NRGA FPAC CONFERENCE CALL
Date: 01/06/2012 1100 MST
(406) 329-3630; pc 2580 after the beep
Participants:
□ John Barborinas (BIA) √ Kevin Knauth (BLM)
□ Linda Kerr (NPS), □ Paul Mancuso (NPS), □ Richard Sterry (FWS), □ Shane Del Grosso (FWS),
√ Ken Schmid (BLM), √ Eric Fransted (BLM) □ Anne Rys-Sikora (FS) □ Shari Miller (FS) √ Lori Clark
√ Brad Gillespie (SWT) √ Jesse Duhnkrack (NPS)
(FS-CHAIR)
Other Participants: None
√ signifies the participant was on the call (□ = not on the call)
□ Information
□ Discussion
□ Decision
Agenda Topic #1
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□ Discussion
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Agenda Topic #2
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Agenda Topic #3
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□ Decision
Agenda Topic #4
MEETING OBJECTIVES
Roll call and any additional agenda topics
Highlights from National FPA Call
Info from 01/05/12 National Call
FPA TECHNICAL BULLETIN
SWT Updates
News?
Re-calibration efforts - status
FPAC Business
AOP signed
NRCG Web Updates
FPAC Vice Chair
Welcome New Member (Eric
Fransted)
Round Robin
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Agenda Topic #5 Other
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Please add topics that aren’t on agenda
□ Discussion
here
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Agenda Topic #6 Other
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□ Decision
Lori Clark
Lori Clark/group
Lori/Jesse
Brad Gillespie
Lori Clark
All
NOTES:
Agenda Topic #1
Highlights from National FPA Call
External Review—being conducted by the Booz Allen Group; Executive Director, Jeff Whitney,
encouraged all with an interest in provided input to the group to do so. If you need assistance getting in
contact with Booz Allen, contact either Jeff or Lori Clark to obtain the contact information. Jesse echoed
the comments that providing input is worth while if you have an interest in the FPA process.
Kirk Rowdabaugh (Oversight Group, BOD) will be talking at the National Association of State Foresters
meeting. The FPA group is currently working on FPA talking points.
Cole Berriochoa has retired, and there are no immediate plans to replace him, therefore there will be a
gap in the ability to provide expertise in IRS. Faisel Ahmed was the FPA Project Coordinator---his detail
also ended, and the duties will be picked up by Jaymee Fojtik and Joe Frost.
FPA Technical Bulletin re: SWT Roles & Responsibilities was sent out before the Holidays. While there
was some good information pertaining to the roles & responsibilities of the SWTs, there was some
disagreement over the language that pertained to the 4 reasons provided for making adjustments ot
budget options (1st page, right hand column, 3rd red highlighted text). Because of the lack of agreement,
the Management Advisory Team made the decision to scrap the Bulletin and pulled it from the FPA and
MyFireCommunity websites.
NRGA FPAC Discussion: The FPAC felt there was some good information provided in the bulletin
regarding the roles of the SWT. Brad Gillespie offered to send out a document that he authored specific
to this, and it could be sent out as a document that supersedes the Technical Bulletin. Lori will also
review the current NRGAFPA communication plan and see if there are opportunities to strengthen the
plan using some of this language. Jesse suggested that a piece that could be added to this effort is a
brief sentence regarding the level of involvement expected from the SWT after the calibration is
complete. Brad Gillespie added that he views this year’s work in three phases: 1) calibration, 2) fuels
input, and 3) final budget. The GA Lead will need to communicate the level of involvement required
from the field (FPUs) after calibration is complete.
REVIEWS FOR 2012:
Jesse drafted a template to be used for the calibration review---it is a simple format (1-page, y/n
questions) to be used as a standardized what of reviewing how the calibration process went. This
should be available to us for our review by next week.
Question was asked by FPAC member—“how will be complete the GA review?”:
Discussion: Need of system of record for tracking how we evaluated the process. For the calibration
reviews---that will be accomplished by the “Tri-fecta” (FPU Lead, SWT Rep, FPAC liaison); the SWT
Technical analysts are obtaining concurrence from the FPUs that the changes made to the data are what
was agreed to, and the GA reviews should either be the responsibility of the individual FPU leads
(responsible for ensuring the review their own FPU)or should be the responsibility of the GA Lead.
NOTE FROM NRGA PAC CHAIR: I think that the GA Lead should facilitate the completion of each of the
reviews as a single point of contact. This is to assist the FPUs and also to ensure that the reviews occur
according to the guidance. Thoughts?
Update on FPU/ FWAs for 2013: Optional FPU FWA boundary updates -- here is the timeline that was
sent out via email yesterday;
This timeline is imminent; if there are FPUs that are seriously thinking about changes, they need to be
informed and get this started now. After a discussion amongst the FPAC, it doesn’t appear that there
are any burning issues with Boundaries---some FPUs are thinking about changes, but have not taken
steps to organize the effort. Jesse said that the timeline will also exist for next year, and maybe that
would give folks more time to consider the changes. Jesse mentioned that several GAs have been asking
to obtain some boundary change guidance from the MAT, and if the guidance does materialize, it may
give a more standardized approach when considering and completing boundary changes. Lori asked if
any of the FPAC members knew of proposed or likely changes in FPUs---Brad Gillespie mentioned the
Lewis & Clark and Helena FPUs because the fire organizations have been combined, but he did not feel it
was critical right now. Kevin Knauth mentioned a piece of ground in NR_ID_01 that is actually part of
the Payette, but under other the protection responsibility of the ID_001. He said that may come into
play later, but did not feel that a change would be likely at this point in time. The SW MT FPU has
mentioned some FPU changes, but have not coordinated this yet. NW MT FPU will likely need to
complete some FWA boundary changes, but again, that would probably not be done now. Lori will
contact FPU Lead, Dan Rose (FS) and Dave Solhiem (NPS) to ensure that they are good with the current
FWA boundaries for now.
FSIM webinar being scheduled for the week of February 13th: emphasis will be on FSIM outputs,
understanding the burn probability and intensity layers that are used in the LFM; will discuss what the
data does/does not represent and how to interpret and use the data.
Agenda Topic #2
SWT Updates
FPU Briefings in the NRGA are complete, with the exception of the Billings FPU (MT_01)---which is
scheduled for next week. Calibration is going smoothly and good progress has been made.
This has not been an issue in the NRGA, but in other GAs there have been some issues with FPUs not
being responsive to the SWT and are not acquiring information that is needed for the SWTs to complete
their work. This was just a reminder to maintain the commitment to the work that needs to be done.
Agenda Topic #3
FPAC Business
AOP was signed by Cory Winnie and he concurred with the current Charter (no changes needed to
charter)
NRCG Web Pages: Lori added the current FPA Committee information to the NRCG Committees
website, but a couple of the links are not working, and she will get those fixed.
Vice Chair—still no affirmative, but sounds like a combination of Eric Fransted and Shane Del Grosso will
cover the bases
Welcome to Eric Fransted, Assistant State Fire Management Officer—he will transition with Ken Schmid
to be the BLM’s rep on the FPA Committee.
Next Call…Feb 3, 2012 1100 MST
/s/ Lori Clark, FPAC Chair