Project Summary Form Id Number 2006-118 NATIONAL FIRE PLAN COMMUNITY ASSISTANCE AND WILDLAND URBAN-INTERFACE PROJECTS Application for Fuels Treatment Projects Applicant Applicant/Organization: Oregon Department of Forestry COD Prineville/Sisters Phone: (111 111-1111 x 1111) Type of Applicant: (enter appropriate letter in box) A 503-945-7341 FAX: (111 111-1111 x 1111) A. State B. County C. Municipal D. Township E. Interstate 503-945-7416 Please Call Ahead For FAX H. Independent School District I. State-Controlled Institution of Higher Learning J. Private University K. Indian Tribe L. Nonprofit Organization Address (Street or P. O. Box, City, State, Zip): 2600 State Street Salem, OR 97310 Project Coordinator Project Coordinator (Name and Title): Ms. Mary Helen Smith Grant Coordinator/Stu Otto Field Coordinator Organization/Jurisdiction: Oregon Department of Forestry Phone: (111 111-1111 x 1111) 503-945-7341 FAX: (111 111-1111 x 1111) 503-945-7416 Call Ahead For FAX Email: msmith@odf.state.or.us Project Information Project Title: Sisters Thinning Crew Service and Supply Proposed Project Start Date: 05/01/2006 Federal Funding Request: $ 90,912 Proposed Project End Date: 12/31/2008 Total Project Funding: $ 179,012 Are you submitting multiple projects? If so, please explain and prioritize: Brief Project Summary: Who, What, Where, Desired Outcomes in relation to NFP Goals and Community Risk Assessment and Mitigation Plans (This should summarize page 2). This grant is a continutation of a Community Assistance Grant awarded in 2003 and is designed to provide needed service and supply, including personal protective equipment, tools, vehicle and office support for a cooperative thinning project between the US Forest Service [USFS] and the Oregon Department of Forestry [ODF]. This project was created to reduce hazardous fuels along the Hwy 20 corridor near Sisters, OR. Fuel treatments and demonstrations are conducted on USFS land directly adjacent to private homes. This project involves a number of agencies including: ODF, USFS, Deschutes County Corrections, and Oregon State Department of Corrections. The fuels are treated in a number of ways including: thinning, prescribed burning [under burns, pile burning] and mowing of units. Since the awarding of the first grant the scope of this project has grown from the Hwy 20 corridor to the crew being available to treat hazardous fuels in most of the Ranger Districts on the Deschutes NF. Project Location: Latitude: -121.524 Longitude: 44.307 County: Deschutes Name of Federal, State or Tribal contact with whom you coordinated this proposal: Federal Congressional District: 2 Telephone number of Contact: Ryan Karjala, ODF Fire Supervisor 541-549-2731 Ext. Dave Moyer, USFS Sisters RD Silviculture 541-549-7700 Ext. Ext. Project Narrative Description Applications for funding must include a narrative response that describes the proposal. Please do not submit responses longer than one page, single space, 12-pitch font. Describe project including, but not limited to: x project relationship to the community risk assessment and x project location (e.g., Watershed, Address mitigation plan neighboring community) these items as applicable: x anticipated outcomes x amount or extent of actions (acres, number of homes, etc.) x project timeline and matching or contributed funds x community partners and their role(s) x proponent’s ability to complete project For this project, explain the level of cooperation, coordination or strategic planning, through a “Local Coordination Group.” If you have not worked with a local coordination group, why not? Level of cooperation is high with ODF, Ranger Districts, fire staff, and local neighborhoods. Is this project adjacent to a current prescribed burn project on federal lands or to one that is planned within the next three years? (Yes/No) Yes Please indicate planned treatments and associated acres: * Treatment Thinning Acres 9360 Treatment Hand Piling Acres 4500 Treatment Hand Pile Burning Acres 6240 Treatment Acres 0 If you have a treatment type other than standard types above: Other 1 Acres 0 Other 2 Acres 0 The project location has increased from just along Highway 20 to urban interface areas west of Bend, and the LaPine basin. The anticipated outcome will be: support, through service and supply, the reduction of fire hazards near high-risk communities; improve the overall forest health; serves as a model for landowners and encourages them to take action to protect their personal investments. The partners include: US Forest Service Sisters, Bend/Fort Rock and Crescent Ranger Districts, Rural Fire