LEARNING NETWORKS January 2015 FIELD GUIDE

Fire Learning Network Fire Adapted Communities Learning Network Prescribed Fire Training Exchanges Scaling-up to Promote Resiliency Copyright 2015 The Nature Conservancy

The Fire Learning Network is part of the “Promoting Ecosystem Resilience and Fire Adapted Communities Together: Collaborative Engagement, Collective Action and Co- Ownership of Fire” cooperative agreement among The Nature Conservancy, USDA Service and agencies of the Department of the Interior (Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Land Management, Fish & Wildlife Service, National Park Service). In addition to the network of landscape collaboratives, it includes prescribed fire training exchanges and targeted treatments under Scaling-up to Promote Ecosystem Resiliency. For more information, please visit www.conservationgateway.org/fln

Network Contacts FLN Director Lynn Decker [email protected] (801) 320-0524 USDA Forest Service Tim Melchert [email protected] (208) 387-5512 Dept. of the Interior Richard Bahr [email protected] (208) 334-1550

The Fire Learning Network Team The Nature Conservancy Fire Team: Jeremy Bailey, Lynn Decker, Guy Duffner, Wendy Fulks, Blane Heumann, Mary Huffman, Heather Montanye, Liz Rank and Chris Topik. The FLN Field Guide is compiled and produced by Liz Rank ([email protected]). Thanks to the numerous landscape and community leaders and partners who provided text, photos and review for this document, and for the valuable work they do in the field.

Photo Credits Front cover (top to bottom): Riley Bergseng, Coalition for the Upper South Platte, Robert B. Clontz/TNC; (center) Jeffrey Kane. This page: Jeffrey Kane. Back cover (left to right): Liz Rank/TNC, Katherine Medlock/TNC, Chris Topik/TNC, Mary Huffman/TNC. Liz Rank/TNC (2), Guy Duffner/TNC. Contents

Introduction & Overview A Brief Introduction to the Fire Learning Network 1 Dovetail Partners (Minnesota) 36 Where We Work 4 Mercer County Soil Conservation District (New Jersey) 37 A map of FLN landscapes, Fire Adapted Communities Learning Network pilot Chestatee-Chattahoochee RC&D Council (Georgia) 38 communities, prescribed fire training exchanges and Scaling-up to Promote Florida Forest Service 39 Ecosystem Resiliency projects Austin Travis County Cooperative (Texas) 40 Fire Learning Network Regional Networks & Large Landscapes Prescribed Fire Training Exchanges (2014) California Klamath-Siskiyou FLN 7 Niobrara River Valley (Spring Break TREX) (Nebraska) 42 Centennial Valley FLN 8 Lower Loup Valley TREX (Nebraska) 43 Central Appalachians FLN 9 Virginia TREX 44 FireScape Mendocino 10 Yurok TREX (California) 45 FireScape Monterey 11 International TREX (New Mexico) 46 Great Plains FLN 12 Black Lake TREX (New Mexico) 47 Northwest FLN 13 Klamath River TREX (California) 48 Pike’s Peak FLN 14 Northern California TREX 49 Rio Grande Water Fund 15 South Central FLN 16 Scaling-up to Promote Ecosystem Resiliency Southern Blue Ridge FLN 17 Overview of SPER II projects 52 Washington Dry FLN 18 FLN Indexes Western Klamath Mountains FLN 19 Partner Types 55 Fire Adapted Communities Learning Network Hub Organizations FLNs cross-referenced with the agency or organization types of key partners Overview of the FAC Learning Network 22 Areas of Focus & Expertise 56 FLNs cross-referenced by & human context factors worked with, and Chumstick Wildfire Stewardship Coalition (Washington) 24 by areas of expertise Project Wildfire (Oregon) 25 Managing in Landscapes with Threatened & Endangered Species 58 Southern Oregon Forest Restoration Collaborative (Oregon) 26 FLNs cross-referenced with T&E species Karuk Tribe (California) 27 Managing 61 North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District (Nevada/California) 28 FLNs cross-referenced with invasive species they manage for California Fire Safe Council 29 FAC Learning Network Indexes Greater Flagstaff Forests Partnership (Arizona) 30 Actions Taken & Values at Risk 64 The Forest Guild (New Mexico) 31 FAC hubs cross-referenced with actions being taken to address values at risk FireWise of Southwest Colorado 32 Resources & Strategies 65 Coalition for the Upper South Platte (Colorado) 33 FAC hubs cross-referenced with resources, programs and strategies available Boise Fire Department (Idaho) 34 Public Outreach & Partnerships 66 Island Park Sustainable Fire Community (Idaho/Montana) 35 FAC hubs cross-referenced with outreach efforts and partnerships

A Brief Introduction to the Fire Learning Network

By the Numbers (2014) > 30 FLN landscapes private 9 regional networks landowners The Fire Learning Network & contractors > 250 partners state & local and its re- • prescribed fire training exchanges 66.4 million acres (includes fire departments) lated programs are part of “Promoting (TREX), experiential training 20 states Ecosystem Resilience and Fire Adapted opportunities that integrate a range 18 FAC Net hubs Communities Together” (PERFACT), a of people, places and aspects of fire; 50 communities university students cooperative agreement between The • targeted restoration action under 425 partners (Spring Break TREX) Nature Conservancy, USDA Forest Ser- Scaling-up to Promote Ecosystem 8 prescribed fire training vice and agencies of the Department of Resiliency (SPER); and exchanges the Interior. The partnership works in • communication and public outreach 345 participants particular places with individual peo- Prescribed Fire Training Exchange about fire, restoration, and the > 9,000 acres of prescribed fire ple, and also at regional and national Participant Affiliations—Spring 2014 collaborative work being done on scales; it also makes the connections 1,570 acres of thinning, fire & them. Dept. of the Interior Dept. of Defense between those scales. other treatments by Forest Service TNC state & local gov’ts other NGOs Key aspects of this work are: SPER landscape projects tribal members private All of these aspects are interconnected, (SPER: January-June total) university students international • the Fire Learning Network (FLN), making all parts more effective at fostering collaboration for restora- promoting healthy and tion and integrated fire management fire-adapted human communities. than in landscapes across the country; they would be on their own. In many The Fire Learning Network • the Fire Adapted Communities (FAC) of the places where the FLN works, it Learning Network, which is doing is becoming difficult to tell where the the same with communities adapt- FLN leaves off and other programs More than thirty landscapes—most These include hosting workshops to ing to wildfire; begin—which is as it should be. working as part of regional networks share knowledge and develop local —are now active in the FLN. In addi- tools, as well as those that support the tion to long-established partnerships, work of landscape-scale projects and collaborative groups in the early stages statewide prescribed fire councils; of their FLN work are being developed they nurture the development of fire in California, Colorado and Idaho. The adapted communities, host prescribed FLNs under development generally fire training exchanges, monitor fire focus on a collaborative planning pro- effects on bird populations, develop cess that brings stakeholders together interpretive signage, and publish to work through where they want to go restoration resources. In doing so, they A crew works on the Tshanik and Nix units burns during the October 2014 Klamath River prescribed fire and how they can get there. The more engage hundreds of diverse partners, training exchange. More than 50 people took part in this TREX, which treated numerous parcels on private lands to support fire adapted communities goals along the river. Photo: Thomas Dunklin established FLNs, having done this from state and federal agencies to planning work, are now engaged in a private landowners and researchers, 1 diversity of place-specific activities. and from coast to coast. Prescribed Fire Training Exchanges it has almost simultaneously moved toward larger crew sizes, spread into new geographic areas (and habitats), Training events combining experiential become more closely tied to fire adapt- learning and principles of integrated ed communities efforts, and become fire management are now being held in more locally based. Numerous partici- numerous locations each spring and fall. pants have attended multiple events, The integration of professional wild- and are becoming sources of leader- The FLN’s planning methods are based on the Open Standards for land firefighters with less-traditional ship and support. Staff support is now Conservation. According to research training partners at these events shifting from running the events to conducted by Bruce Goldstein and expands both the capacity of the fire mentoring others. Efforts are shifting colleagues, the Network can best be conceived of as a multiscalar process community and its breadth of knowl- toward helping this model—and this of iterative adaptive management. edge. It strengthens the ability to con- integrated way of viewing fire manage- Diagram adapted from Butler, W. H. and B. E. Goldstein (2010). “The US duct controlled burning effectively and ment and doing prescribed fire— Fire Learning Network: Springing a Rigidity Trap through Multiscalar become adaptable, self-sustaining, Collaborative Networks.” Ecology and Society 15(3):21. with full social license, and develops connections that are helping and ever more widespread.

