Back to the future: partnerships embracing fire as a resource for a resilient future
Living with fire in California’s Coast Ranges: Session 22 May 8, 2018
photo: David Ackerly
Dr. Lisa Micheli, President Will Harling, Co-Director Pepperwood Foundation mission to advance science-based conservation throughout our region and beyond
The Dwight Center for Conservation Science
3200-acre scientific preserve in Sonoma County BAveg Fire probability increases with projected climate
Low : 0.1
¯
0 5 10 20 Miles
Warm, Moderate Where are the most fire-prone Current Hot, Low Rainfall Rainfall parts of the region? Variable Units 1971-2000 2040-2069 2070-2099 2040-2069 2070-2099 Probability of burning 1 Percent 0.17 0.21 0.23 0.20 0.23 or more times SD 0.05 0.06 0.05 0.05 0.06 Climate Ready North Bay, 2016 Pepperwood’s 2015 Fire Mitigation and Forest Health Initiative in response to Valley Fire Fire risk reduction strategies
Treatment options are demonstrated at Pepperwood and shared via workshops, field tours, and outreach
Five+ years pre-fire “baseline data” Topo-climate-variability of temp, rainfall and humidity across preserve, and interface of coastal-inland meteorology
Weather stations Full hydrologic cycle Pepperwood’sWoody veg plots monitoring-fog drip, Sentinel Site precipitation, soil moisture, Breeding bird survey stream flow, flow onset Grassland monitoring Dominant plant communities- Wildlife cameras forest and grassland long- Pond and stream gauges term stations and plant phenology transects
Wildlife occupancy- complemented by bird, herpetofauna, invertebrate surveys Key science questions
Preliminary LANDSAT analysis courtesy of Matt Clark, Sonoma State University
What can satellites© Steve Ting/GBBC combined with our sentinel site tell us? returning disturbance to the landscape
Prescribed burn at Pepperwood, June 2017 https://sonomaforests.org/
22 organizational partners including state and local agencies, NGOs, land trusts, higher education, fire safe councils, watershed organizations, RCDs… plus private landowners and registered foresters More public-private partnerships
Sonoma in the works County’s post- Sonoma State- fire Watershed Pepperwood Forest Collaborative Health Dashboard and launch of an Office of Recovery and Resiliency
Mayacamas to Berryessa Landscape Connectivity Network
Fire Forward: workforce development by Audubon Canyon Ranch with Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, CAL FIRE, TNC and USFS AlertNorthBay - an enhanced fire detection network with Sonoma County Water Agency, Pepperwood and SSU….
Building the Components of the Cohesive Strategy to Achieve it's Vision and Goals: How Communities in the Western Klamath Mountains are Working Together to Create a Better Fire Future
Will Harling, Director, Mid Klamath Watershed Council
Creating a Social and Cultural Movement to Change How We Manage Fire Community Liaison Program Firewise Program
Engaging with fire management agencies during wildfire events through the Community Liaison Program
FAC/FLN Fire Safe Councils Implementing annual prescribed burning through Prescribe Fire Training Exchanges and cooperative burn agreements
Developing a local Type III Incident Management Team
2014 Klamath TREX Crew Forming and maintaining a landscape scale forest collaborative: Western Klamath Restoration Partnership (WKRP) 2017 Klamath Fire Ecology Symposium May 10-12, 2017 Hosting Klamath Fire Ecology Symposium every three years to bring scientists, managers, practitioners, students and residents up to date with the latest in fire science and management. Plenary Talks: 1997, 2008, 2011, 2014, 2017 - Presentations online at: www.mkwc.org USFS R5 Deputy Forester Barnie Gyant, CAL FIRE Director Ken Pimlott
Keynote Talks: PNW Researcher Paul Hessburg, PSW (Retired) Carl Skinner Telling our story in many forms of media
GOOGLE: Catching Fire Prescribed Burning Restoring tribal fire management practices and incorporating traditional knowledge: Indigenous Peoples Burning Network Engaging students through Pikyav Field Institute, Karuk/UC Berkeley Collaborative, etc.
Orleans/Somes Bar Fire Safe Council Formed April 2001
The purpose of the Orleans / Somes Bar FSC is to help plan, implement, and monitor the reinstatement of historic fire regimes primarily through the use of strategic fuels reduction in a manner that protects life and property, improves forest health, and enhances the resources valued by its stakeholders.
