Nearly two million copies of LivingWith Fire have been printed in 11 otherwestern states, making it the most widelydistributed piece of its kind in the West. “Thisis one of the best documents I’ve found thatillustrates wildfire hazards and mitigationoptions and techniques,” said a Coloradowildfire safety coordinator, who usedNevada’s master CD-ROM to print 750,000copies for inserting in Colorado newspa-pers.

Copies of the guide can be found atUniversity of Nevada Cooperative Extensionoffices, fire stations, or it can be downloadedat: www.extension.unr.edu/FIRE/FrontPage.html

2

Carson City C-Hill project gets national attention

In spring 1999 in collaboration with the Carson City Fire Department, Nevada Depart-ment of Agriculture, U.S. Forest Service and BLM, University of Nevada Cooperative Exten-sion and the Nevada Agricultural Experiment Station brought 350 ewes to the urban-wildlandinterface of Carson City – C-Hill, an area known for its propensity to burn. It was a pilot projectto evaluate the effectiveness and practicality of controlled sheep grazing to create fuel breaks.

A 2.5-mile, 200-foot-wide corridor of C-Hill was cross-fenced to create 20 mini-pas-tures, then grazed at varying intensities. The results (calculated by weighing pounds of vegeta-tion per acre in grazed and ungrazed areas): 71 to 83 percent of fine fuels (vegetation smallerthan a pencil in diameter) was removed. The vegetation was reduced from an average heightof 6.1 – 8.3 inches before grazing to 1.6 – 3.6 inches after grazing.

Overall, the sheep reduced the amount of wildfire fuel anywhere from 700 to 2,000pounds per acre, depending on the treatment. The sheep also trampled the cheatgrass, furtherreducing the fire hazard. Ninety percent of nearby homeowners said they support the projectand prefer the sheep to other methods of creating fuel breaks, such as mechanical removal,controlled burning and herbicide use.

A year later, Sen. Richard Bryan and others visited the site and measured the vegeta-tion, reporting that thegrazing still effectivelyreduced flammable vegeta-tion, such as cheatgrass, inthe area.

The sheep attractednational media attentionwith features in the NewYork Times, SacramentoBee, Arizona Daily Star,Sports Afield, BaxterBlack’s syndicated columnand Paul Harvey’s radiocommentary. In addition to20 articles in westernNevada newspapers, aReno Gazette-Journaleditorial commented,“These are the kinds ofinnovative ideas that willhelp us better manage ourarea.”

Only ewes can prevent wildfire

3

Expanded sheep experiment in Battle Mountain areareduces cheatgrass and mustard

A second project utilizing livestock to manage fuel and help restore Nevada’s aridrangelands was initiated in 2000, north of Battle Mountain. The controlled experiment evalu-

ates the difference between mechanicalweed control/seeding techniques and usingsheep to accomplish the same treatments.

With the help of the BLM and NevadaDivision of Forestry, treatments were imple-mented on 48 acres of rangeland. The plotsgrazed by sheep reduced production ofannual mustard by 45 percent from the non-treated control, and fire-prone cheatgrassproduction was reduced by more than 66percent. The native and introduced seedingsuccess levels will be determined in the fallof 2001.

This project was funded by the College ofAgriculture, Biotechnology and NaturalResources’ Arid Lands Initiative.

BLM reports use of sheep grazing saves money

In 2000, the Elko District Bureau of Land Management conducted an expandedversion of the Battle Mountain trial, utilizing 1,000 head of sheep to graze 700 acres ofrangeland in preparation of a post-fire seeding. The initial results suggest that sheep areeffective in reducing the amount of competitive weeds in rangeland seedings. The BLMreported the controlled sheep grazing saved them $8 an acre compared to mechanicalweed control methods.

Contacts: Rod Davis, UNCE Extension EducatorPhone: (775) 635-5565, FAX (775) 635-8309E-Mail: davisr@unce.unr.edu

Jay Davison, UNCE Plant and Soil SpecialistPhone: (775) 428-0202, FAX (775) 423-2844E-Mail: davisonj@unce.unr.edu

Ed Smith, UNCE Natural Resource SpecialistPhone: (775) 782-9960, FAX (775) 782-9968E-mail: smithe@unce.unr.edu4

Compost your CombustiblesIn partnership with local fire districts, governmental entities, refuse companies and

composters, University of Nevada Cooperative Extension created an innovative program in1998 that teachesDouglas Countyhomeowners how toreduce the wildfirethreat around theirhomes by disposingof vegetation.

The programteaches propertyowners about defen-sible space practicesand vegetation man-agement at neighbor-hood workshops,provides free dis-posal of vegetation atconvenient drop-offlocations, and trans-ports the vegetationto an operation thatrecycles it into com-post for agriculturaland landscape uses.In 2000, educationaldirect-mail pieceswere developed andmailed to 2,700residents in targetedhigh fire-hazardareas.