Departments, Deschutes County Corrections, Oregon Department of Corrections and numerous homeowner associations in Deschutes, Jefferson, and Klamath Counties. The Ranger Districts plan and lay out the thinning units, the ODF crew does the cutting of the units, removing excess trees, ladder fuels and prune remaining trees, the correction crews then pile the slash, and the ODF crew can return later in the year and burn the piles. Rural fire departments take note of the areas being treated and encourage private landowners to treat their own fuels along the property line. In those areas covered by Community Wildfire Protection Plans the objective is to treat buffers identified in the plans. In the LaPine Basin there is one plan completed; the Upper Deschutes River Natural Resources Coalition, and the plan should be posted on their web site at www.udrnrc.com. Plans are still being created in other areas. The outcome would be to help treat the default buffers. The extent of the acres treated by thinning is approximately 9,360 and acres burned [both pile and underburn] is approximately 6,240. These units have changed fuel loading and fire behavior around the communities of Black Butte, Sisters, Camp Sherman, the area west of Bend, and in the LaPine basin. The houses affected are numerous. The project time lines will depend on the thinning units having completed the federal planning requirements. The thinning projects have been in place for the last six years and have treated thousands of acres and have been a model for interagency cooperative programs. ODF has a long history of successful NFP grant implementation. Project Evaluation Criteria Applications for funding must include narrative responses that address the following three criteria. Be sure you address every one briefly, yet thoroughly. Limit your responses to the area provided. 1. Reducing Hazardous Fuels (50 points) A. Describe the community infrastructure that will be protected. B. Explain how the proposal reduces fire behavior in high hazard areas by describing the fuels to be disposed or removed, and the techniques and timing of the treatments. C. How will the proposed treatments be maintained in future years? D. How will you use multi-party monitoring to improve this and future projects? Response: A. Most of these thinning units will be adjacent to developed subdivisions so homes are the infrastructure that would be protected. Other values depending on the location of the thinning units such as: watershed, wildlife habitat and forest resources would also be protected. B. This grant proposal directly supports on-the-ground treatment of hazardous fuels adjacent to at-risk communities in the wildland interface. The project extends the ability to purchase needed service and suppply items to support personnel involved in on-theground thinning activities. The project will remove excess trees and remove ladder fuels. This will be done mostly by thinning with chain saws and piling the debris by hand. The timing of the thinning will be late fall and early winter continuing on until early spring. C. The treatments will be maintained by underburning or by mowing as identified in the plan. D. The Ranger Districts will lead the monitoring on these projects. This monitoring will be improved by multi-party monitoring or at least multi-disciplined monitoring. This type of monitoring will have the advantage of measuring different parameters to show the different effects of the treatments and will help managers design better treatments in the future. Project Evaluation Criteria 2. Increasing Local Capacity (25 points) A. How would the proposal improve or lead to the improvement of the local economy in terms of jobs and sustainable economic activity? B. How many jobs are expected to be created or retained and for how long? (Please distinguish between essentially year-round and seasonal jobs). C. What tools and skills will be gained or utilized as a result of this project? D. Will biomass be utilized; if so, in what manner and how much? Response: A. This project provides off-season employment for approximately 20 wildland firefighters. As more landowners seek to manage their fuel loading on private land, they may potentially seek out local contractors to conduct fuels treatment and dispose of the debris thus providing more jobs and stimulating the local economy. B. Approximately 20 seasonal jobs for four months. C. Members of the crew will learn to safely use chainsaws with proper falling techniques, which is a skill that could lead to other employment or will be useful to these people on the job of fighting