The Fire Adapted Communities Learning Network Staff and network members are work- ing with researchers Sarah McCaffrey (USFS Northern Research Station) Modeled after the FLN, the FAC Learn- and Bruce Goldstein (University of ing Network was launched in April Colorado), to increase the rigor of Spring Break TREX has grown rapidly; the March In spring 2014, the Central Appalachians FLN and 2013 with a workshop for stakeholders network operations and activities, 2014 TREX provided hands-on fire experience for partners in VIrginia hosted the first TREX offered from eight pilot communities; in March and investigate how networks and the 50 students from 7 universities. Photo: Anu Kramer east of the Mississippi. Photo: TNC/Sam Lindblom 2014, another ten communities joined FAC approach contribute to growing the network. Collaborative teams from community resilience. This will help Scaling-up to Promote Ecosystem these communities receive financial, the network make the greatest possible Resiliency technical and peer network support to impact on the development of fire be managed with sensitivity to local implement and innovate fire adapted adapted communities nationwide. plans and concerns. TREX also actively community concepts and best practices, engage local, regional and national Modest amounts of implementation and to share them within the network media, and help participants commu- funding are targeted to either fill gaps and beyond. So far, communities have nicate key messages with skill. in a landscape, or provide a catalyst to worked on projects as diverse as Since 2008, 33 events have served accelerate work. Prescribed fire, thin- updating CWPPs and county-wide nearly 1,100 practitioners and treated ning, helicopter logging and invasive integrated fire plans, securing funding more than 78,000 acres. The earliest species management treatments are for mitigation projects, and gathering exchanges were in FLN grasslands, conducted under SPER, mainly on and sharing the lessons learned from but they are now offered in forested relatively small, strategically-placed first-hand experiences with wildfires. Novel means of assisting and enabling communities landscapes and quite frequently in parcels that leverage and connect The network communicates regularly to complete fuel treatments are among the strate- wildland-urban interface (WUI) areas, existing or planned treatments on through an online workspace (Podio), gies used by FAC network hubs. in support of fire adapted community federal lands. In the first phase, six Photos: Andrew Holm; Forest Guild; Florida and public blog (http://facnetwork. Division of Forestry; Jerry McAdams/Boise FD efforts as well as landscape-scale eco- projects proposed to complete 19,767 2org/), as well as quarterly peer-learn- logical restoration. The TREX program acres of treatments to restore ecosystem ing webinars and an annual workshop. is now at an important growth point— resiliency and help protect municipal Integrated Outreach Working Together watersheds and communities. In spite of drought, flooding, a state-wide ban Communication efforts are woven In June 2014, about 100 participants on prescribed fire, the banning of fire through much of the work conducted in the FLN and FAC Learning Network on proposed plots to protect sage by the FLN and related programs. met, along with staff and national-level grouse and a variety of other obstacles, This serves to disseminate lessons partners, at a workshop that provided by adaptive planning and relying on learned and success stories that can numerous opportunities for sharing long-standing partnerships, the six help other projects, and to offer a more information within and between the projects together completed 20,625 nuanced—and empowering—view networks (and other programs), as acres of treatments, about 5 percent of wildfire and fire management than well as cementing the relationships more than proposed. In several cases, is often seen in news accounts. High- that are central to any network’s suc- this funding also spurred the comple- lighting fire adapted communities cess. Participants also reflected on tion of other nearby projects with efforts and other successes also opens the work of recent years and engaged other funding sources. a larger space for the important work in strategic discussions for moving The second phase of SPER is now that can be done. forward together in the coming years, underway. Five landscape-based proj- A recent example of success occurred meeting the challenges and seizing the ects, similar to the first six, are work- in the fall of 2013 in the small town of opportunities for restoring resiliency ing on about 3,000 acres of treatments Angel Fire, NM, where a headline just and health to our natural systems and in support of fire adapted communities before a prescribed fire training ex- the communities in them. through the FAC Learning Network or change read “Residents Brace for Sept. FLN. In addition, SPER is supporting 30 Burn Near Angel Fire.” By the end several prescribed fire training events of the event, the headline “Prescribed aimed at building local capacity while Burn Near Angel Fire Wraps up at 105 conducting treatments near at-risk Acres” ran over a story that included communities. an excellent, calming video in which a TREX leader explained all the precau- tions taken to ensure that the burns were being conducted safely, and for the benefit of the community and the At a pair of overlapping workshops in June 2014, forest. members of the Fire Adapted Communities Learn- ing Network and the Fire Learning Network held discussions specific to each network, but also met More Online jointly for a poster session and field tour of treat- ment sites. These joint events fostered the sharing Fire Learning Network of information between the two networks, and http://www.conservationgateway.org/fln helped strengthen their ties as well. Photos: TNC/Liz Rank Prescribed fire training exchanges http://www.conservationgateway.org/content/fire-training Fire Adapted Communities http://facnetwork.org/ The Fire Learning Network is supported by Top: Eastern redcedar was removed from this site FLN Networker (biweekly newsletter) Promoting Ecosystem Resilience and Fire Adapted as part of a program of glade restoration across Communities Together (PERFACT), a cooperative Arkansas landscapes. Photo: TNC/McRee Anderson http://www.conservationgateway.org/ConservationPractices/FireLand- agreement between The Nature Conservancy, the Bottom: A multi-agency crew briefs before the Blue scapes/FireLearningNetwork/FLNNetworker/Pages/fln-networker.aspx USDA Forest Service and agencies of the Department Suck Burn, conducted to improve forest health on of the Interior. For more information, contact Virginia State Parks land. Photo: TNC/Marek Smith Lynn Decker ([email protected]). v. 12 Nov 14 3 Where We Work Fire Learning Network Fire Adapted Communiti es Scaling-up to Promote Prescribed Fire Training landscapes Learning Network pilots Ecosystem Resiliency Exchanges (2014)

Spring Break Lower Loup (Niobrara) Rivers TREX South-Central Oregon ! TREX (March) (March-April) Northwest FLN Washington Dry Forests FLN Leavenworth !

Deschutes County Centennial Valley FLN Ely SPER:Jackson Ashland & Josephine Watershed Counties ! (FACResilience pilot communities) ! ! ! Island Park / ( W. Yellowstone ((! ( Ada County Great ( (Boise) ( FireScape Mendocino FLN Plains Northern California ! FLN ! W. Klamath Mountains ( Central FLN ! Appalachians N. Lake Tahoe Barnegat California Klamath- Summit County! Pike’s Peak FLN FLN ( Township Siskiyou FLN FireScape Virginia TREX Monterey Woodland! Park ( (April) FLN SW Colorado YurokOrleans-Somes TREX (May-June) Bar ! ! !( ( Southern Blue Klamath(FAC pilotRiver community)TREX (Sept) (( South Ridge FLN ! Flagstaff NorCal TREX (Oct) Central SPER: Trinity Integrated Fire Ojai FLN SPER: Allegheny and Management Partnership Towns County Potomac Highlands Ecosystem Restorati on Project Northern New Mexico ! Rio Grande Water Fund FLN ! Baker County Travis County Internati onal TREX (Sept) (Austin) BlackSanta Lake Fe County TREX (Sept-Oct) (FAC pilot community) SPER: Ozark Pine-Oak SPER: Collaborati on to Reduce Risk in the Fire Woodland and Glade Prone Southern Sangre de Cristo Mountains Restorati on Partnership

4 v. 9 Jan 15 Fire Learning Network Regional Networks & Landscape Collaboratives In FLN leaders’ own words:

The FLN supports “a grassroots and formative dialog among unconventional partners about how to restore healthy fires to some of the most remote landscapes in the West. I see ranchers, tribal representatives, environmentalists and local governments realizing that through this collaborative they can and will effect meaningful change on public land-use planning.”

“New partners energize the network with new ideas and enthusiasm. Time and time again, partners emphasize the value of sharing information—what works and what doesn’t—as well as having the opportunity to deepen relationships with neighbors.”

“As a mature learning network, regional and national partners are aware of our partnerships and seek out our learning and experience….The continued use of field tours showing different stages of restoration is critical, as is having developed complete species lists for restoration sites that serve as a guide for other sites as they move down the road toward ‘What and when is it restored?’” California Nick Goulette [email protected] (530) 628-4206 Klamath-Siskiyou Michelle Medley-Daniel [email protected] Fire Learning Network Lenya Quinn-Davidson [email protected] Landscape Partners Bureau of Land Management— HappyOREGON Camp Redding Field Office CrescentSix CityRivers CAL FIRE Partners in the Trinity Mountains NF Western Klamath Klamath NF Humboldt State University Mountains FLN Hyampom Volunteer Fire are focusing on the synergy created Somes Bar Department and Fire Safe Council between the Fire learning Network Orleans Local landowners and residents (FLN) and the Trinity Integrated Fire Northern California Prescribed Fire Management Partnership’s (TIFMP) Redwood National Council implementation work. In addition to Park having local prescribed burning to Arcata Trinity Trinity County Collaborative Mountains ground our learning, we have a formal Trinity County Fire Safe Council collaborative group that acts in an ad- Weaverville Trinity County RCD visory capacity to the county board of Hyampom Six Hayfork University of California Extension supervisors and federal land manage- Rivers NF USDA Forest Service—Pacific South- ment agencies. With this forum, and west Research Station the Trinity County Fire Safe Council, CALIFORNIA Shasta- USDA Forest Service—Province we are able to link learning about fire Trinity Ecologist to the planning, implementation and FireScape NF Mendocino USDA Forest Service—Shasta-Trinity monitoring processes. Being able to tie together all of the parts of the adaptive Mendocino NF National Forest (Forest Supervisor’s management cycle is critical if we Top: A smoke plume rises from a prescribed fire Office, Weaverville Ranger District, want to impact systems and achieve training exchange (TREX) operation at Bar 717 Hayfork Ranger District) Ranch. Communities in Trinity County are tucked USDA Forest Service—Six Rivers Regionalnecessary partnershipsshifts in our management among the mountains, separated by narrow wind- approach. ing roads. This geographic isolation makes invest- based approach to regional manage- National Forest that we’ve ing in local fire management capacity particularly ment and the dialogue at the events USDA Natural Resources important. The TIFMP is working with volunteer invested in over the years continue fire departments around the county to offer train- helps inform our landscape level work, Conservation Service to be a focus of the CKS FLN. Through ing and collaborate on larger projects. Prescribedas well as bringing fire training a management exchanges per- Weaverville Volunteer Fire support of the Northern California Center: The fall 2013 TREX also served as an op- spective to the scientists involved. portunity to engage the media in prescribed fire Department Prescribed Fire Council, the network issues, as when a local TV reporter interviewed a directly reaches over 200 people National Park Service employee about the burning (TREX) bring together many aspects every year, bringing together practi- conducted at Redwood National Park. of work in this landscape. They enable © Lenya Quinn-Davidson/NCPFC tioners and scientists and facilitating participants to experience fire inter- The Fire Learning Network is supported by Bottom: TIFMP has completed prescribed burns on Promoting Ecosystem Resilience and Fire Adapted important movement in the policies private property in Hayfork and Hyampom. Each acting with a variety of communities Communities Together (PERFACT), a cooperative Anotherand practice regional of prescribed effort fire in the burn is planned with landowners to meet their and ecosystem types, and help build agreement between The Nature Conservancy, the region. management objectives while furthering com- local capacity to manage fire. And the USDA Forest Service and agencies of the Depart- munity wildfire protection goals and ecosystem ment of the Interior. For more information, contact , co-hosting restoration. © Josh Smith/WRTC treatments conducted during a TREX Lynn Decker ([email protected]). events with the Joint Fire Science help make both the forests and human v. 14 Jan 15 7 Program, allows us to bring a science- communities more resilient to wildfire. Centennial Fire Learning Network Nathan Korb [email protected] (406) 925-1144

