Project Summary Form
Id Number 2006-134
NATIONAL FIRE PLAN COMMUNITY ASSISTANCE AND WILDLAND URBAN-INTERFACE PROJECTS
Application for Fuels Treatment Projects
Applicant
Applicant/Organization:
Project Wildfire
Phone: (111 111-1111 x 1111)
Type of Applicant: (enter appropriate letter in box)
B
541-322-6396
FAX: (111 111-1111 x 1111)
A. State
B. County
C. Municipal
D. Township
E. Interstate
541-322-6319
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):
63377 Jamison Street Bend, OR 97701
Project Coordinator
Project Coordinator (Name and Title):
Kate Lighthall Program Coordinator
Organization/Jurisdiction:
Project Wildfire
Phone: (111 111-1111 x 1111)
541-322-6396
FAX: (111 111-1111 x 1111)
541-322-6319
Call Ahead For FAX
Email:
Klighthall@ci.bend.or.us
Project Information
Project Title:
Mechanical Fuels Treatment Project
Proposed Project Start Date:
01/01/2006
Federal Funding Request:
$ 287,500
Proposed Project End Date:
12/31/2007
Total Project Funding:
$
387,500
Are you submitting multiple projects? If so, please explain and prioritize:
This is our only request under this category and our only fuels treatment project. It ranks last in comparison to the other three submissions in
the Prevention and Education category. All of our requests however, are interdependent on each other.
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).
Project Wildfire proposes to use this grant to support the development and implementation of a mechanical fuels treatment program. It is our intent
to further our mission to be connective leaders in our community by bringing landowners in high risk neighborhoods together with fuels treatment
vendors to reduce hazardous fuels throughout Deschutes County.
This project directly mitigates the risk of wildfire by contracting with independent mechanical equipment owners/operators to provide fuels reduction
services to individual residents, resident groups and landowners throughout Deschutes County.
Project Location:
Latitude: 43.91453
Longitude: 121.224
County:
Deschutes
Name of Federal, State or Tribal contact with whom you coordinated this proposal:
Federal Congressional District:
2
Telephone number of Contact:
Lisa Clark, Fire Mitigation Specialist, BLM
541-416-6864 Ext.
Ann Walker, National Fire Plan Coordinator, ODF
503-945-7346 Ext.
Deschutes County Board of Commissioners
541-388-6572 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?
Coordination with Central Oregon Fire Leadership Council and Project Wildfire.
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 Mastication/Mowing
Acres 125
Treatment
Acres 0
Treatment Thinning
Acres 125
Treatment
Acres 0
If you have a treatment type other than standard types above:
Other 1
Acres 0
Other 2
Acres 0
Project Wildfire is the result of a Deschutes County effort to create long-term mitigation strategies and provide for wildland fire resistant communities.
Through collaborative partnerships with public and private individuals, agencies and businesses, Project Wildfire is the Local Coordination Group in
Deschutes County that facilitates, educates, disseminates and maximizes community efforts towards effective fire planning and mitigation. Through
programs like FireFree, community fire planning and other fuels treatment opportunities, we achieve our goals.
Recent strategic planning confirmed the need to reduce hazardous fuels on private land and our goal to provide avenues for landowners and
resident groups to take responsibility for the reduction of fuels on their property. As connective leaders we are able to facilitate programs and
projects that require partnerships to achieve success. We are in the position to unite individual residents and resident groups with fuels reduction
specialists to reduce hazardous fuels in Deschutes County. We propose to further develop and implement this program in 2006 and 2007.
In Deschutes County, we live in a high risk wildland fire environment. Each year, wildfire threatens us from at least one side of the County,
sometimes multiple sides. As the population continues to explode here, we will continue to experience WUI challenges. Specifically, there are a
number of neighborhoods and subdivisions that are in Fire Regime One, Condition Class Three. These areas and homes are at high risk of
catastophic loss due to wildfire.
Through a simple brokerage-type program, we will identify high risk areas and to unite landowners with qualified, licensed fuels reduction contractors
for specific treatments. This grant will allow us to pay for the costs of specific treatments and disposal of debris. We anticipate that through this
program, we can effectively treat high risk neighborhoods and subdivisions around Deschutes County and significantly reduce the risk of wildfire and
wildfire spread.
We envision that private vendors will contract for specific treatments including possible tree trimming and removal, the removal of ladder fuels, and
clearing of other hazardous vegetation. Debris can be chipped on site or hauled off, depending on the agreement between the parties. For
example, a local neighborhood in an extremely high risk area received a grant to contract with a chipper contractor who collects yard waste from the
neighborhood, chips it on site and gives it back to the homeowners as landscaping material. This is an ideal partnership between individual
homeowners and a private chipping contractor. We view our Fuels Treatment Program as one that can stimulate these types of collaborative efforts
across the county.
Project Wildfire is now the custodian of the Central Oregon FireFree program. There are a number of opportunities to further the educational efforts
of FireFree and coordinate specific FireFree events and projects with this new program.
Support for the Fuels Treatment Project is strong. Working with ODF, USFS, BLM, county commissioners, fire agencies and homeowners
associations, we identified the need for this on-the-ground mitigation effort, and agreed that Project Wildfire is the ideal organization to coordinate
the project.
This project is in line with the community fire planning efforts that are underway in Deschutes County. This project is also in alignment and timing
with the implementation of the Oregon Forestland Urban Interface Fire Protection Act as well as the Healthy Forests Restoration Act. And, with the
structure of Project Wildfire, we can match up the high risk neighborhoods with the highest priority fuels projects on public lands.
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. The infrastructure in and around specific neighborhoods will ultimately be protected by this project. This includes access roads,
power lines, irrigation canals and systems, and general infrastructure components.
