Pacific Northwest Coordination Group Steering Committee (PNWCG SC)
Meeting Notes Final
25 June, 2008 @ Northwest Coordination Center (NWCC)
Attending: Cory Winnie, BIA, Chair; Carl Gossard, BLM-SORO , Ken Snell, USFS, R6;
Pam Ensley, FWS; Mike Burnett, OR Fire Chiefs; Paul Bell, ODF; Mark Kahley, WA DNR;
Bill Lafferty, ODF; Jan Mathis, BLM-SORO notetaker; Pat Kelly, Executive Director PNWCG
SC. Presenters: Gerry Day, Thomas Skinner and Mark Gray.
Meeting Called to Order at 9:00 a.m. Pat Kelly presented agenda overview. There were a couple of last minute changes to the agenda: At 10:30 we’ll attend the weather briefing; the
Strategic Plan item will be moved forward.
(Handout #1 PNWCG SC Agenda for June 25, 2008 at NWCC, 1p)
Chair’s Remarks
Cory
Fire season is here and it’s time to finalize the MAC operating plan. We may be using it this weekend.
FPA Presentation Thomas Skinner (incoming chair for the PNW FPA Team)
(Handout #2 – PNW Fire Program Analysis (FPA) Implementation Team Charter, 6pp)
(Handout #3 – Pacific Northwest Fire Program Analysis (FPA) Implementation Team Annual
Operating Plan – June 2008, 5pp)
The FPA group is active and working, although they are not fully chartered. Rick Smedley has been working on getting the charter signed and an implementation plan completed.
There are 2 main purposes to this presentation:
1. The existence/clarification issue – are we an implementation team or a
working team?
2. To look at the budget
A draft Charter was put together, some of the changes made are:

Most changes in charter were to clean up the information with the National FPA Group.

The changes are all on page 4 and can be easily located (used track changes).
On the draft Annual Operating Plan, some of the changes made:

On page 2 under Purpose, referred to charter name

In Para 2. There are 17 planning units which is the correct number, later on in the document there is reference to 16 planning units. This number will be corrected to 17.

Under Roles and Responsibilities, the first paragraph was deleted since it was in the charter.

Membership - at the bottom of page 2 – a change will be made to define who the voting members are on lines 3 & 4.

On page 3, names will be changed: Rich McRae is retiring. He’ll be replaced by Scott
Bradshaw. Change made to table 2.

Page 4 clarification for the duties of the chair, reference back to the charter. 2 nd
paragraph under duties of the chair.

Would like concurrence of the Charter and Operating Plan and clarification as to whether they are a working team or implementation team.
Suggestion from Ken on the change for voting members - There should be a representative from both agencies – BLM and USFS. Committee agrees. Thomas will remove the reference to
“one” vote.
Suggestion from Mark: The reference to Pacific Northwest Coordinating Group should be changed to Pacific Northwest Wildfire Coordinating Group. Committee agrees.
Discussion on FPA . There are states who are actively participating in the FPA. For those who are not, state reports will be utilized for FPA. What the FPA is trying to do – it is designed as a strategic modeling tool, it’s not designed as a budgeting tool. How they’re going to make the budget decisions is a mystery right now. The current FPA run this year will be a learning experience. It’s basically to figure out what works and what doesn’t work. It’s referred to as something that will be utilized yearly beginning the 2011 FY year budget cycle.
Comments: In the field, there’s a general feeling that FPA is something that will be used as a budgeting tool, however it was designed as a strategic modeling tool.
Issues have come up related to Oregon and Washington. How much participation comes from the various state agencies. It makes sense to have more participants.
Decision: The committee concurs with the charter, in this context:

Implementation Team would be changed to Working Team.

Change the voting structure

Change the signature page to the chair of PNWCG SC Cory Winnie.

It will be a Working Team within the PNWCG structure.

Identify a point of contact for Oregon/Washington o Mark Kahley suggests Darrel Johnston for Washington o Paul Bell suggests Teresa Vonn for Oregon
Since most of the changes are format related, Thomas will edit and send the updated charter to
Cory.
Hot Topics
Accountable Cost Management Ken
The FS Washington Office has hired two new NIMO teams, now we have a total of 28 people.
There’s a lot of pressure from the OMB on the FS Chief not to exceed our existing budget for suppression costs. To address this issue, an Accountable Cost Management Workshop has been developed and will be presented by the NIMO teams in all of the Western Regions 1, 2, 4, 5 & 6
(all except Region 3). From what he has seen, the workshop seems to be laced with things that are definitely interagency in nature. He doesn’t know what the agenda will look like. They presented the workshop in Region 2 on Monday and Tuesday and he hasn’t heard any feedback yet.