Building connectivity. Dillon

FLN partners MONTANA are working to restore wetland con- Gravelly Mountains A key goal Landscapes nectivity and riparian areas by chang- Gallatin NF Centennial Valley ing grazing, replacing culverts and BLM West of the Centennial FLN is to Beaverhead- Yellow- Gravelly Landscape planting willows. These changes create Lima CentennialDeerlodge NF stone prepare the landscape—both natural Red Rock for beaver, and recent stud- Monida Valley Lakeview and human—so that fire can once again Henry’s Lake / Island Park Lakes NWR ies have shown that beavers improve roam and fill its ecological role. To this Island Park late-season flows and thus will likely Caribou- Targhee end, the Lakeview Community Protec- Park National Yellowstone protect watersheds under predicted NF Henry's Lake / tion Project has completed thinning in will help to guide land management BLM Island Park climate change scenarios. nearly all the private forests in the area, decisions for sage grouse habitat. In Ashton and the BLM and U.S. Fish & Wildlife the sandhills, open sand blowouts are IDAHO Service Layer Credits: Source: Esri, DigitalGlobe, GeoEye, i-cubed, Earthstar Geographics, CNES/Airbus DS, USDA, USGS, AEX, Getmapping, Aerogrid, IGN, IGP, swisstopo, and the GIS User Community Service are developing complementary being conserved for rare and Sources: Esri, USGS, NOAA projects on lands around the town. This tiger beetles, and monitoring of vegeta- Landscape Partners will allow managers to let natural fires tion and bird communities, as well as Bureau of Land Management—Dillon in the nearby wilderness to burn safely, the effects of a 2008 prescribed burn, is Field Office and will lower the risk to fire workers ongoing. Managers are also experiment- Greater Yellowstone Coalition if extreme fire conditions warrant fire ing with using hand tools and volunteer Montana Department of Natural Providing leadership Resources and Conservation—Dillon suppression. The FLN is also working labor to remove sagebrush and grasses Resource Area with the Fire Adapted Communities to restore blowout habitat with fewer Planning for climate change . The FLN pro- Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks— Learning Network hub on the other negative consequences than burning. vides leadership locally and regionally Region 3 side of the Centennial Mountains, in . Through on forest management priorities, for Private ranch operations Island Park, Idaho. The groups have a monitoring and adaptive management, example, partnering with the Greater Trout Unlimited mutual interest in developing coordi- partners are preparing for unexpected Yellowstone Coalition and the Wild- U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service—Red Rock nated plans to manage fire safely, cost- consequences of a changing climate. A life Conservation Society to guide Lakes NWR effectively, efficiently, wisely, and for the University of Montana Western Protecting threatened species novel water vulnerability assessment management of 450,000 acres in the greatest benefit. conducted by Conservancy scientists Gravelly. And, looking to the future, USDA Forest Service—Beaverhead- Deerlodge NF (Madison RD) . To im- and a University of New Mexico gradu- for the last several years, high school USDA Natural Resources Conservation prove critical sage grouse habitat, a half ate student is illuminating the effects of student volunteers have assisted with Service—Dillon Office dozen FLN partners are implementing climate change on headwater streams forestry and fencing projects, putting Wildlife Conservation Society a coordinated multi-year grazing plan in the Centennial and other valleys in in hundreds of hours each summer, across over 45,000 acres; the plan will southwest Montana. Preliminary results and Conservancy interns from urban improve the health of the rangeland for indicate that flows from north-aspect high schools have worked on stream livestock as well as wildlife, so part- basins are more resilient to climate monitoring and other projects. These The Fire Learning Network is supported by Promoting Ecosystem Resilience and Fire Adapted ners hope to spark the interest of other changes, which has important ramifica- programs are engaging a new genera- Communities Together (PERFACT), a cooperative landowners in the Sage Grouse Initia- tions for where limited restoration and tion of scientists and citizen naturalists agreement between The Nature Conservancy, the tive. With researchers from Montana land protection resources should be in on-the-ground conservation work, USDA Forest Service and agencies of the Depart- ment of the Interior. For more information, contact State University, the effects of manage- invested; the results are being incor- and providing them with experience Lynn Decker ([email protected]). 8ment and grazing on sage grouse are porated into state and federal fisheries to embark on science careers of their v. 13 Jan 15 also being measured, and this study planning. own. Central Appalachians Sam Lindblom [email protected] (434) 987-0712 Fire Learning Network Marek Smith [email protected] (540) 839-3599

Network Partners Lake Erie Toledo Arcadia University Cleveland NY PENNSYLVANIA Keystone Newark Consortium of Appalachian Fire Managers and Pitsbur gh� Appalachians Harrisburg Scientists Wheeling Philadelphia Over its eight-year history, Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife OHIO Cincinnat� Resources Washington NJ growth Game Commission contracted with MD Kentucky Division of Forestry WESTHeart VIRGINIA in both the diversity and partnership Arcadia University to provide fire Frankfort of the Charlotesvi lle� DE National Park Service—Shenandoah NP, New Appalachians Cumberland River Gorge National Recreation Area Richmond strength in the Central Appalachians effects monitoring for their growing KENTUCKYRiver Roanoke Atlan tic National Weather Service Ocean FLN has been key to restoring the role program. Ground-based protocols and Norfolk of fire at an ecologically meaningful remote sensing tools developed by National Wild Turkey Federation VIRGINIA Pennsylvania Department of Military and Vet- scale. Increased communication and TNC and the George Washington and erans Affairs at Fort Indiantown Gap coordination has resulted in nearly Jefferson NFs have been shared with Pennsylvania Game Commission all controlled burns being conducted the Cherokee National Forest Land- Radford University USDA Natural Resources Conservation by four or more partners regardless scape Restoration Initiative (CNFLRI) The Nature Conservancy—Kentucky, Service of land ownership. Memoranda of as its steering committee considers Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia Department of Conservation and understanding between founding and recommendations for a fire effects Virginia Recreation—Natural Heritage, State Parks University of Kentucky—Forestry Virginia Department of Forestry new partners have enabled treatments monitoring program. Interestingly, it University of Maryland Virginia Department of Game and Inland to expand into additional geographies was lessons learned from the CNFLRI’s University of Tennessee Fisheries and directed significant funding to- own ecological departure analysis that Virginia Tech Significant progress U.S. Geological Survey—Virginia Cooperative wards our restoration efforts. lead us to employ these methods for a Fish and Wildlife Research Unit Virginia Forestry and Wildlife Group Increasing staff capacity project-level analysis on the GWNF. USDA Forest Service—Daniel Boone NF, West Virginia Division of Forestry has been made George Washington and Jefferson NFs, West Virginia Division of Natural Resources in implementing effectiveness moni- and special- Monongahela NF; Northern Research Station West Virginia University toring in all FLN landscapes. Members ized qualifications have long been of the Monitoring Working Group in objectives of this FLN. To help address the Heart of the Appalachians land- this, in March 2014 we hosted the first scape revised their monitoring pro- eastern U.S. prescribed fire training complexity controlled burns in south- resilient communities. The initiative eastern pine savannas and also brings the NRCS—a key player— tocol and data forms and developed exchange (TREX). Participants from a Funding standardized data entry templates wide range of organizations and states Appalachian hardwood forests. into the FLN partnership, which will to facilitate more user-friendly data got valuable experience while helping from the Forest Service/ help facilitate increased collaboration entry into an integrated database. As Virginia partners complete moderate Natural Resources Conservation with private landowners and speed a result, most of the information from Service (NRCS) Chiefs’ Joint Landscape progress towards an all-lands pre- and post-burn visits to the 333 Restoration Partnership was recently conservation approach. macroplots monitored by TNC and the awarded to the Monongahela and George Washington and Jefferson NFs Daniel Boone NFs, in part due to estab- The Fire Learning Network is supported by Promoting Ecosystem Resilience and Fire Adapted are now entered into a single database. lished FLN partnerships. This funding Communities Together (PERFACT), a cooperative On the Daniel Boone NF, the Stearns will help restore historic fire regimes agreement between The Nature Conservancy, the and London Ranger Districts installed through the use of controlled burns, USDA Forest Service and agencies of the Depart- Top: Setting up a monitoring plot on Big Wilson ment of the Interior. For more information, contact 40 new vegetative monitoring plots burn unit, 2013; Bottom: A briefing at the 2014 TREX complete fuel reduction treatments in Lynn Decker ([email protected]). across their landscape. And in Penn- priority wildland-urban interface, and v. 12 Nov 14 9 sylvania, TNC and the Pennsylvania engage landowners in creating fire FireScape Rick Mowery [email protected] (530) 934-1175 Kimberly Baker [email protected] (707) 822-7711 Mendocino Don Amador [email protected] (925) 625-6287 Fire Learning Network Gary Evans (530) 570-1908

Hayfork Redding

California Klamath- FireScape Mendocino Shasta- Siskiyou FLN Trinity NF is one of the landscape values—ecological, cultural Red Bluff� Six Rivers Yolla Bolly- newest landscapes in the FLN, having and economic—which form the basis NF Middle Eel hosted its first workshop in November for working together. Wilderness Paskenta 2013. The group hopes to develop a In late 2014, the group’s shared values FireScape stakeholder-based approach to fire were identified as: Mendocino management of the Mendocino National • Quality recreation opportunities The group Mendocino Elk Creek Forest and the surrounding area. • Cultural heritage—past, present NF is using the Open Standards and future Willits Mendocino Snow Mt. Stonyford for the Practice of Conservation for its • Fire adapted human communities Poter Val ley� Wilderness foundational planning. This is being • Healthy terrestrial systems— Ukiah supported by field trips, historical structure, function and species Top: At the group’s fourth planning workshop in Upper Lake photos, GIS-based fire , September 2014, a commercial forester, local resi- Lucerne • Healthy riparian and aquatic dent and Forest Service ecosystem management Clear Lake traditional ecological knowledge and systems—structure, function and staff officer use Google Earth to explore possible other tools. To date, the group has species treatment approaches. Bottom: Participants work identified its geographic scope, land- on revising the situation diagram. CALIFORNIA • Diverse landscape-based Photos: TNC/Mary Huffman Moving forward scape vision and a suite of enduring economic opportunities Landscape Partners , the group is forming Tehama County Resource Blue Ribbon Coalition working teams to implement the Conservation District strategies they have developed, which Bureau of Land Management Tuleyome/Yolo Audubon Society are designed to improve the viability of CAL FIRE USDA Forest Service—Mendocino those values. Key strategies include: California Wilderness Coalition National Forest • building local capacity for fire Environment Now USDA Natural Resources adapted communities, Environmental Protection Conservation Service • expanding proactive fire manage- Information Center (EPIC) ment as part of integrated vegeta- Lake County Fire Safe Council tion management, Mendocino Redwood Company and Field tours are an important part of learning during • adjusting air quality policy to The Fire Learning Network is supported by workshops. Above: Stakeholders examine a shaded Humboldt Redwood Company Promoting Ecosystem Resilience and Fire Adapted fuel break on private timberland. Top of page: A support prescribed burning, Office of Congressman Jared Communities Together (PERFACT), a cooperative Forest Service archaeologist and elder of a pioneer • increasing tribal involvement in Huffman agreement between The Nature Conservancy, the family discuss grazing to reduce fuels on sacred public land management, and USDA Forest Service and agencies of the Depart- sites, like this oak woodland. Round Valley Confederated Indian ment of the Interior. For more information, contact Photos: TNC/Wendy Fulks, USFS/Rick Mowery • ensuring that late successional Tribes—Yuki Tribe Lynn Decker ([email protected]). 10 forest areas are resilient to future v. 28 Oct 14 and moisture regimes. FireScape Jeff Kwasny [email protected] (831) 667-1126 Monterey Butch Kronlund [email protected] (831) 667-0332 Fire Learning Network Gordon Johnson [email protected] (530) 347-1627