fire. During the burning portion of the work, many key skills will be gained from proper planning and implementation of prescribed burns. Observing fire behavior under controlled circumstances will help in understanding wildland fire behavior. D. It is estimated that approximately 50% of the material will be used in some manner such as: firewood, fence posts and hog fuel. 3. Demonstrating Community and Intergovernmental Collaboration (25 Points) A. How will this project implement a community risk assessment and mitigation plan? Include name of plan, date it was prepared, and local contact to get a copy of the plan if requested. B. How has this treatment been coordinated with adjacent landowners and local/State/Tribal/Federal agencies? C. Identify the cooperators/partners involved in implementation of this project. D. Describe the extent of current local support for the project, including any cost-sharing agreements. Response: A. This project could be part of several Community Wildfire Protection Plans depending on the location of the thinning. The one completed plan is the Upper Deschutes River Natural Resources Coalition Plan signed July 21, 2004. A copy of the plan can be obtained at www.udrnrc.org. Thinning and fuels reduction adjacent to coalition neighborhoods is a priority of the plan. Deschutes County is currently working with federal and state agencies, along with local communities to complete a plan that will encompass the rest of the county and it should be complete before the round of grants are funded. In those plans treatment of adjacent federal lands will also be a priority. B. These treatments have been coordinated through the US Forest Service planning process. During the planning phase treatment units and methods have been identified. C. The cooperators and partners have been the Oregon Department of Forestry, the US Forest Service Ranger Districts, Deschutes County Corrections, Oregon Department of Corrections, local communities, and homeowner associations. D. The level of support is very high among all agencies and departments responsbile for fire prevention and suppression. Project Work Form Tasks Time Frame Select treatment Units / coordinate thinning and piling Responsible Party Ranger District(s) staff / Dave Moyer USFS Fall / Winter 2005 Begin thinning / begin piling Ryan Karjala ODF / Oregon Department of Corrections Early Spring / Summer 2006 Resume thinning / begin burning Ryan Karjala ODF Late Fall 2006 Ranger District(s) staff Monitor results Fall 2006 / Spring 2007 Continue treatments Ryan Karjala ODF / coordinate with Dave Moyer USFS Spring 2007 Ranger District(s) staff Monitor results Fall 2007 / Spring 2008 Continue treatments Ryan Karjala ODF / coordinate with Dave Moyer USFS Spring 2008 Ryan Karjala ODF / coordinate with Dave Moyer USFS Complete grant Winter 2008 Project Budget Cost Category Description Federal Agency Applicant Partner 1 Partner 2 Total Partner 3 Personnel Wages clerical/mgt ODF Match Subtotal $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $34,386 $0 $0 $0 $34,386 $12,457 $34,386 $0 $0 $0 $46,843 $0 $0 $3,500 $12,457 $12,457 Fringe Benefits OPE ODF Match Subtotal $3,500 $0 $0 $0 $17,714 $17,714 $0 $0 $0 $17,714 $3,500 $0 $0 $0 $21,214 $15,000 $12,000 $0 $0 $0 $27,000 $0 $0 $0 $15,000 $0 $12,000 $0 $0 $0 $0 $27,000 $13,500 $24,000 $0 $0 $0 $37,500 $11,000 $0 $0 $0 $0 $11,000 $24,500 $24,000 $0 $0 $0 $48,500 $30,000 $0 $0 $0 $0 $30,000 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $30,000 $0 $0 $0 $0 $30,000 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $5,455 $0 $0 $0 $0 $5,455 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $5,455 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $5,455 $90,912 $88,100 $0 $0 $0 $179,012 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 Travel Mileage $0 Subtotal Equipment Motorpool Expenses Chainsaws Subtotal Supplies Safety Equip, saw parts (chain, bar oil, repair) Subtotal Contractual Subtotal Other Salem 6%(Prot+Financ) Subtotal Total Costs Project (Program) Income1 ___________________________________ 1 Program income is the gross revenue generated by a grant or cooperative agreement supported activity during the life of the grant. Program income can be made by recipients from fees charged for conference or workshop attendance, from rental fees earned from renting out real property or equipment acquired with grant or cooperative agreement funds, or from the sale of commodities or items developed under the grant or cooperative agreement. The use of Program Income during the project period may require prior approval by the granting agency.