NRGA FPAC CONFERENCE CALL
Participants:
□ Brad Gillespie (SWT) √ Jesse Duhnkrack (NPS) √ John Barborinas (BIA) □ Kevin Knauth (BLM)
□ Linda Kerr (NPS), □ Paul Mancuso (NPS), □ Richard Sterry (FWS), □ Shane Del Grosso (FWS),
√ Ken Schmid (BLM), □ Anne Rys-Sikora (FS) √ Shari Miller (FS) √ Lori Clark (FS-CHAIR)
Other Participants: √ Kevin Weber (BIA) and √ Robert La Plant (BIA)
Date: 12/02/2011 1100 MST
(406) 329-3630; pc 2580 after the beep
√ signifies the participant was on the call (□ = not on the call)
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Agenda Topic #1
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Agenda Topic #2
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Agenda Topic #3
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Agenda Topic #4
MEETING OBJECTIVES
Roll call and any additional agenda topics
Highlights from National FPA Call
Info from 12/1/11 National Call
SWT Updates
News?
Re-calibration efforts
FPAC Business
NRCG briefing
Reps for FPUs – updates
AOP sent for signature
FPAC Vice Chair
My FPA Dashboard
Round Robin
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Agenda Topic #5 Other
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Please add topics that aren’t on agenda
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here
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Agenda Topic #6 Other
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Lori Clark
Lori Clark/group
Brad Gillespie
Lori Clark
All
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NOTES:
FPAC Business (Lori Clark & Group)
NRCG Board meeting was held November 15 – Lori/Ken Schmid provided an update regarding the
status of FPA and answered questions
Reps for FPUs to fill in behind Bob Rebarchik : a communication plan was sent out to all to display the
FPU/SWT/FPAC liaison contacts---Lori will be the FPAC rep for the Headwaters FPU and Shane Del
Grosso will be the FPAC representative for the Bitterroot FPU. If you have any additions or corrections
to the plan…let Lori know so she can make the changes.
AOP – Lori sent the FPAC Annual Operating Plan to Cory Winnie, NRCG Chair, for approval and signature
so that should be back soon and in place
FPAC Vice Chair – still not firmed up…Ken said his Assistant will be on in January and could possibly take
on the role. At the close of the last conference call Shane Del Grosso was going to contact Ken to work
through possibly sharing the responsibility. A decision will need to be made by the next FPAC call in
January.
MYFPADashboard: Good discussion on this topic-- The MyFPADashboard is a new tool that is being
considered for field use where, units would be able to estimate IA success under different resource and
budget scenarios. This tool is far from a final product---there are still many questions over its need at
this time.
Some feel there is utility to it, but others voiced that taking on the development of a new tool at this
point in the FPA process is counterproductive. It is felt that we should be focusing on getting the 2012
FPA process done and not getting side-tracked on these types of projects. Spending time and money on
developing the Dashboard seems pointless when we still do not have a firm understanding of the scope
of FPA or its future.
Other FPAC Business/Concerns:
There are concerns about some FPUs not being contacted by their SWT reps; some FPUs have been
unable to contact their respective SWT reps and are getting concerned. Lori will follow up and check
with each of the FPUs to find out how they are doing. John B. will make contact with one of the SWT
Reps and encourage him to contact one of the FPUs he represents. Lori will follow up. Lori will try to
have a status/update to the FPAC to show how we are progressing with the FPU briefings in the NRGA
by next week (hopefully---be patient, though---many people are on leave and it may be difficult to track
down at this time of the year  ).
UMAT Conference Call Highlights:
5 Min update from Whitney---newsletter for this calendar year is out with a number of other briefing
papers—all posted on the website
5 min update form Project Mgr---been working with the budget—there are some fill behind questions
and some structures that need to be considered, but overall it looks good------hiring behind Sue in
March?
Jesse asked about the contract for the business and technical review proceeding and is it on schedule as
planned? Jeff W---yes it is on track and they are doing interviews now. They are expecting to have a
mid process draft to oversight group by Dec 12, with a final to follow in mid to late February.
5 min update from Business Lead---not much to update, busy supporting SWT and supporting Fisel,
5 min update from Communications ---newsletter posted to website and to My Fire community in the
Neighborhoods
FPA bulletin covering expectations and engagement direction--also on web
Need to re-explore Listserv or another variation of the same tool with the new Webmaster …more info
on the next call
There is a subgroup for GA Leads on the MyFireCommunity website…. Subgroups can be created under
the user neighborhood for specific GAs, if desired
Fire Occurrence (Kole)--- all federal information has been collected and has started a filter for the 2009
and 2010 fires; still waiting on the state information, but as soon as those are filtered they will be added
to the fire occurrence records
Update of FWP Boundaries:
7 FPUs have data that was not submitted and had more errors that expected in some FPUs
Need to improve the quality control process; found a few problems in several FPUs, some very slight,
some more egregious---for what ever reason the editing deleted some of the FWA polygons—they need
to figure out what went wrong---this did not affect the NRGA.
R5 (California)---would like to have a year where we are not dong an analysis so we could focus on those
FPUs that have boundary issues and need to be re-aligned---but difficult to do when an analysis is
ongoing.
FPU boundary changes—Jesse suggest the need for a systematic, methodical and empirical way of
looking at FPU boundaries with the “new school” approach”---need to provide guidance so that we are
consistent
FWA changes---The FPA Team will talk about this in January and come up with a plan; no urgent FPA
boundary issues in the NRGA; it is known that the SKT tribe would like to detach from the SW MT FPU at
some point when the opportunity arises.
SWT Update:
Brad Gillespie covered Roles and responsibilities, an update on calibration process, and the topic of
end-state knowledge and skills for FPU Leads and GA Leads
We should start to see the role out of the roles and responsibilities of the SWT---main focus of SWT reps
is to reduce the workload on the field and to help improve the use of the FPA application so that the
outputs are deemed reasonable
So far we have point of contact for each GA---those folks are assisting and monitoring the FPA
implementation as needed. The FPAC members are more of a liaison to SWT members and GA Leads;
The SWT has a significant workload and do not have time for mentoring, coaching and training of folks at
this point in time
SWT Reps---the key is that they work for the individual FPUs and want to make sure they are meeting
the individual need of the FPUs, such as looking at data sets and calibrating clearly; SWT goal is to
ensure consistent guidance
SWT reps are technical analysts and are not responsible for business related questions about FPA--those questions are to be answered by Joe or Jami or IAT Leads (Tate or Mark L. )or Budget Officers
within your organization
Update on SWT ---have made initial contact with 85% of the FPUs and are doing good with initial
contacts and scheduling individual briefings with FPUs—goal is have majority accomplished (90%+) over
the next couple of weeks. So far , the briefings appear to be going well, and FPUS are engaged and
providing input and guidance about their FPUs; No major issues from briefings so far
End state knowledge and skills of the FPA GA Leads---there is currently no formal training for FPUs or
GA leads
Jesse: What proficiency level and skill level for FPA do we want and do we require within the GA for the
FPA GA Leads and the FPU Leads?
Gen Discussion: there were concerns about level of knowledge in the average FPA user, and if the SWT
goes away there will likely be a huge gap and a huge learning curve.
We need a better understanding of where FPA is going—is it just going to serve as a National strategic
tool only or is something like MyFPADashboard going to take hold? We do not have a clear vision of
where we are headed, so it is hard to train for it…but we need to keep thinking about what we may
need in the future.
End of call….Everyone have a Happy Holiday season!
Next Call…Jan 6, 2011 1100 MST