Landscape Partners Santa Cruz

Big Sur Land Trust Monterey Bishop Grading and Forestry Services Bay Monterey FireScape Monterey Bureau of Land Management Carmel Valley Cachagua Fire Prevention District CALIFORNIA completed its prepare an environmental impact Los Padres CAL FIRE FireScape Monterey Open Standards planning process in statement for the Strategic Community Big Sur National Forest California Native Society Lockwood 2012, and members emerged from the Fuelbreak Improvement Project was California State Parks Ventana process re-energized, informed and posted on December 28, 2012, and the California State University at Monterey Wilderness Hunter-Liggett ready to take action. Since then, the VolunteerForest Service fire is departments currently undertaking Bay LakeMilitary Nacimiento Reservation Silver Peak group’s core team—made up of the NEPA process. California Wilderness Project WildernessSan Simeon property owners and representatives —the Carmel Highland Fire Protection District Pacific Ocean from wilderness groups, federal and Mid Coast Fire Brigade and Cachagua Coast Property Owners Association San Luis Obispo state agencies and the University of Fire Prevention District—are working El Sur Ranch California—holds regular conference to increase local fire suppression Esselen Tribe of Monterey County calls to update one another on the capacity to meet community protection Fire Safe Council for Monterey County Aprogress project of various fire-related needs. This year, both received Forest Galante Vineyards Santa Lucia Conservancy projects throughout Monterey County. Service grants for work such as on Jamesburg-Cachagua Neighbors United Sierra Club—Ventana Chapter of particular focus is the U.S. Otherfuel-breaks work and road improvement to Los Padres Forest Watch Tassajara Zen Mountain Center Forest Service Strategic Community facilitate suppression crew access. Mal Paso Creek Property Association University of California, Davis—Plant Fuelbreak Improvement Project, which in this landscape includes Mid-Coast Fire Brigade Pathology concept was derived from the Open research on sudden oak death (SOD) Monterey Bay National Marine University of California, Santa Cruz—Big Standards process. This project is led by faculty from the University of Sanctuary Creek Preserve located on the northern portion of the California at Davis. Related to this, Monterey County Water Resources U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Monterey Ranger District of the Los some partners are working to remove Agency U.S. House of Representatives—Office of Padres National Forest. It is designed symptomatic bay trees near healthy Monterey FireSafe Council Sam Farr (Congressional District 20) to enhance community protection oak trees along a shared roadway; this Monterey Institute of Research & Ventana Wilderness Alliance from wildfire within the wildland-ur- will both mitigate the effects of SOD, Astronomy ban interface threat zone. The project and reduce fuels and widen the road Monterey San Benito Range Improve- includes improving and maintaining for better firefighting vehicle access. ment Association strategic historically-used firelines to USDA Forest Service—Los Padres NF function as fuelbreaks. In total, the USDA Natural Resources Conservation project proposes work on about 24 The Fire Learning Network is supported by Service Promoting Ecosystem Resilience and Fire Adapted miles of fuelbreaks, as well as a key 64- Resource Conservation District of Communities Together (PERFACT), a cooperative acre unit, for a total of 544 acres. A va- Monterey County agreement between The Nature Conservancy, the riety of treatment types are proposed, USDA Forest Service and agencies of the Depart- Partners discuss landscape issues at Botcher’s Gap Top photo: View from the Prewitt Ridge fire break ment of the Interior. For more information, contact including machine and hand thinning, during a 2012 workshop Jeff Kwasny/USFS © Mike Splain/Ventana Wilderness Society Lynn Decker ([email protected]). piling and burning or chipping, and v. 14 Jan 15 11 mastication. The notice of intent to Great Plains Jason Skold [email protected] (402) 342-0282 Fire Learning Network Susanne Hickey [email protected] (402) 558-8099

Tewaukon NWR

Ellendale Sand Lake NWR The Great Plains Fire Learning Network Landscapes NORTH DAKOTA Network Loess Hills Waubay Aberdeen NWR Lower Loup Rivers is focused on building and supporting a strong network of fire Middle Niobrara River Valley practitioners in the region, sharing les- U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service SOUTH DAKOTA sons learned and making connections Refuges of Nebraska and Pierre outside the region with fire practitio- South Dakota Rapid City ners that need hands-on fire training. Lacreek Lake Andes One of our biggest accomplishments to NWR Middle Niobrara NWR River Valley date in the Great Plains has been the Pine Ridge Ft. Niobrara NWR successful training exchanges that are and federal agencies and NGOs have Loess Hills held primarily in Nebraska along the the capacity to get fire management Chadron Great Plains Valentine IOWA FWS Refuges Valentne� Niobrara River and in the grasslands accomplished. In Nebraska, land- NWR Bassett Sioux City surrounding the Loup Rivers. These owner burn associations have offered exchanges have hosted more than 200 a positive means for landowners to Crescent Lake NWR NEBRASKA participants over the last three years, share equipment and labor, and these Lower OrdLoup Rivers X80 prioritizing Student Association for models are being adopted in other YZ Fire Ecology participation. In addi- parts of the region. Volunteer fire North Platte Omaha Council Bluffs tion, cooperative training burns have departments also play a role in sup- Gothenburg Lincoln enabled the Loess Hills landscape Grand Island porting fire management, both offering Nebraska City partners in Iowa to accomplish larger prescribed fire services to community Kearney burns and share techniques and equip- members, as is occurring in parts Top of page: Sand table exercise in the field at the ment ideas. Building on the successful 2014 Spring Break TREX in the Niobrara Valley. of the Loess Hills, and as permitting Right: Lighting a 730-acre unit to reduce invasion training exchanges and the age-old agencies and support to prescribed fire by eastern redcedar during the Lower Loup TREX. spirit of “neighbors helping neighbors,” operationsTo achieve insuccess Nebraska. Photos: Jose Luis Duce, Jeremy Bailey our approach for the next several years we will expand is to expand and enhance the network Regional Partners our capacity through training exchang- of training exchanges and cooperative Great Plains Fire Science Exchange es and cooperative burning to over- burning in the region by engaging new Pheasants Forever come the barriers associated with fire partners and supporting partners in Private landowners qualifications and standards that differ hosting training exchanges on their Student Association for Fire among groups. And by working closely The Fire Learning Network is supported by own.With much of the land Ecology (SAFE) Promoting Ecosystem Resilience and Fire Adapted with the Great Plains Fire Science The Nature Conservancy—Arkansas, Communities Together (PERFACT), a cooperative in private Exchange, we will have an opportunity Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota / North agreement between The Nature Conservancy, the ownership we need to continue to to reach an audience beyond our land- USDA Forest Service and agencies of the Depart- Dakota / South Dakota, Nebraska ment of the Interior. For more information, contact emphasize strategies that can be scapes; this also provides a means for U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Lynn Decker ([email protected]). 12transferred to private landowners, but the Exchange to transfer knowledge to v. 4 Nov 14 we also need to ensure that local, state land managers at the local level. Northwest Pete Caligiuri [email protected] (541) 388-3020 x 304 Fire Learning Network Mark Stern [email protected] (503) 802-8133 Network & Landscape Partners American Forest Resource Council

Ocean Portland Members of the public and agency staff tour the Applegate Partnership WASHINGTON Across the three landscapes site of the Pole Creek Fire together during a 2013 Black Oak Forest Restoration learning exchange. Photo: Marika Yuma

Pacific of the Bureau of Land Management— Willamette Network Landscapes Medford District Corvallis Northwest FLN we are working to NF OREGONDeschutes integrate ecological, economic and Rogue Basin Central Oregon Intergovernmental NF Redmond social values into collaborative dry Council Eugene Bend Upper Deschutes Basin Upper forest restoration. This is only possible Central Oregon Fire Management Deschutes by engaging diverse partners with an Lakeview Stewardship Unit / Service Basin interest in Oregon’s dry forests and all Fremont-Winema NF City of Ashland the community benefits they provide. Fremont- City of Bend Umpqua NF Lakeview We are working with federal, state and Winema City of Sisters Stewardship NF local organizations to develop a shared Rogue Basin Unit Deschutes County Rogue River- vision of restored dry, frequent-fire Medford Siskiyou Josephine County Stewardship Group Ashland forests across the region and the bene- NF Klamath Falls Lakeview fits a more resilient forest landscape Klamath Tribes can provide. We are using innovative Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center collaborative approaches and cutting- Lake County Resource Initiative and CALIFORNIA edge research and analysis to reach a members within broader segment of the community, Lomakatsi Restoration Project USDA Forest Service—Deschutes, reconnect people with the forest, and Northern Arizona University— Fremont-Winema and Rogue River- facilitate a science-based conversation Ecological Restoration Institute Siskiyou National Forests about fire-adapted forests and the Oregon Department of Fish and USDA Forest Service—Forest Health implications of living in and around Recent examples Wildlife Protection these dynamic, fire-prone landscapes. Oregon Department of Forestry USDA Forest Service—Pacific South- of this work include Oregon State University Extension west Research Station a statewide analysis of restoration need Oregon Wild USDA Forest Service—Region 6 in dry, frequent-fire forest systems; The restoration field guide is the product of a collaboration collaboration product of a field guide is the The restoration including the NW FLN. partners, among numerous http://nature.ly/dryforests at electronically It is available the community learning exchanges; Project Wildfire Warm Springs Confederated Tribes Restorationthe Ashland ofForest Dry Forests Resiliency in Eastern “Fire for Sierra Club Oregon:Water” video; A Field and Guide the publication of communities where we work. By Southern Oregon Forest Restoration pairing this with a strong scientific Collaborative , developed in rationale, we are helping forge a path Southern Oregon University The Fire Learning Network is supported by partnership with Dr. Jerry Franklin and Promoting Ecosystem Resilience and Fire Adapted As a trusted partner through decades of conflict, bringing The Nature Conservancy—Oregon Communities Together (PERFACT), a cooperative Dr. Norm Johnson. together local community interests and The Wilderness Society agreement between The Nature Conservancy, the to a diverse federal land managers to implement USDA Forest Service and agencies of the Depart- U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service ment of the Interior. For more information, contact range of interests, we use tools like this shared vision on the ground, at a Upper Deschutes River Coalition Lynn Decker ([email protected]). these to foster dialogue, stronger pace and scale commensurate with the v. 13 Nov 14 13 relationships and trust within the ecological need. Pike’s Peak Fire Learning Network Paige Lewis [email protected] (303) 817-8648