Orleans Somes Bar FSC Brushing Crew
Fuels Reduction Program (2001-2018): 2,300 acres treated on over 150 properties Collaborative Prescribed Burning (2003-2017) Klamath River Prescribed Fire Training Exchange (2014-2017)
Overcame obstacles including: • Liability/Insurance • Air Quality • Burn Permitting • Trained Workforce • Community Acceptance
2013 Northern CA TREX Photo: Mary Huffman (TNC) 2014 Klamath River TREX NPS Tribal International Tribal
Private
VFD/ NGO Local
NGO
Building More Local Capacity To Accomplish Fuel Reduction at the Timing and Scale It’s Needed Photo: Frank Lake
Photo: Stormy Staats Risk Management: Understanding, Quantifying and Managing Risk Shared Liability w Prescribed Fire
Successes • Rx Fire MOU between USFS Region 5 and TNC w supplemental agreements at Forest Level • Cooperative Burn Agreement between Karuk Tribe and Six Rivers NF • Agreements between Mid Klamath Watershed Council, landowners and TNC Challenges • No Rx Fire Agreement with State Fire Organization (CALFIRE) • State/Federal Fire Management Agencies Have No Mechanism to Share Liability • Rx Fire Insurance Policies Expensive and Hard to Get Credit: Lee Tarnay, USFS Region 5 Remote Sensing Lab, USFS AirfireTeam (https://tools.airfire.org/)
2017 Klamath TREX – Happy Camp Org Chart 2013 Orleans Fire
• Working off footprint of 2013 Orleans Fire • Tying in to existing roads, ridges and defensible features • Treating on public and private lands (2016 Red Cap Hazel Rx Burn) • Preparing for managing wildfires for resource objectives • Where is the line that we manage wildfires from and prescribed to the community? 2017 Klamath TREX Rx Burn in Orleans, CA Klamath TREX Accomplishments • 2,000 acres burned in 100+ properties in the WUI of seven communities • 300+ participants from local, tribal, state, national and federal organizations • No escaped fires Seiad Valley
• Began facilitated upslope restoration workshops w US FLN in Spring 2013. • An open group comprised of Federal, Tribal, Non- governmental Organization (NGO) and local participants. • Collaboratively identified planning area (1.2 million acres) • Goal: Restore “historic” (natural w people) fire regimes in the Western Klamath Mtns. WKRP Zones of Agreement
• Restoration of fire processes at the landscape scale is essential for social, cultural, ecological and economic resilience in the Western Klamath Mountains. • Strategic, linear manual and mechanical treatments along existing roads and fuelbreaks in preparation for large scale prescribed burning and better wildfire response. • Treat on and around private properties in preparation for large prescribed burns. • Prioritize treatment areas based on overlaying agreed upon spatial layers that represent our social, ecological, cultural and economic values. • Model for Collaborative Planning and Implementation • WKRP partners engaged through entire process (ID team, Rx development, stand exams, botany, arch, wildlife, research/ monitoring) • Will be implemented through Master Stewardship Agreement/Supp. Project Agreement w Karuk Tribe and Partners • Restoring fire process after a century of fire exclusion • Guided by traditional ecological knowledge and Western Science A Tale of Two Fires: 2017 Island and Wallow Fires
• Klamath NF managed Island Fire for almost two months as managed wildfire. • WKRP pre-season meetings created social license. • Spatial Fire Planning helped explain reasoning to stakeholders. • Island Fire buffered Wallow Fire during eight mile run overnight w East winds. Preparing for Managed Wildfire: Butler Flat, Salmon River, CA
2008 Ukonom Complex
2013 Butler Fire
2015 Klamath TREX
2006 Somes Fire Sierra Nevada/Cascade Range Fire Activity Index Fire Regime Periods
Native American Hispanic Gold Fire Suppression
Taylor et al. 2016. Socioecological transitions trigger fire regime shifts and modulate fire-climate interactions in the Sierra Nevada, USA, 1600-2015 CE. PNAS 113(48): 13684-13689 USFS PSW Geographer Carl Skinner (Retired) Link to “Every Fire Tells a Story” https://youtu.be/kpglLhmwPMc
2014 Whites Fire Questions/Discussion
2016 Gap Fire – Horse Creek