Deschutes County is a destination resort community where outdoor activities are abundant and popular. In addition to the threat
that wildfire poses to homes and property and the physical infrastructure, Deschutes County is also at risk for catastrophic loss to
vegetation, animals and fish, and other recreational opportunities that draw people to our area. A wildfire in the Sunriver area for
example, could economically cripple a large portion of our economic infrastructure.
B. The mechanical fuels treatment project will be developed specifically to reduce the potential for crown fires entering and
destroying neighborhoods and surrounding infrastructure. It directly affects fire behavior by reducing its ability to spread from one
property to another as a result of ladder fuels, ground fuels and overhanging trees.
The timing of this project will be in conjunction with existing education and mitigation programs like FireFree. The weeks and
months prior to fire season will likely be the busiest time for this program, with requests from individual homeowners or groups.
However, we anticipate an ongoing effort in high risk areas that we identify and pursue for treatment.
We anticipate that the hazardous fuels described above will be trimmed, cut, removed, chipped, and/or otherwise dealt with using a
variety of mechanical methods to reduce and/or eliminate the fuels. The focus of fuels treatments will be in areas that are
classified as Condition Classes 2 and 3 with the objective of treating them to Condition Class 1 level.
C. As part of the development process for this program, we will examine a variety of resources for sustaining the program into the
future. We will consider additional grant funding opportunities and take advantage of our partnerships to support this program.
Additionally, we will use community fire plans across the county and the authority of HFRA on public lands to maintain these
treatments.
D. We expect a multitude of monitoring opportunities for this project. Individual homeowners, groups and landowners will be able
to give direct comments about their experiences and the effectiveness of the treatments on their property. Externally, the project
will also be reviewed regularly by the federal agency responsible for administering the grant.
We also expect regular internal evaluations including statistical tracking of the number of owners and acres involved in the
mitigation program.
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. By acting as the connective leader between landowners, high risk neighborhoods and contractors, we are not taking jobs away
from contractors, but are instead, stimulating their workload, thereby adding to the improvement of our local economy.
B. Project Wildfire will be stimulating work for individual fuels treatment specialists. This in turn will likely create jobs for the
employees of the contractors. Since we view the Mechanical Fuels Treatment Project as a year-round mitigation effort, we expect
that jobs and work will be available year-round as well.
C. In Central Oregon, there are still members of the community who once made their living by logging, or in the woods. Not
everyone was able to make the workforce transition when those jobs disappeared. Consequently, those skills will again be utilized
with this project.
D. Small diameter wood products will be used for chips, posts, poles and compost. We will also explore sending the cleared
vegetation to Warm Springs for further production.
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. Deschutes County is currently working on a county-wide fire plan along with the five communities within the county that are
working on individual plans. The priority treatment areas from these plans will be considered for treatment under this project.
B. With the ongoing collaborative efforts of community fire plans being developed county wide, these agencies have actually
participated in the process.
C. The USFS, the BLM, ODF, Deschutes County, all fire departments and districts and Project Wildfire have cooperated as
partners in developing this project. They will all be active partners in the final development and implementation of this project.
D. Local support for the Fuels Treatment project is strong. The concept for the program was identified through our collaborative
partnerships with ODF, USFS, the BLM and local fire departments and agencies, as well as the board of county commissioners and
local homeowners associations. Part of the development process for this project includes the identification and securing of
community partners to support the project.
Project Work Form
Tasks
Identify priority fuels treatment areas in
Deschutes County & rank according to fire
plans and FR/CC.
Identify best value contractors that are
licensed, bonded with the mechanical
equipment to provide services.
Award best value and/or definite quantity
contracts utilizing interagency contract
language. Includes biomass utlization.
Monitor effectiveness of treatments, project
future needs and prepare additional grant
requests.
Time Frame
Responsible Party
Project Wildfire Steering Committee
January 2006 to April 2006
Project Wildfire Steering Committee
January 2006 to April 2006
Program Coordinator and Project
Wildfire Steering Committee.
May 2006 to Dec 2007
Program Coordinator and Project
Wildfire Steering Committee
May 2006 to Dec 2007
Project Budget
PW partners
Cost Category
Description
Federal
Agency
Applicant
Partner 1
Partner 2
Total
Partner 3
Personnel
$0
Subtotal
$0
$50,000
$0
$0
$50,000
$0
$0
$0
$0
$0
$0
$0
$0
$50,000
$0
$0
$50,000
$0
$0
$10,000
Fringe Benefits
Subtotal
$0
$0
$10,000
$0
$0
$0
$0
$0
$0
$0
$0
$10,000
$0
$0
$10,000
$0
$0
$0
$0
$0
$0
$0
$0
$0
$0
$0
$0
$0
$0
$0
$0
$0
$0
$0
$0
$0
$0
$0
$0
$0
$0
$0
$0
$0
$0
$0
$0
$0
$0
$0
$0
$0
$10,000
$0
$0
$10,000
$0
$0
$0
$0
$0
$0
$0
$0
$10,000
$0
$0
$10,000
$250,000
$0
$0
$0
$0
$250,000
$0
$0
$0
$0
$0
$0
$0
$250,000
$0
$0
$0
$250,000
$0
$0
$30,000
$0
$0
$30,000
$37,500
$0
$0
$0
$37,500
$37,500
$0
$0
$30,000
$0
$0
$67,500
$287,500
$0
$100,000
$0
$0
$387,500
$0
$0
$0
$0
$0
$0
Travel
$0
Subtotal
Equipment
Subtotal
Supplies
Subtotal
Contractual
Fuels trtmnt specialists
Subtotal
Other
GIS, monitoring
15% admin of grant
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.