Arapahoe & Roosevelt NF Vernal The Pike’s Peak FLN Ft. Collins NE is a new collaborative initiative focused on Boulder • increasing public understanding of and support for the use of fire in UT Denver COLORADO Pike's Peak FLN forest management, White River NF area of interest • expanding local forest and fire management capacity, and Pike- Grand Junction Aspen San Isabel core area NF • demonstrating the safe and effective use of fire in high priority Woodland Park Above, and bottom right: The Conservancy’s South- Pike’slandscapes. Peak area partners Moab Colorado ern Rockies Wildland Fire Module at work on the Springs Little Sand Fire in southwest Colorado in July 2012. Gunnison KS are using Photos: TNC/Jeff Crandall Salida the FLN to leverage and expand on the Pueblo great work already being implemented Rio Grande NF by other local organizations, including San Juan NF the Woodland Park Fire Adapted on the accomplishments of the Upper Alamosa Cortez Pagosa Springs Communities Learning Network hub. Fountain Creek Watershed Restoration Durango FLN activities will include building an Initiative (which was supported by effective stakeholder network, hosting Scaling-up to Promote Ecosystem public workshops on fire ecology Resilience (SPER))and will contribute AZ NM and the use of fire for management, to the goals of the Front Range Collab- Landscape Partners Pike’s Peak Wildfire Prevention Partners facilitating training opportunities for orative Forest Landscape Restoration City of Colorado Springs Southern Rockies Fire Science Network fire practitioners, and implementing Program (CFLRP) project, Colorado Coalition for the Upper South Platte Teller-Park Conservation District at least one prescribed burn in the Prescribed Fire Council and Southern Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and The Nature Conservancy—Colorado coming year. The FLN’s work will build Rockies Fire Science Network. Control U.S. Air Academy Colorado Parks and Wildlife USDA Forest Service Colorado Prescribed Fire Council USDA Natural Resources Conservation Colorado Springs Utilities Service El Paso County U.S. Geological Survey

The Fire Learning Network is supported by Promoting Ecosystem Resilience and Fire Adapted Communities Together (PERFACT), a cooperative The Conservancy’s Colorado chapter recently delivered a report to the U.S. Forest Service with a set of agreement between The Nature Conservancy, the collaboratively-developed, science-based management recommendations for the 67,000-acre Upper USDA Forest Service and agencies of the Depart- Monument Creek landscape, which is in the FLN core area. Left: Webster Park in the Upper Monument ment of the Interior. For more information, contact Creek project area; Right: Field tour to the project area Photos: Peter M. Brown; TNC/Rob Addington Lynn Decker ([email protected]). 14 v. 6 Nov 14 Anne Bradley [email protected] (505) 946-2038 Rio Grande Dave Gori [email protected] (505) 946-2031 Laura McCarthy [email protected] (505) 946-2024 Water Fund Eytan Krasilovsky [email protected] (505) 983-8992 x 16

Alamosa Cortez Durango PagosaSan Juan Springs NF In New Mexico Rio Grande NF

UT Farmington Chama COLORADORaton , the FLN is now a key Questa part of a water source protection fund Rio Grande Clayton Water Fund Carson program for the northern Rio Grande. National Taos OK Forest Our vision is to provide a reliable sup- Cuba Española ply of high-quality Rio Grande water Los Alamos Valles Caldera and healthy forests for the benefit Los Alamos National Lab AZ Las Vegas of New Mexico’s communities. Our Bandelier National Monument Santa Santa Fe National Forest Fe TX goal is to scale up forest thinning and Bernalillo Tucumcari Cibola NF prescribed fire treatments from about Albuquerque Santa Rosa 6,000 acres per year to 30,000 acres Los Lunas per year in northern New Mexico. We will do this by developing a sustainable source of funding from water users, government, investors and donors, and NEW MEXICO facilitating payments to upstream land Fire Learning Network Partners The Nature Conservancy—Colorado, managers to help them reduce wildfire Forest Guild New Mexico and debris flow risk in high priority ments that build forest resilience. The National Park Service—Bandelier University of Washington—Conservation National Monument Canines Program Theareas seven-million and to maintain acre those areas for FLN is also addressing the post-fire the long-term. impacts where uncharacteristically New Mexico Association of Conservation University of Arizona—Laboratory of Districts Tree-Ring Research Rio Grande Improvinglarge and severe the health fires have damaged landscape includes 1.7 million acres watersheds. New Mexico Department of Game & Fish U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service U.S. Geological Survey of forest, of which 600,000 acres are of headwater New Mexico Division of Forestry USDA Forest Service—Cibola National treatable. FLN supported activities in- forests is a critical climate change New Mexico Forest and Watershed Health Institute Forest clude engaging with the Fire Adapted adaptation strategy in a warming New Mexico Forest Industry Association USDA Forest Service—Santa Fe National Communities Learning Network, and Southwest, where fire seasons have Northern Arizona University Forest working with on-the-ground federal, become longer and more severe, and Pueblo of Jemez Valles Caldera Trust state, tribal and private land managers water security is a primary concern for Pueblo of Santa Clara toRead accelerate More fire and thinning treat- all communities. The Rio Grande Water Fund Comprehensive Plan: Southwest Fire Science Consortium http://www.nmconservation.org/RGWF/RGWF_CompPlan_Exec.pdf The Fire Learning Network is supported by From The Nature Conservancy’s New Mexico chapter: Photos: Wetlands (top) and hillock (center) at Promoting Ecosystem Resilience and Fire Adapted http://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/regions/northamerica/unitedstates/new- Valles Caldera National Preserve in the heart of the Communities Together (PERFACT), a cooperative Water Fund landscape; a properly-thinned stand agreement between The Nature Conservancy, the mexico/new-mexico-rio-grande-water-fund.xml of ponderosa pine (bottom) is more resilient to USDA Forest Service and agencies of the Depart- Fire Adapted Communties: www.fireadaptednewmexico.org wildfire. ment of the Interior. For more information, contact © 2013 Alan W. Eckert for The Nature Conservancy Lynn Decker ([email protected]). v. 6 Nov 14 15 McRee Anderson [email protected] (870) 861-5131 Martin Blaney [email protected] (877) 967-7577 South Central William Carromero [email protected] (479) 964-7207 Fire Learning Network Mitzi Cole [email protected] (870) 867-2101 x 114

Branson

The South Central Madison County WMA MO Projects Hobb's WMA Harold Alexander WMA Fayetevi lle� Buffalo National Gene Indiana Bat Habitat Regional Fire Ozark Highlands Ecosystem River Rush Ozark Restoraton Project� Indiana Bat Habitat Restoraton Proj ect (CFLRP) � WMA NF Learning Network (FLN) has long been Jonesboro Restoration Project Batesville a catalyst for restoration, supporting Ozark scientific knowledge exchanges and Ozark Highlands Ecosystem National Ozark Highlands Ecosystem Forest Restoraton Project (CFLRP) � developing monitoring protocols and Project (CFLRP) Fort Smith definitions of current and desired Memphis ecological conditions across the region. Shortleaf-Bluestem Conway Petit John WMA TN This network is a long-term, diverse Community Project (CFLRP) coalition functioning as a robust OK Litle Rock� community of practice of restoration practitioners, scientists, policy makers Hot Springs St. Francis Ouachita National Forest and on-the-ground managers. Togeth- National Ranger District of the Ozark-St. Francis Forest Pine Bluff� er, they are restoring and managing In addition Shortleaf-Bluestem lands with prescribed fire and timber National Forest. Community Project (CFLRP) management techniques for the long- to thisPinus on-the-ground echinata term health of the lands for wildlife work, the region is the epicenter of the ClevelandMS Hope and water quality benefits. The South shortleaf pine ( ) range, Central FLN has secured implementa- and the FLN has been chosen to lead Texarkana tion funding from state wildlife grants, a new Shortleaf Pine Initiative to ad- ARKANSAS non-profits, private foundations, and dress the steep decline of this species Network Partners state and federal institutions for resto- and its associated fire-adapted com- ration and management on a portfolio munities. This initiative will develop a Arkansas Audubon Society University of Missouri, Columbia of multi-ownership (federal, state and range-wide conservation plan covering Arkansas Forestry Commission USDA Forest Service—Ouachita NF, Since 2001 private) lands throughout the region. the 23 three states where shortleaf Arkansas Game and Fish Commission Ozark-St. Francis NF (Big Piney This FLN pine is found. Wildlife Management Areas Ranger District), Mark Twain NF; , over $8.5 million in fed- Southern Research Station eral funding has been awarded to this also continues to bring Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission collaborative partnership for ecosys- partners together for field trips, work- Arkansas Wildlife Federation tem management across the Interior shops and project proposal develop- National Forest Foundation Highlands, starting with the 60,000- ment for large, collaboratively-based National Park Service—Buffalo acre Woodland Ecosystem Project woodland and glade restoration proj- National River (WEP), which continues to be a model ects, such as those being done under National Wild Turkey Federation The Fire Learning Network is supported by Promoting Ecosystem Resilience and Fire Adapted for landscape-scale restoration. Both the “Scaling-up to Promote Ecosystem Ouachita Timber Purchasers Group Communities Together (PERFACT), a cooperative funding and the scale of work have Resiliency” program. Finally, the FLN The Nature Conservancy—Arkansas agreement between The Nature Conservancy, the grown since then, with partners now assists partners with institutionalizing USDA Forest Service and agencies of the Depart- U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service—Arkansas ment of the Interior. For more information, contact working on two CFLRP projects (over restoration programs and developing Field Office Lynn Decker ([email protected]). 161 million acres) and the 80,000-acre public demonstration areas through- v. 9 Jan 15 Happy Bat Project on the Sylamore out the region. Southern Blue Ridge Margit Bucher [email protected] (919) 794-4368 Fire Learning Network Beth Buchanan [email protected] (540) 265-5129