There is workshop scheduled for July 8 & 9 th at the Edith Green Building 1220 SW 3 rd Ave,
Room 322.
There will be representatives from the six national forests in the region who usually experience the largest fires: Blue Mountain, Umatilla, Wallowa Whitman, Malheur, Rogue-
Siskiyou and Okanogan-Wenatchee.
The Chief and FS are putting on these workshops to show OMB that we are doing everything we can do to stay within the budget.
Ken will send the SC members the agenda. All who are interested are invited to attend.
AMR Pilots Ken
Nationally, the guidance is changing for AMR. There will be a pilot program that will allow us to manage for multiple objectives. So we’ll be managing the fire with a WFSA and a WFIPS.
The WFDSS, across the 3 levels, will not be ready until the middle of July or early August.
For now, we will be using some of the components of the WFDSS such as RAVAR & FSPro.
There is strong support for this program
Break for Weather Briefing at 10:30 am.
Summary: Temperatures to rise this weekend into the high 90s and into early next week. This creates potential in several areas for ignitions which could develop into large fires.
Returned at 11am
NWCC Budget Gerry
(Handout #4 – NW MAC Operations Handbook, 32pp)
(Handout #5 – NW Mac Memorandum, 1pg)
Gerry passed around a draft list of MAC reps to the SC members for review and edits.
The NW MAC Operations Handbook – no significant changes to the book this year. NWCC takes care of orders for resources at the lower levels (PL1 – 3), but when it gets to the point of where it’s impacting their operations, Gerry will then activate a MAC group to do site assessment, plans, aviation and operations.
Gerry introduced Dave Quinn who is the acting Ops manager, on detail through summer.
In need of personnel to come out to work at NWCC - looking for agency people to shadow and help out.
Lyle is still the liaison for the NMAC.
Approval - The Operations Plan 2008-2009 was signed by attending SC members.
Some minor corrections were made such as name change from Simple National Response Plan to
National Response Framework.
The NMAC conference calls will be held in the same manner as last year, the group is satisfied with the way the conference calls are handled.

Suggestion: In August change the MAC Group to an in-person meeting and combine with the
PNWCG SC meeting.
Handout #6 - Draft NWCC Ops Plan 2008-09, 11pp
This is basically the same as last year.
A couple of changes will be made to Appendix A
Detailer meteorologist will report to Dan not John Saltenberger
Computer specialist will be changed to a BLM FTE
Appendix B is the Operating Budget.
NWCC 2009 Budget Gerry Day
(Handout #7 - NWCC 2009 Budget, 1 p)
Top part of the budget is about basic operations – agreed to breakdowns are in terms of percentages. Some of it are fixed costs, some are discretionary, variable costs.
Referring to Appendix B on OPS budget, you can see that some of the numbers have gone down.
What you’re seeing in a move of money from the Operations arena to finally filling some of the interagency positions that have been vacant over the last few years.
Approval - The committee approves an interagency funded GS-09 Assistant Intel Position.
Action item – All members need to submit Delegation of Authority letters, if required, to Gerry asap. There’s an example of a letter in the MAC handbook.
Break for lunch at 11:55 am
Reconvened at 12:45 pm
May Notes Jan
(Handout #8 – Meeting Notes 21 May 2008, 5 pp)
Notes approved with minor changes. Jan will finalize and post to the website.
Approval 2008 AOP Cory
(Handout #9 – Master Cooperative Fire Protection Agreement NW Operating Plan, 2pp #25-27)
(Handout #10 – PNW Master Cooperative Fire Protection Agreement 2008 Annual Operating
Plan - Changes from 2007 Briefing paper 1p)
Review of AOP – changes to be made to the following:

On page 26 should be from Net difference “FS owes the BLM” to “BLM owes to FS”
 Under “Use of Aircraft” section beginning on page 8 - A sentence needs to be added to that refers to the US/BC Border Agreement for use of Canadian Aircraft. (didn’t see in the AOP)

Briefing paper references page 20 for Exhibit C - should be page 25 – pen change made.

There were some concerns and issues that the committee had about the AOP. But the AOP needs to be signed before the billing processes can be accomplished. The AOP can be amended at any time.
Suggested Action Item from Ken: We’re going to take a look at that 237 to see if accurate (for
ODF). Refer back to Kathy and Bob.
Approval with caveat: Sign the agreement as is, with the understanding that all agencies meet to resolve a possible addendum project plan to cover additional costs of ODF.
Action: Task the IBWT (Incident Business Working Team)
Action: Edit AOP as follows:

Reinsert bullet 2 from briefing paper on Canadian Aircraft.

