Pacific Northwest Wildfire Coordinating Group
Fuels Management Working Team
Meeting Notes
Date: 10-25-2011 0900-1200 at FWS
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Leanne Mruzik – BLM
Laura Mayer - FS
Alan McGuire-Dale - FS
Darrel Johnston – WA DNR,
Vice-chair
Lauren Maloney - BLM
Cyndi Sidles – FWS, Chair
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Mary Helen Smith - ODF
Pam Ensley – FWS, Liaison
Dee Townsend - NPS
Ed Bronson - BIA
Kristin Babbs – ODF(*)
Bill Aney - FS
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Dennis Fiore - BLM
Guests
Gale Guenther – FS GIS
X= attended
C= Call In
Topics:

Welcome new member – Cyndi announced that Ed Bronson, will be replacing
Gene Lonning as the BIA representative. Welcome to the fuels working team.

FY12 Grant Process – delay discussing process to see what will happen with the
12 budget; also delay discussion on taking grant proposals from entities other than
states.

Big Picture History Map(s) of Fuels Projects for all 5 Fed Agencies + States –.
Map to show all fuels treatments in PNW, Federal and non-Federal, 2005 to current
using polygons where possible and utilizing a standardized geodatabase. This will
be a complete story of fuels treatments in the PNW that can feed into other national
efforts as needed.

Status of States:
 WDNR: mapped to data standard, but don’t have link to NFPORS
treatment IDs, the grouped discussed that this wasn’t an issue for the
needs of this mapping effort. Dale expressed that getting the polygons
with the attributes the group agreed on was priority. DNR has the
treatments mapped. Action: Dale will email Nikki Eisfield, DNR, to
retrieve DNR’s data and determine if there is anything else needed
from DNR.
 ODF: has submitted to Dale all their treatment polygons and points
related to NFP grant units. Kristin, thought the data may go back as
far as 2001.
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
Status of Feds:
 BIA: Still working on collecting data. Action: Dale will continue to work
with Kim Kelley, BIA GIS, to collect the final data from BIA.
 NPS: Lake Roosevelt area getting information together. Mark Grope is
the NPS contact. Action: Dee will send an email to Mark informing
him to send the NPS data to Dale.
 FWS: continue to work on gathering data. Points have been collected
for 2000-2009, and polygons should be available for FY10 and FY11.
 BLM: Working on getting a complete set of polygons back to 2005.
Right now concentrating on meeting LANDFIRE request for polygons
to 2005. BLM is insisting that polygons are placed in the dataframes
that is currently being developed. At this point Dale doesn’t have
access to this data. Action: Leanne will continue to work with BLM
GIS to capture as many polygons from the District as possible for 2005
to 2011.
 FS: All data is in for FS.
Due Date and Follow up Actions: Dale will send out the instructions on how to uplod
polygons to the ftp site he has set up, he will look at what he has from each of the
agencies and determine any additional needs, and provide a pdf of the most current
map for the working team to review. An annual plan of how to continue updating the
polygon data needs to be developed. The working team will decide on the final
formatting, and what they expect to see on the map at the next meeting. Due date to
have a polygons into Dale is January 16th.

Christmas in July Grant History Briefing Paper – The GIS and Communications
Working Teams chairs presented the briefing paper and map to the PNWCG
steering committee (SC) this past spring. It was well received, with some minor
changes suggested by the SC. Action: Leanne has agreed to follow through while
Lauren Maloney is on extended leave, Cyndi will send the latest SC change
requests to Leanne and she will forward on to Michael Hamel, FS/BLM Visual
Information Specialist, to have the briefing paper updated and finalized.

Work with Communication, Prevention, Investigations WT – Need to work
on developing a “joint message” or one where fuels information rolls into an
“annual” Prevention type message. Need to develop a “clearing house” to
pull together region wide success stories & develop briefing papers, regional
summaries, annual success story pamphlet, etc This topic has been put on
hold until after January.

Fuels Treatment Effectiveness – Dennis is currently serving on a new DOI task
group that is looking at the FTE site and how it should be used by DOI. The group is
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working on having something in place by the end of this year. Not certain if the FTE
will be used in it’s current form or if the DOI may go a slightly different route. Dennis
asked if Dale would work with him, and generate reports so Dennis would have a
better understanding of FTE. The WT is going to wait until the DOI comes out with
direction before moving forward.
DNR is still interested in using the FTE site. ODF will not be inputting into the FTE
site and has incorporated some of the questions asked on the FTE site into their fire
reporting narratives the dispatch offices compile.
Ed will connect with Dale to get set up in FTE. For now FS and Oregon BLM
continue to enter fires into the system.
Fuels Treatment Effectiveness web based data program: www.NWPortal.fs.usda.gov

FY12 Grant Process – Dennis handed and briefed the WT on a FY2012 Community
Assistance Project Proposal Funding Strategy briefing paper that he developed
which described 6 different scenarios for how to proceed with the FY12 grant
process. This prompted a multiple questions and a lengthy discussion. Mary Helen
indicated that two questions needed to be answered before a final decision could be
made. The question were (are): Are we doing a competitive process or not (?), and
Where do we want applications to come from and who should receive or process
them? ODF felt they had a conflict of interest issue last year, and would like to see
clearer guidelines in place for FY12. The group discussed the need for clear
selection criteria if opened up to applicants other than the States. BLM and FS
discussed how further funding could change how some of the CA funding is
distributed. The group decided, based on the Charter, that the grant sub-committee
should meet, discuss further, and bring back a proposal for FY12 to the WT in
December. Action: Dennis will send out a reminder about the meeting and
expectations of the group. The grants sub-committee will have a final draft proposal
prepared to present to the working team in December.

Coehesive Strategy and West Wide Risk Assessment Updates: Cyndi explained
that Pam is representing the PNW on sub-committee for the Coehesive Strategy and
federal liaison on the WWRA. Leanne passed around a copy of the draft Western
Regional Assessment and Strategy. All the strategies and updates on the
Cohesive Strategy can be found at www.forestsandrangelands.gov . Action: Pam
has requested that everyone send her success stories she can present to the
Western Regional Strategy Committee. Send success stories to Cyndi by Nov. 14th,
she will forward to Pam.
Dates to Remember:
November 21, 2011
December 8, 2011
1000-1300 location TBA Grants sub-committee meeting
0930 (ish) – 1200 (ish) location TBA
Fuels WT meeting
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January 16, 2012
Due date to get treatment polygons to ftp site
Note Taker for Next Meeting: TBD