Network Landscapes Northern Escarpment Central Blue Ridge Escarpment and Scientists, and continues to play a New River Headwaters Georgia Blue Ridge Mountains KY VA Great Smoky & Unaka Mountains key role in providing opportunities for Great Smoky & Unaka Mountains Central Blue Partners Nantahala & Balsam Mountains networking among scientists, managers Ridge Escarpment New River Headwaters and practitioners. This accelerates in the Southern Blue Ridge FLN transfer of knowledge and feedback that South Northern Escarpment Well-attended workshops, Mountains (SBR FLN) collaborate to develop, share Nantahala & Balsam South Mountains supports adaptive management. TN Mountains NC and apply the best available science to Southern Blue Ridge Escarpment collabora- Georgia Southern restore fire across a vast, diverse region. Blue Ridge Blue Ridge tive projects, and tools shared by Mountains Escarpment Partners and stakeholders work in webinar and other means have helped teams in the network’s eight landscapes the SBR FLN build strong working forests—which are changing, due to SC Vegetationto set and achieve maps, restoration models and goals tools in partnerships. These in turn support GA their fire-adapted pine and oak forests. almost a century of fire suppression—is the steady growth of the network, most South Carolina Forestry Commission Partnershipalso being used burns to build wider support recently with the addition of the Georgia for the use of controlled fire. South Carolina State Parks developed by partners help build a co- Blue Ridge Mountains landscape. This The Nature Conservancy—Georgia, North across multiple hesive vision and description of restor- landscape brings a new dimension to the Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee ation needs. Landscape teams have ownerships have become quite common SBR FLN, as it includes Towns County, a Towns County (Fire Adapted Communities adapted a regional treatment prioritiza- in most landscapes, and more are Fire Adapted Communities (FAC) Learn- Learning Network) tion tool and applied it locally, with each planned for the coming year. Partly as ingNetwork Network Partners pilot community. USDA Forest Service—Chattahoochee- learning from other landscapes’ work. a result of the last SBR regional work- Consortium of Appalachian Fire Managers Oconee NF (Blue Ridge RD, Chattooga The SBR FLN has also collaborated with shop, state agencies in North and South and Scientists River RD, Conasauga RD); Cherokee NF the Cherokee National Forest Land- ACarolina network are of discussing monitoring collaborative Forest Stewards (Unaka RD); National Forests in North scape Restoration Initiative, Central burning for the first time. Georgia Department of Natural Resources Carolina: Nantahala NF (Cheoah RD, Appalachians FLN and LANDFIRE to plots estab- —State Parks; Wildlife Resources Tusquittee RD, Nantahala RD); Pisgah adapt LANDFIRE models to this region. lished by Forest Stewards enables Division (Game, Nongame) NF (Grandfather RD); Region 8 Fire & The models, along with a LiDAR-based partners to track the effectiveness of Georgia Forest Watch Aviation forest structure analysis and the vegeta- management actions. Consistent, long- Greenville Water USDA Forest Service—Southern Research tion maps, have been used to estimate term monitoring is essential, since it Land Trust for the Little Tennessee River Station the departure of current vegetation from can take years—and multiple treat- National Park Service—Blue Ridge Park- Western North Carolina Alliance historic conditions across the National ments—for the full impact of fire in way; Great Smoky Mountains NP Forests of North Carolina. This informa- hardwoods to become evident. The first North Carolina Division of Parks and tion is informing forest planning and comprehensive assessment using these Recreation North Carolina Forest Service National Environmental Policy Analysis data was recently completed, and will The Fire Learning Network is supported by Promoting Eco- Fire history research North Carolina Wildlife Resources (NEPA) projects in several landscapes. be used to inform planning for future system Resilience and Fire Adapted Communities Together This network Commission (PERFACT), a cooperative agreement between The Nature on three SBR burns and other restoration work. Conservancy, the USDA Forest Service and agencies of the South Carolina Division of Natural Department of the Interior. For more information, contact FLN landscapes is shaping prescribed helped build the founda- Resources Lynn Decker ([email protected]). fire regimes. Evidence that fire histori- tion of the Joint Fire Science Program’s v. 10 Nov 14 17 cally played a role in maintaining these Consortium of Appalachian Fire Managers Washington Reese Lolley [email protected] (509) 248-6697 Mary Sutton Carruthers [email protected] (509) 665-6611 Dry Forests Ryan Anderson [email protected] (509) 452-8392 Fire Learning Network Dale Swedberg [email protected] (509) 826-7205 Landscape Partners Bureau of Land Management SinlahekinCANADA & Methow Center for Natural Lands Management Omak More than three million acres Chumstick Wildfire Stewardship Chelan Coalition Leavenworth of dry Evergreen State—birthplace of the tleSeat Wenatchee Conservation Northwest forests in central and eastern Washing- “Big Burn” of 1910. Many see fire as Kittitas County Conservation District ton need active restoration. Intensify- being too risky or as bad for people, Olympia Ellensburg South Central Washington Resource ing wildfires threaten wildlife habitat, wildlife, air and water; others view fire WASHINGTON Conservation & Development Council Mt. RanierTapash Yakima clean water, recreation and local liveli- as wasteful, using up resources that The Nature Conservancy hoods. These fires also cost taxpayers could otherwise be harvested. And USDA Forest Service—Okanogan- increasingly large sums to suppress. since the 1970s, increasing concerns Portland Wenatchee NF (Supervisors Office; Our network provides leadership in about air quality have led to regula- Cle Elum RD, Naches RD) OREGON the North Central Washington Forest tions that originally only restricted the USDA Forest Service—Region 6 Collaborative, the Tapash Sustainable burning of logging slash in western Washington Department of Fish and Prescribed Fire Council Forest Collaborative and the Wash- Washington to be applied statewide. Wildlife (L.T. Murray, Methow, Oak ington Prescribed Fire Council, all of Creek and Sinlahekin Wildlife Areas) which work to identify and employ integrating social and ecological In 2010, to initiate a shift in this Washington Department of Fish and strategies that increase the pace and aspects of wildland fire by engaging a culture, this network took a lead role Wildlife (prescribed burn team) scale of active restoration and increase broader network of fire professionals in expanding the efforts of the North Yakima County Fire community resiliency. and community members through the Central Prescribed Fire Council to a WUI homeowners Two complementary tools can be framework of Fire Adapted Com- statewide organization, developing used to restore forests and reduce the munities (FAC)—working with those its capacity to “protect, conserve, and social, ecological and economic costs living with, and those responsible for expand the safe and responsible use of wildfires: mechanical thinning and management of, fire in the wildland- about FAC concepts and share ideas for of prescribed fire on the Washington controlled burning. The key barrier to urban interface. We are working taking action. We see FAC as a fruitful landscape to meet both public and the use of fire to meet economic, social closely with the Leavenworth FAC new approach to engaging community private management objectives.” The and ecological restoration goals is Learning Network pilot community members, which provides a means to Council now brings together a diverse cultural. There is a historically strong in the Tapash landscape as they test discuss land management options and set of people from federal and state cultural bias against fire in the approaches for mobilizing community make proactive choices that benefit the agencies, industry, and NGOs, repre- Network Landscapes members in their various roles. The landscape and people living there. senting clean air, homeowner, industry, Tapash Sustainable Forest network is also helping to start a FAC policy and land management perspec- Collaborative & fire adapted pilot community in the Tapash land- The Fire Learning Network is supported by tives. The Council is now working to Promoting Ecosystem Resilience and Fire Adapted community scape, where we have long worked on identify policy barriers and recom- Communities Together (PERFACT), a cooperative cross-ownership controlled burning agreement between The Nature Conservancy, the Sinlahekin & Methow Ecosystem mend changes to expand the safe use and the Tapash Collaborative Forest USDA Forest Service and agencies of the Depart- Restoration Demonstration ofFire controlled Adapted burning. Communities ment of the Interior. For more information, contact Landscape Landscape Restoration Project. Two Lynn Decker ([email protected]). 18 FAC workshops in early 2014 brought v. 12 Nov 14 The FLN is also using a new approach, community members together to learn Western Klamath

