Enclosure 3A - Project Summary Form NATIONAL FIRE PLAN COMMUNITY ASSISTANCE AND WILDLAND URBAN INTERFACE PROJECTS Application for Wildland Urban Interface Fuels / Education and Prevention / Community Planning for Fire Protection Projects Applicant Applicant/Organization: United Community Partners, Inc. Phone: FAX: Email: 541-742-6189 541-742-6193 theshop@pinetel.com Address (Street or P. O. Box, City, State, Zip): 35901 Valley View Lane, Halfway, OR 97834 Project Coordinator Project Coordinator (Name and Title): Mike Higgins, Program Manager Organization/Jurisdiction: United Community Partners, Inc. Phone: FAX: Email: 541-742-6241 541-742-6241 Higgins@pinetel.com Project Information Project Title: Pine and Eagle Valleys Interface Education, Fuels Assessment and Treatment Project Start: Project End: September 1, 2003 October 1, 2006 Federal Funding Request: Total Project Funding: $68,000.00 $79,000.00 Are you submitting multiple projects? If so, please explain and prioritize: No Brief Project Description: UCP requested grant monies in FY 2002 and received partial funding of that request. This application is for the unfunded portion of that request and for the 10% administrative charge to Oregon Department of Forestry, of which we were unaware at the original request. This project will treat fuels on private lands in Pine and Eagle Valleys which intersperse with federally-managed lands, and provide landowners education through a series of workshops and meetings discussing fire danger and fire wise practices. The assessment done under the FY 2002 grant will be used to identify and implement treatment opportunities on a cost-share basis to help fireproof residences and acreages within the interface area. The educational workshops will be put on by United Community Partners in cooperation with various partners. Fuels treatment will be done in 2003 and 2004, and 2005. 500 acres may be treated. This project will coordinate and enhance the Fuels Treatment 2002. Project Location: County: Congressional District: Pine and Eagle valleys Baker 2nd Congressional Distric Project Type: Check appropriate project type. More than one type may be checked. If only Box (4) is checked, use Enclosure 4. (1) (2) Wildland Urban Interface Fuels Project Wildland Urban Interface Education and Prevention Project (3) (4) Community Planning for Fire Protection Project Fuels Utilization and Marketing Project If the applicant is an unincorporated area, define the geographic area being represented: Private interface lands and residences adjacent to federally-managed lands in the Pine and Eagle Creek watersheds, located in northeast Oregon. Enclosure 3B (Page 1 of 3) - 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: project location Address these project implementation items as anticipated outcomes applicable: measures and reporting partners project income project time frames specify types of activities and equipment used amount or extent of actions (acres, number of homes, etc) environmental, cultural and historical resource requirements United Community Partners (UCP) is a nonprofit citizen's group formed to improve quality of life for residents of northeast Oregon through environmental improvement and job creation. UCP would like to undertake a comprehensive fuels assessment and treatment program in cooperation with valley residents and partners US Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, Oregon Department of Forestry, Oregon State University, Pine Eagle United Youth Fund, Pine Valley Recycling, and Pine and Eagle Valley Rural Fire Departments. The project area including Pine Valley, Eagle Valley, Cornucopia and Sparta is located in eastern Oregon, approximately 45 miles from Baker City, Or. Incorporated areas are the cities of Halfway with a population of 340 and Richland with a population of 150. An additional 1200 people live in the surrounding unincorporated areas. The forest interface encompass approximately 11,000 private acres and about 70 homesites. The valleys are surrounded by federally-managed lands, interspersed with private lands. This forest interface is a major concern to valley residents and public land managers because of the threat of wildfire spreading between the private and public lands. High risk areas identified in a 2002 study done for the Bureau of Land Management by Dynamac Corporation, including the west and north interface of the Pine Creek watersheds and the Sparta area of the Eagle Creek watersheds. Landowners are unaware of or are unable financially to implement appropriate fire prevention measures. United Community Partners, with help from valley residents and cooperating partners, proposes to undertake a program to address this problem. The program would consist of three parts: resident education, assessment and evaluation of the fuels present and fuels treatment. UCP has coordinated with Oregon Department of Forestry and U.S. Forest Service to integrate this treatment proposal with their overall agency treatment programs and will continue to coordinate with the agencies throughout the life of this project. The expected results of this grant include an increased awareness by landowners of fire-wise practices, and approximately 500 acres of private land treated, along with 50-70 home sites, leading to long-term healthy sustainable forests, with reduced fire risk to local communities and forest habitat. This project will also provide increased employment for valley residents. Programs to raise the awareness of residents will be ongoing throughout the timeline of the project. As a result of the monies received in FY 2002, assessment and evaluation of private lands and homes will begin in July, 2002 and continue through September, 2003. Treatment using a combination of piling, chipping, thinning, slashbuster, biomass removal or merricrusher will be done in June through November, 2003 and 2004. Monies received from the 2003 grant will be used to treat acres in addition to the acres treated with 2002 monies. Monitoring of the program will be done by the fuels/fire group through field trips to the treatment areas during the field seasons of 2002-2005. Response: Enclosure 3B (Page 2 of 3) - Project Evaluation Criteria Applications for funding must include narrative responses that address the following four criteria. Within each criterion, subcriteria are listed in descending order of importance. Limit your responses to the areas provided. 