Make change on page. 26 from Net difference FS owes the BLM to Net difference
BLM owes to FS. Verify with Brenda Johnson.
Status of NFP Grants/NFPORS Mark
(Handout #11 – NFP Community Assistance Grant Information 3pp)
NFPORS has some good information to see where projects are on the map.
Used an example, the Union Valley community at risk by Lake Chelan. You can see the communities at risk and the fire history. This area pretty active for fires, expect that this is an annual occurrence. You can look at the public lands in and adjacent to the community. Where it sits in relation to federal lands. When you look at specific projects on the ground, you need more resolution. When you look at the whole area, at some scales it’s harder to see the specifics, but at others, you can see what’s being done strategically.
Mark asks the committee: What is the level of information and type of detail needed?
What questions and answers need to be added into the data.
Pam: The National Fire Plan site has maps of the grants that have been awarded for 2001 to
2008. It was very helpful information, but couldn’t break it out by agency and by year. Would like to have that information. Also, how many acres? Types of treatments – planning or prevention? To be able to sort out by agency and by year would be very helpful. Where are the projects in the region, what CWPPs have been done.
Ken: This would be used mostly for sharing information: where is the work being done and is it being done in the areas that need it? Are the individual projects maintained over time? What protocols do we have in place to see if projects are being maintained? How many outstanding grants are there, that have been awarded but are not complete.
A summary sheet to share the status of the whole grant program. Executive summary for anyone who asks and to show that we’re doing the work that needs to be done and are making a difference.

TO 0606-01 GIS Working Team Mark Burnett
Mark recommends that Task order # 0606-01 for the GIS Working Team be withdrawn. This will be brought up at the August meeting. A question for the committee - what do they want from the GIS Working Team?
There are 3 areas that the team works on:

Static maps, something that the NFPWT can produce with the information that is needed.

Data Storage – where do we want to store it and how will that storage site be populated.

Data Standards – fuel data standards, a uniform standard.
Decision: Committee agreed to withdraw the Task Order 0606-01
Pat asks that the committee scope their needs and bring for brainstorming at the August meeting.
Then they can put together the priorities that the SC would like to see for that team.
Action: Mike Burnett is the liaison for the Working Team and will write a letter to withdraw task order 0606-01 and forward to Cory.
Gerry provided an updated list for the committee. It will be posted on the website. Gerry will send out information on how to access.
Decision: The Strategic Plan to be pushed forward.
Best Value Dispatching, Blue Ribbon Panel, 0606-02 Carl
There’s a difference in how the Feds and states move resources, the host unit vs. area-wide. Best
Value is tied to their host unit. How to move Best Value resources - let’s switch gears and work with Bill and Gerry to finalize the Best Value Dispatching.
Pat: A possible way to proceed is to consider that Gordon Foster’s work and task order is done, they have served their purpose. We can now work on implementation with Bill and Gerry.
Action: Pat will do the paperwork to close that task order out 0606-02.
Tanker 85 Mark Kahley
This is an advisory notice. They attempted to contract for a water scooper aircraft through the
General Administration in Washington. Came within 2 hours of closing the bid and a protest was received, citing that the aircraft is 62 years old, World War II vintage. They answered 8 to
10 allegations as to why it was unfair. It’s likely to go to litigation. If any agencies are called by the press, make sure you direct any inquiries to the appropriate level.
AAR
+ Got through a lot of issues
+ Flexibility
+ Appreciate the work that Mark Gray has done with NFP

Meeting adjourned at 1500
HANDOUTS
#1 – PNWCG SC Agenda for June 25, 2008 at NWCC, 1p
#2 – PNW Fire Program Analysis (FPA) Implementation Team Charter, 6pp
#3 – Pacific Northwest Fire Program Analysis (FPA) Implementation Team Annual Operating
Plan – June 2008, 5pp
#4 – NW MAC Operations Handbook, 32pp
#5 – NW MAC Memorandum, 1p
#6 – Draft NWCC Ops Plan 2008-09, 11pp
#7 – NWCC 2009 Budget, 1 p
#8 – Meeting Notes 21 May 2008, 5 pp
#9 – Master Cooperative Fire Protection Agreement NW Operating Plan, 2pp #25-27
#10 – PNW Master Cooperative Fire Protection Agreement 2008 Annual Operating Plan -
Changes from 2007 Briefing paper 1p
#11 – NFP Community Assistance Grant Information 3pp