Mountains Will Harling [email protected] (530) 627-3202 Fire Learning Network Bill Tripp [email protected] (530) 627-3446 x 3023 Landscape Partners California Environmental Protection OREGON Agency—State Water Resources Control Board The Western Klamath Happy Camp Deer Creek GIS Klamath Happy Camp Coordinating Committee Clear Creek Restoration Six NF Happy Camp Fire Safe Council Rivers Western Karuk Tribe—Department of Emergency Partnership is a diverse working group Top: The Butler and Salmon River Complex Fires NF representing nearly all major stake- burned over 25,000 acres near the towns of Forks Klamath Services; Department of Natural of Salmon and Sawyers Bar during the summer of Mountains Resources holders in the region. This partnership 2013. The scope of high severity burns is visible as has shown support for focused point red patches where tree mortality was high in plan- Somes Bar Mid Klamath Watershed Council resource protection that will allow tations following salvage logging after the 1977 Orleans Sawyers Bar National Oceanic and Atmospheric Hog Fire. © Thomas B. Dunklin Administration—Fisheries greater use of wildfires on the edges of Forks of Salmon fire season to achieve landscape-scale Bottom: A landowner celebrates a burn on his Northern California Prescribed Fire property during the Fall 2013 Northern California Redwood Cecilville fuels reduction and ecosystem restora- National Council Prescribed Fire Training Exchange. Burns like this Park tion goals. Our network is currently are helping communities become better adapted Orleans Volunteer Fire Department focusing on bringing participants in to fire in this landscape. © TNC/Mary Huffman Orleans-Somes Bar Fire Safe Council Salmon River Fire Safe Council the Western Klamath Restoration Part- Shasta- nership from agreement in principle CALIFORNIA Trinity NF Salmon River Restoration Council on manual, mechanical and prescribed Salmon River Volunteer Fire and Rescue burning treatments to agreement in to participate in implementing pre- University of California, Berkeley practice through collaboratively devel- scribed burns for community protec- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency We are building local capacity We are educating oped prescriptions. tion and resource benefits. Science Consortium, committed to U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service reducing the gap between fire science to at the local, region- USDA Forest Service—Klamath National and fire management across north- implement treatments that will affect al and national levels through videos, Forest; Six Rivers National Forest ern California; work with the Inter- fire management options at the land- articles and presentations that high- USDA Forest Service—Pacific Southwest tribal Timber Council; and have been scapeWe are scale. developing light innovative ways of managing fire Research Station involved in the development of the in the Mediterranean climates of the USDA Natural Resources Conservation management Western Region Strategy Committee’s westernFLN leads United States. Service—Fortuna Service Center; strategies that rely on the large-scale Phase II Report and Action Plan. This Yreka Service Center use of prescribed fire to protect rural are also on the steering FLN also works closely with the North- communities, restore cultural resourc- committeeSEE MORE for the California Fire ern California Prescribed Fire Council. es, and rejuvenate habitats for plants “Catching Fire: Prescribed Burning in Northern California,” highlights work by the prescribed and animal species that have been fire council, the Karuk Tribe and the Orleans/Somes Bar Fire Safe Council. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWriDpfZnXQ negatively impacted by over a century The Fire Learning Network is supported by ofWe effective are implementing fire suppression. “Fall Burning in Orleans 2013,” filmed during the prescribed fire training exchange highlights Promoting Ecosystem Resilience and Fire Adapted a burn near Orleans, a Fire Adapted Communities Learning Network pilot community. Communities Together (PERFACT), a cooperative prescribed https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgSBqr2kgaA agreement between The Nature Conservancy, the fire training exchanges with a diverse “Lifestyles of the Rural & Fire Safe” visits five landowners using various treatments to pro- USDA Forest Service and agencies of the Depart- tect their properties. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hmFABXAojA ment of the Interior. For more information, contact array of tribal, local, state and federal Lynn Decker ([email protected]). partners, and building mechanisms for v. 14 Jan 15 19 local and tribal community members

Fire Adapted Communities Learning Network Chumstick Wildfire Boise Fire Department Stewardship Coalition Ada County, ID Fire Adapted Communities Leavenworth & Yakima, WA Island Park Sustainable Fire Community Project Wildfire Island Park, ID & West Yellowstone, MT Deschutes County, OR Dovetail Partners Mercer County Soil Learning Network Southern Oregon Forest Ely, MN Protection District Restoration Collaborative Barnegat Jackson & Josephine Township, NJ Counties, OR Karuk Tribe Klamath Mountains, CA Networking to Build Community North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District Resilience to Wildfires Chestatee/ routinely take tactics that others are North Lake Tahoe, NV/CA Launched in 2013 Chattahoochee using to help communities live with RC&D Council California Fire Safe Council Towns County, GA , the Fire Adapted fire and adapt them for their own Ojai, CA circumstances. Across the country, Communities Learning Network is Although creating fire adapted Greater Flagstaff Forest Partnership Florida Forest Service stewarded by the Watershed Research interest in the network is high. Flagstaff/Coconino County, AZ Baker County, FL and Training Center and The Nature Firewise Council of Southwest Colorado La Plata, Montezuma & Archuleta Counties Austin Fire Conservancy. Together with the USDA communities is itself one of the three Department The Forest Guild Travis County, TX Forest Service and the Department of broad goals of the National Cohesive Santa Fe County, NM Coalition for the Upper South Platte the Interior, we share a vision to accel- Wildland Fire Management Strategy, in Woodland Park, CO erate the adoption of fire adapted reality helping communities live with community (FAC) concepts across the fire involves all three goals: Seventeen pilot communities nation using a tested learning network • Restore and maintain resilient land- The FAC Learning Network are approach. scapes in all jurisdictions; currently active in the FAC Learning is modeled • Prepare communities so they can Network, with plans to continue after—and integrated with—the Fire live with and withstand a wildfire expansion. Each community is building Learning Network, which has been without loss of life and property; and capacity and raising awareness about focusing on restoring fire-adapted land- • Safely, efficiently and effectively wildfire resilience through a host of scapes since 2002. Learning networks respond to wildfires when they preparedness, mitigation and recovery are ideal vehicles for addressing happen. activities. complex issues such as wildland fire A Sampling of Projects Supported by the Network adaptation. The FAC Learning Network Network participants are helping their communities become more resilient by tak- connects people and projects to avoid ing action before, during and after wildfires. Some examples are: “reinventing the wheel,” and encour- • Creating and distributing an After the Fire Toolkit (Washington state) ages the development and sharing of In just a few years • Developing and beta-testing a Fire Adapted Communities Self-Assessment Tool innovations. (national network) we have created a • Holding a Citizen’s Fire Academy and Firewise Networking Day (Bend, Oregon) community of FAC practitioners that • Hosting Forestry Field Days (Towns County, Georgia) includes non-profit groups, fire depart- • Collaborating to complete the Travis County Community Wildfire Protection ments, Fire Safe Councils, Resource Learning together and working together: Field tours Plan (Texas) like the one near Orleans, CA (top), bring together Conservation and Development Coun- As well as FAC outreach at community wildfire preparedness and Earth Day events, residents, NGOs and agencies to learn from recent cils, Firewise Communities boards, public demonstrations of defensible space and fuel treatments, and awareness wildfires. Community work days, like the one near community collaboratives and others. Woodland Park, CO (bottom), let “many hands make campaigns through websites and social media—in communities across the country. light work” while strengthening community ties. Everyone in the network knows that Photos: WRTC; Coalition for the Upper South Platte they22 can call on their peers for advice, feedback and resources. Participants Fire Adapted Communities Learning Network Values • Adaptation is critical to a positive future. • Collaboration and partnerships are keys to successful adaptation. • Investment in local-level capacity, partnerships and responsibility yields the best outcomes. • Supporting the coordinating function within communities is essential to leveraging the range of resources, institutions and individuals necessary to build fire adapted communities. • Investing in learning across communities and geographies is a strategy that works at multiple scales, including: • Facilitating the adoption of best practices and innovations; • Building a community-of-practice to fuel inspiration and innovation; • Aggregating lessons learned to advise the design of programs and policies in support of fire adapted communities; and • Leveraging lessons learned to inform policy and resource allocation, as appropriate.

How Does the Fire Adapted Top row: Communities from coast to coast are threatened by wildfires. From left: one of the many Communities Learning Network 2008 fires, as seen from Hayfork (CA) High School; Work? other network participants also attend 2011 Los Conchas Fire in Santa Fe National Forest, conferences and give presentations Most of the 17 organizations NM; 2007 Warren Grove Fire near Barnegat Town- about FAC and the FAC Learning Net- ship, NJ. Photos: WRTC; International We are connected Space Station; NJ Forest Fire Service. work. leading Bottom row: Communities in the FAC Learning community efforts in the FAC Learning to the larger FAC Network work at many different scales to mitigate Network receive modest funding from community through the Fire Adapted wildfire risk, from promoting individual and neigh- borhood action to addressing landscape resilience the program to support local FAC work Communities Coalition, which includes and fire-related policies. At the very local scale, and promote the expansion of FAC the Forest Service, U.S. Department we have learned that demonstration sites can be a to new communities. A core team of of the Interior, Insurance Institute powerful tool for convincing homeowners to take In 2014, the Network met in Colorado Springs for action. From left: pilot community demonstration “netweavers” and coordinators works several days of presentations, discussions, a field for Business and Home Safety, Inter- sites in Barnegat Township, NJ, Leavenworth, WA directly with the network participants tour with the Fire Learning Network—and plenty of national Association of Fire Chiefs, and Island Park, ID. to foster connections among them. one-on-one networking. Photo: TNC/Liz Rank National Association of State Forest- Photos: TNC/Wendy Fulks; Andrew Holm; TNC/Guy Duffner Network participants also meet in ers, National Fire Protection Associa- person annually, and quarterly through tion, National Volunteer Fire Council, webinars. On a day-to-day basis, produce quick guides, communications U.S. Fire Administration, NWCG WUI members use an invitation-only online resources, and reports such as an Mitigation Committee, the Watershed We reach out workspace to share successes and annual State of Practice Report. Research and Training Center, and The The Fire Adapted Communities Learning Network is resources, and to pose questions and Nature Conservancy. Together we are supported by Promoting Ecosystem Resilience and In addition to netweaving to a broader audience engage in conversations. helping homeowners, communities and Fire Adapted Communities Together, a cooperative through our website and blog, where agreement between The Nature Conservancy, USDA , core team we share important resources and land managers in fire-prone areas to Forest Service and agencies of the Department of members support the deployment of a post regularly about key FAC issues prepare for and recover from inevitable the Interior through a subaward to the Watershed fires—to “live with fire” safely. Research and Training Center. For more information, variety of local FAC tactics and strate- and best practices, pilot community contact Nick Goulette ([email protected]). gies, and harvest learning from them. successes, resources and other topics v. 5 Jan 15 23 Capturing the network’s learning, they of interest. Core team members and www.FACNetwork.org Fire Adapted Chumstick Wildfire Communities Stewardship Coalition