1. Reducing Fire Risk. (40 points)) A. Describe how the proposal promotes reduction of risk in high hazard areas or communities. B. Describe how the proposed project benefits resources on federal land or adjacent non-federal land, or how it protects the safety of communities. C. To what extent does the project implement or create a cooperative fuels treatment plan or community fire strategy (include evidence of the plan if it already exists)? D. Explain to what extent the affected community or proponent has been involved or plans to involve the affected community in a qualified fuels education program (e.g., FIREWISE). E. Explain how the proposal (a) leads to, enhances or restores a local fire-adapted ecosystem, and/or (b) mitigates or leads to the mitigation of hazardous fuel conditions. F. How will the proposed treatments be maintained over time? Response: Through a combination of increased public awareness, and treatments of those fuels, the risks of wildfire in high hazard communities will be reduced. Fire resistant stands and fuel breaks in strategically located areas will complement federal agency actions to treat conditions across the landscape. Because of the reduced fuel loadings, the risks of wild fire and the risk to adjacent timber stands is lessened along with the danger of a stand-replacement fire with the accompanying damage to wildlife, fish, soils and timber and possible loss of homes and lives.A comprehensive plan to be used to prioritize treatment will be formed by the fire and fuels group in cooperation with agency partners, rural fire departments, private landowners and United Community Partners as a result of the 2002 grant funding. UCP, ODF and WWNF have held public meetings concerning the National Fire Plan; these meetings will continue, along with additional educational opportunities, such as newspaper articles, continued use of the Firewise program, and an annual clean-up day to promote fire awareness and publicize opportunities for decreasing fire risk. Through years of fire exclusion, stands in the interface have become loaded with excessive fuels, this program will treat those fuels and restore stands to pre-settlement conditions. The local fire and fuels group, assisted by youth hired through Pine Eagle United Youth Fund, will monitor success of treatments 2. Increasing local capacity. (30 points) A. How would the proposal improve or lead to the improvement of the local economy in terms of jobs and sustainable economic activity? How many jobs are expected to be created or retained and for how long (please distinguish between essentially yearround and seasonal jobs)? B. To what extent will this project be offered to serve as a model for other communities? C. Will biomass or forest fuels be utilized; if so, in what manner and how much? The treatment of stands is expected to create 3-4 seasonal jobs for 4 years. The monitoring portion is expected to creat 2-3 seasonal jobs for 2 years. It is hoped that as part of that project, biomass will be used to create products and jobs. Response: Enclosure 3B (Page 3 of 3) - Project Evaluation Criteria 3. Increasing interagency and intergovernmental coordination. (15 Points) A. Describe how this project implements a local intergovernmental strategy plan, or creates such a plan. Describe the plan if it already exists. B. Explain the level of cooperation, coordination or strategic planning among federal, state, tribal, local government and community organizations. List the cooperators. Response: United Community Partners has developed this proposal in conjunction with the BLM, USFS, ODF, OSU, Pine and Eagle Valley Rural Fire Departments and private forest land owners to discuss fire and fuels concerns and equipment needs. This level of cooperation will continue as this plan is implemented. Treatment of stands will be done in cooperation with various agencies and contractors. Utilization of materials generated by treatment will be done in conjunction with local agencies and the Pine Valley Recyling Group. 4. Expanding Community Participation. (15 Points) A. To what extent have interested people and communities been provided an opportunity to become informed and involved in this proposal? B. Describe the extent of local support for the project, including any cost-sharing arrangements. C. What are the environmental, social and educational benefits of the project? Response: United Community Partners is an organization which represents the interests of valley members. The organization was formed by valley residents concerned about the lack of cooperation in the valley for improving and preserving opportunities to live and work in the valley. The organization has held information meetings concerning the National Fire Plan in the fall and winter of 2001 in cooperation with agency partners. Oregon Department of Forestry has done public outreach through its "Restoring Forest Health Strategy" plan. The Bureau of Land Management contracted with Dynamac Corporation, to do outreach and gather input from area residents. Their draft report, "Wildland-Urban-Interface, Communities at Risk Mitigations Recommendation" was used to help form this proposal. A watershed assessment plan has been done on Pine Creek which addresses fuels concerns. Landowners have agreed to cost-sharing labor to complete assessments and treatment of fuels on their lands. Homes adjacent to the forest interface will be made more fire defensible, surrounded by fire resistant stands and fuel breaks which are strategically placed to complement the fuels treatments on adjacent federal lands. This will reduce the chance of catastrophic fires moving between public and private lands Enclosure 3C - Project Work Form Tasks Mitigation (fuels treatment on home sites and interface acres) Monitoring , Time Frame September 1, 2003 - November 1, 2005 October 1, 2003 - November 1, 2006 Responsible Party Landowners, United Community Partners, Oregon Department of Forestry, U.S. Forest Service, Pine and Eagle Valley Rural Fire Departments, local contractors Landowners, United Community Partners, Oregon Department of Forestry, U.S. Forest Service, Pine and Eagle Valley Rural Fire Departments,Bureau of Land Management, local fire/fuels group Enclosure 3D Project Budget Cost Category Description Federal Agency Applicant Partner 1 Partner 2 Total $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $9,000.00 $9,000.00 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $70,000.00 $0.00 $70,000.00 Personnel Monitoring Subtotal $8,000.00 $8,000.00 $0.00 $0.00 $1,000.00 $1,000.00 Fringe Benefits Subtotal $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 Travel Monitoring Subtotal $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 Equipment $0.00 Subtotal $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 Supplies Subtotal $0.00 Contractual Mitigation $60,000.00 Subtotal $60,000.00 $0.00 $0.00 $10,000.00 $0.00 $10,000.00 Other Subtotal $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 Total Costs $68,000.00 $0.00 $11,000.00 $0.00 $79,000.00 Project (Program) Income1 (using deductive alternative) 1 $0.00 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.