Southwestern Oregon Community Fire Plan

Location:
Medford, Oregon

Case description (read more)

 

Like all natural processes, wildfire knows no boundaries. A single fire can spread across grasslands and forests, leap roads, rivers and whole valleys, and threaten homes several miles apart. Each year between June and October, communities in the arid and semi-arid regions of southwest Oregon experience a sense of unease wondering if fire will threaten their homes. For rural communities near Medford, Oregon, these fears have materialized in recent years as two large fires and several smaller ones have spread through communities and burned several homes. In the wake of catastrophic fire, private and public landowners often ask: what could have been done to prevent such a destructive event? For one rural community outside Medford, the answer was clear - they needed a coordinated fire management plan.

 

This community had worked together collaboratively on several watershed-based issues for almost a decade and had long wanted to address the increasing high risk of fire in the watershed but did not have the resources with which to do so. When federal funding for localized fire planning became available through the National Fire Plan, the watershed partnership and representatives from the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management, seized the opportunity and secured a grant to develop a coordinated strategy for managing fire in the valley. The situation they confronted was not unlike several other western rural communities. Years of fire suppression had led to thousands of acres of overly dense brush in forested areas, creating a prime environment for catastrophic fire. In recent years, several homes had been built in these highly-vegetated areas; the roads themselves only accessible via narrow or steep driveways with overhanging vegetation. Furthermore, many of these homes lacked alternative electronic communications for rescue operations should fire engulf power and phone lines.

 

The challenge of drafting an integrated fire management plan was formidable given the checkerboard patterns of land ownership and management across the 500,000-acre valley. Nevertheless, the local watershed partnership had successfully spearheaded numerous collaborative initiatives involving local, state, and federal agencies. The partnership and the agencies were confident that through their collective experience and the growing interest among community members in fuels reduction, there was enough expertise and drive to develop a meaningful plan.

 

In less than a year, the partners in this process developed a Community Fire Plan - a strategic plan that discusses the region's fire history and presents strategies that agencies, community members and local landowners can employ to minimize the threat of catastrophic fire in the valley. The plan pulls together data from dozens of organizations in the region involved in fire management and prevention into one document that serves as a strategic guide for organizations to coordinate projects and more effectively address fire hazards. One agency participant in the planning process remarked, "Its incredible what was accomplished…other groups have spent a year or two working on this and they've got a fraction of where this group went in less than a year."

 

The plan is especially valuable to the private landowner because it has information on fire ecology, current fire hazards in the valley, fuel reduction strategies and techniques, fire suppression and protection, emergency communications and contacts, resources for identifying funding opportunities, local forestry contractors, and worksheets to help landowners develop their own fire management plan. To the agencies, the plan provides a crucial roadmap to help them coordinate strategies in fuel hazard reduction across borders, secure new resources for fire management on public and private lands, and improve the agencies ability to save lives and property from catastrophic fire.

What is fostering progress? (read more)

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  Dedication and Commitment: The presence of dedicated and energetic individuals provided critical stamina to complete the project.

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  Meaningful Volunteer Involvement: There was meaningful involvement from the community and landowners, which helped the planning team understand the values and interests of community members across many diverse neighborhoods as well as evaluate how to encourage volunteer participation in fire management efforts.

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  Broad management strategies: The parties were willing to look at the watershed as a unified landscape rather than a series of jurisdictional units, enabling them to consider broad management strategies that could be applied across private and public lands.

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  Structured process: A well structured process allowed the parties to quickly determine the goals and scope of the plan and to make strategic decisions about priorities for action.

What challenges were faced and how were they overcome? (read more)

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  Concerns about implementation: Having invested significant time and energy in developing the plan, the parties are concerned about implementation. Because of the plan's infancy, there remains considerable uncertainty about where projects will be implemented and with what resources.

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  Coordinating guidelines: Despite these uncertainties, the parties have developed prescriptive guidelines for the Forest Service that track with three of the agency's goals under the National Fire Plan including: reduction of hazardous fuels, community assistance, and accountability.

What lessons can be drawn? (read more)

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  Involve community members: Grassroots community involvement was critical to the success of the plan. The planning team spearheaded meaningful outreach sessions soliciting public values and interests in fire management in the valley. The public outreach sessions validated the work of the agencies in the public eye and will likely result in greater public participation in fuel hazards reduction.

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  Develop meaningful relationships: Considerable efforts were made to develop relationships between the agencies, the community, and the local watershed partnership, enabling the planning team to solicit meaningful comments from the public, maintain commitment through the planning process, and make a good faith effort to debate and identify shared management strategies.

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  Stay committed to tasks: The parties managed conflict well and remained committed to the task of a coordinated fire management strategy.

Learn more about related lessons from a broader set of partnerships

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  How collaboration can benefit all parties involved

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  Why setting clear goals can motivate progress and sustain projects

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  How projects can be sustained over time

Contact information at the Forest Service

Related Links

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  The National Fire Plan

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  Applegate Fire Plan

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  Applegate Partnership Home Page

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  The Applegate Learning Page

This site was developed by the Ecosystem Management Initiative through a partnership with the US Forest Service and the US Department of Interior. Read more.