In 2000, hundreds of homeowners removed 664 tons of potential wildfire fuels from theirproperties – a 20 percent increase over what was collected in 1999. That’s 664 tons of mate-rial that won’t be available for the next wildfire, but also weren’t dumped or burned. Local firedepartments were happy to report a dramatic reduction in burn permit requests since theprogram’s inception.

Contact: Steve Lewis, UNCE Extension EducatorPhone: (775) 782-9960, FAX (775) 782-9968E-mail: lewiss@unce.unr.edu

5

Preparing communities forwildfire: the Eureka model

In 1999, more than 218,000 acres of public and private lands were consumed bywildland fire in Eureka County alone. University of Nevada Cooperative Extension econo-mists reported theeconomic losses tothe livestock sectorin a five-countyregion were $13million. The impactsinclude lost grazing,rebuilding struc-tures and fences,soil-conservationefforts and reseed-ing burned range-lands.

To be pre-pared for futurewildfires, the Eu-reka County Exten-sion Educatordeveloped a fireawareness pro-gram, assisting with group process, volunteer training and development of a managementplan. After certification by the University of Nevada Fire Academy as an instructor, hetrained seven local personnel as Incident Commanders. Their education included publicsafety issues and pre- and post-fire impacts to natural resources and fire suppression.

Only 18,000 acres burned in Eureka County in 2,000. Adjacent counties are adopt-ing this plan to get their personnel trained as well.

Contact: Willie Riggs, UNCE Extension EducatorPhone: (775) 237-5326, FAX (775) 237-5164E-mail: riggsw@unce.unr.edu

6

The Nevada Fire Safe CouncilThis council was born in response to the 1999

Living With Fire Forum conference resolution thatcalled for the creation of an organization that would“assemble diverse interests in a unified coalition thatwill work on solutions to reduce loss of lives and prop-erty from the threat of fire in Nevada communities.”

After the fire forum, representatives from 23private and governmental agencies continued to meetto implement the resolution. University of NevadaCooperative Extension continued leadership andobtained non-profit status for the council and helpedlocal community councils get started. Several of theseare the Westside Carson City Council and the Virginia Highlands Council (see below).

Contact: Ed Smith, UNCE Natural Resource SpecialistPhone: (775) 782-9960, FAX (775) 782-9968E-mail: smithe@unce.unr.edu

The Virginia Highlands CouncilUnder the moniker, “Fire Safe Highlands,” this program motivates residents to un-

dertake fire-safe activities in the Virginia City Highlands, and apply a community approachto reducing the wildfire threat through education and collaboration.

The program began with workshops in the Virginia City Highlands in the spring andsummer of 2000, where forest health and defensible space training was conducted. Re-sponses to a brainstorming session on “What would you like to see to make the highlandsfire safe?” were compiled and mailed to all local residents. Workshops continued, alongwith monthly newsletters to residents highlighting topics of wildfire safety. Work projectideas include marking ingress and egress routes, coordinating wildfire hazard fuel cleanupdays and community planning for fuel breaks and green stripping.

A coalition of concerned residents has surfaced and is expanding with each monthlymeeting. Positive working relationships are forming between residents and Storey Countyofficials. It is expected this program will be a role model for future neighborhood actioncoalitions.

Contact: Marlene Rebori, UNCE Community andOrganizational Development SpecialistPhone: (775) 784-4848, FAX (775) 784-4881E-mail: reborim@unce.unr.edu 7

Post-fire rehabilitation of rangelands

University of Nevada Cooperative Extension range specialists work with otheragencies and private and public land managers in various projects and experiments thathelp to rehabilitate fire-ravaged rangelands and restore them to a productive status. Scien-tists study a variety of soil preparations, seeding methods and seed species to determinethe most efficient and effective methods of rangeland restoration. Following are a sampling ofthese efforts:

* Planting of nativeseeds and grassesto revegetateburned areas andreplace fire-pronecheatgrass andalso as an alterna-tive crop for farm-ers in experimentaltrials.

* Revegetation ofburned areas,adaptive sheepgrazing strategies,leafy spurge weedcontrol and herbi-cide applicationwith the coopera-tion of privatelandowners on an Elko ranch.

* GIS strategies for landscape management of the cheatgrass fire cycle. Studiesinvestigate past emergency fire rehabilitation projects, using remote sensing, topredict future successes on a diversity of ecological sites.

* Investigations on the impacts of fire frequency changes on riparian zones andwatersheds.

Contacts: Jay Davison, UNCE Plant and Soil SpecialistPhone: (775) 428-0202, FAX (775) 423-7594E-mail: davisonj@unce.unr.edu

Kent McAdoo, UNCE Rangeland Resources SpecialistPhone: (775) 738-7291, FAX (775) 753-7843E-mail: mcadook@unce.unr.edu

Sherm Swanson, UNCE State Range SpecialistPhone: (775) 784-4057, FAX (775) 784-4583E-mail: sswanson@cabnr.unr.edu

8