LEARNING NETWORK HUB ORGANIZATION FAC Contact: Annie Schmidt [email protected] (509) 630-2836 No summer KEY PARTNERS Treatment demonstration projects to prepare for American Red Cross—Apple Valley has illustrated the need wildfires and a toolkit of resources to mitigate wildfire after-effects are among the projects help- Chapter for resilient and prepared communities ing make north-central Washington more better than 2014. Throughout the state resilient to wildfire. Photo: Andrew Holm Bavarian Village Business Association of Washington, more residents were Cascade School District Working in on some level of evacuation notice Cascadia Conservation District LEAVENWORTH, PLAIN and YAKIMA, than at any other time in the past 20 Central Washington Interagency Washington years. More structures—over 320 news releases from the incident, and Communication Center homes—were lost than in any previous the incident management team used Chelan County Fire District 3 Washington wildfire. Many people did parts of the social media element of Chelan County—Department of not know what to do in the event of the tool. In addition, “After the Fire” Emergency Management, Public door hangers were given to the local an evacuation or how to prepare their By participating with a wide array of local and Utility District, Public Works, Sherriff homes for wildfire. Businesses in east- fire district for distribution. regional stakeholders; City of Leavenworth ern Washington were heavily impacted in the FAC Learning • Collaborate with stakeholders during Leavenworth Chamber of Commerce by highway closures. These events Network, our communities and on-the-ground fuel reduction and National Weather Service confirmed the need to develop evacu- organizations have the ability to join forest restoration work; and South Central Washington Resource & ation and pre-attack plans to prepare , link resources and learn from • Coordinate biomass utilization Conservation District our community for future wildfire the experiences of our network part- projects and regional wildfire USDA Forest Service—Okanogan- incidents. CWSC will be working with ners—all invaluable opportunities. We education. Wenatchee National Forest local and Fire Learning Network part- believe that mutual learning is critical WILDFIRE VISION In response to the 2014 fires Washington State Department of ners to develop these plans. to healthy collaboration and we strive The Chumstick Coalition envisions progress toward a resilient communi- Natural Resources , CWSC to incorporate a strong learning ty living with wildfire. Fire is a natu- Washington State University— took action by creating an “After the component into all of our activities. ral part of north-central Washington, Extension Forestry Fire Toolkit.” This toolkit enables As communities begin to adapt and but the 2014 wildfires changed the Wenatchee Valley Humane Society information on post-fire impacts to respond to fire—and by changing the environmental, economic and social be disseminated during an incident, way we view fire—we have a chance to and local residents & landowners contexts in which we view fire. These rather than later when the “teachable share lessons learned with communi- changes present both tremendous moment” afforded by the fire has ties across the nation. Lessons learned challenges and tremendous oppor- The Fire Adapted Communities closed. A National Weather Service by others across the country benefit tunities. We are working to lever- Learning Network is supported by representative distributed the trifold our programs, organizational capacity Promoting Ecosystem Resilience and age these opportunities to create brochure from the toolkit at the first and constituency; our own lessons Fire Adapted Communities Together, resilient governments, businesses a cooperative agreement between public meeting during the Mills Canyon shared broaden the impact of the In 2015 we will be working and residents, all connected and col- The Nature Conservancy, USDA Forest Service and fire. The willingness of the Washington CWSC beyond the Chumstick. agencies of the Department of the Interior through laborating to change the way we live Incident Management Team to create to: a subaward to the Watershed Research and Training and work in fire country. Center. For more information, contact Nick Goulette space for this important messaging was • Enhance community resiliency ([email protected]). 24critical to its successful distribution. through a series of wildfire pre- v. 9 Jan 15 Post-fire impacts were highlighted in paredness workshops and meetings Fire Adapted Communities Project Wildfire HUB ORGANIZATION LEARNING NETWORK FAC Contact: Alison Green [email protected] (541) 322-7129

Project Wildfire KEY PARTNERS ’s flagship program, Bend Fire Department / Brooks FireFree, experienced a surge in Resources / Brown & Brown Insurance participation in both the spring and Community members discuss critical wildfire issues / Bureau of Land Management / fall 2014 events, breaking its previous during a World Café session at the November 2014 Deschutes Collaborative Forest Project Firewise Networking Day. Photo: Alison Green Working in / Deschutes County—Board of Com- records. The greater participation in DESCHUTES COUNTY, Oregon the spring event suggests an increase missioners, Community Development, in residents preparing for fire season including 7 CWPP areas Emergency Manager, County Forester before there is smoke on the horizon. Bend / East & West Deschutes / Deschutes River Woods / Deschutes engaged community members—that The sharp increase in attendance at County / La Pine / Redmond / Sisters Rural Fire Protection District #2 / will lead to improved communication the fall event indicates that messages / Sunriver / Upper Deschutes River International Association of Fire Chiefs between Firewise communities and shared during the teachable moments Coalition / National Fire Protection Association / Oregon State University’s those working toward this recognition. of fire season did not fall on deaf ears. and 16 Firewise Communities North Rim HOA / Oregon Department Project Wildfire is also collaborating Aspen Lakes / Awbrey Glen / Caldera of Forestry / Oregon State University— Extension with the Ready, Set, Go! program to Springs / Cascade Meadows Ranch / Extension / Ponderosa Pines Property Service debuted a new program, the Looking ahead develop an Oregon-specific guide. Crosswater / Deschutes River Woods Owners Association / Rimrock West Citizen’s Fire Academy, that is helping , the Forest Service and / Fall River Estates / Ponderosa Pines HOA / River Meadows HOA / Shevlin to build local capacity in Deschutes The Nature Conservancy are working / Rimrock West / River Meadows / Commons / Singletree Enterprises LLC County. Project Wildfire has been on a prescribed fire training exchange Spring River / Sunriver / Sunset View / Sisters Fire Department / Sunriver supporting this effort by aiding in the (TREX) that will make its Deschutes Estates / The Ridge at Eagle Crest / HOA / Sunset View Estates HOA / The planning and facilitation of the cur- County debut this spring. TREX will Tollgate / Wild River Highlands at Broken Top / The Nature riculum. Residents who are enrolled be an excellent tool to increase the Conservancy / Tollgate HOA / Upper in this program can act as liaisons for conversation locally about prescribed Deschutes River Coalition / USDA their neighborhood or formally volun- Many local Firewise stakeholders fire, communicate with the public Forest Service / Western Region teer with local agencies. about the need for forest restoration, implement similar ideas in Deschutes Cohesive Strategy—Chair, Committee

and further the conversation around County. Project Wildfire is hoping to Coordinator met at a Firewise Networking Day. This The amount of knowledge smoke management. capitalize on the open communica- event produced great synergy among that the tion within the network to increase neighborhood “spark plugs”—highly- The Fire Adapted Communities FAC Learning Network has generated awareness of fire adapted community Learning Network is supported by for Deschutes County is more than concepts in the county. There are Promoting Ecosystem Resilience and Project Wildfire could have hoped for. already some local residents working Fire Adapted Communities Together, a cooperative agreement between Ideas for CWPP revisions, how to docu- towards becoming more fire adapted The Nature Conservancy, USDA Forest Service and FireFree volunteers at the Fryrear Transfer Station ment home assessments, a successful without being aware of it. Being able to agencies of the Department of the Interior through were part of a May 2014 work day that helped networking day agenda, and other give those efforts a name, and to sup- a subaward to the Watershed Research and Training remove excess fuels to protect their communities. Center. For more information, contact Nick Goulette Photo: Terri Cairns guides developed by FAC partners port them with ideas shared in the FAC ([email protected]). v. 16 Jan 15 and shared through the network have Learning Network will provide lasting 25 given Project Wildfire motivation to benefits in Deschutes County. Fire Adapted Southern Oregon Forest Communities Restoration Collaborative

LEARNING NETWORK HUB ORGANIZATION FAC Contact: George McKinley [email protected] www.forestrestorationcollaborative.org The Southern Oregon Forest KEY PARTNERS Resto- Applegate Fire Plan ration Collaborative (SOFRC) works to Bureau of Land Management— build support and strategies for cohe- Medford District sive forest restoration across the dry City of Ashland forests of southwest Oregon. Our goal Working in City of Grants Pass is to create resilient forests and com- JACKSON and JOSEPHINE COUNTIES, Jackson County munities, support coordinated forest Oregon Josephine County planning, and maintain a vibrant forest About 15 miles east of Ashland, a plume rises from Lomakatsi Restoration Project management and utilization infra- the Oregon Gulch Fire, which burned about 35,000 Oregon Department of Forestry structure. While our focus is on federal acres in summer 2014. Photo: George McKinley Oregon State University—Extension lands, the checkerboard landscape Service of the region encourages an all-lands implementation, given the expectation The Nature Conservancy approach to achieve integrated forest of shifting precipitation patterns and Our recently-completed U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service restoration goals. forests, fire adapted communities and increased wildfire activity. It will also USDA Forest Service—Rogue River- Illinois Val- coordinated wildfire planning and sup- help inform discussions of the expected Siskiyou National Forest ley Timber Sustainability Assessment pression activity. Integrated risk assess- impacts of climate change in the ments are key to the county plans, and region. identified an available, cost-effective, KEY RESTORATION PRINCIPLES restoration-based federal timber will help determine priority needs and opportunities across the region. The • Management recommendations based on historic fire return intervals and site supply that helped leverage state and productivity year 2015 will be a benchmark for national investments to enable the • Reliance on a fine-grained approach for our fine-grained landscape retooling and reopening of a local mill, vetting the plans for community and agency support, as well as advancing • Use of both fire and mechanical harvest to achieve and maintain ecological and which will provide 70 jobs to the rural SOFRC has also completed economic goals community. The assessment worked associated action plans. • Support for fire adapted community efforts within current federal forest manage- a climate • Advocate long-term viability of critical habitats and species ment guidelines and land allocations, adaptation action plan for the Rogue and received support from the U.S. Basin. This plan will help guide futureLegend Fish & Wildlife Service in its effort to forest restoration planning and County Boundaries A map of Josephine and Jackson Counties Working in the context conserve northern spotted owl habitat. WUI (County Fire Plans) (outlined in yellow) shows the extent The Fire Adapted Communities At-Risk Communities of WUI (outlined in red) within the Learning Network is supported by Ownership of the BLM PD counties. Also evident is the large area Promoting Ecosystem Resilience and Western Action Plan of the National BLM OC occupied by communities considered Fire Adapted Communities Together, Other Federal at risk from wildfire (red areas); these a cooperative agreement between Wildfire Cohesive Strategy, SOFRC is County NPS include Grants Pass in Josephine County The Nature Conservancy, USDA Forest Service and working with two counties to complete Private (Industrial) and Ashland and Medford in Jackson agencies of the Department of the Interior through Private (Non-Industrial) County. In the background, the checker- a subaward to the Watershed Research and Training county-based integrated fire plans. State USFS board pattern of ownership can be seen. Center. For more information, contact Nick Goulette This process encourages coordination USFS OC Map: SOFRC ([email protected]). 26in local efforts to integrate the three v. 10 Jan 15 Cohesive Strategy goals—resilient Fire Adapted Communities Karuk Tribe

LEARNING NETWORK HUB ORGANIZATION FAC Contact: Bill Tripp [email protected] (530) 627-3446 x 3023 Recent accomplishments KEY PARTNERS Bureau of Indian Affairs in this land- California Fire Science Consortium scape include the establishment of the Deer Creek GIS Western Klamath Restoration Partner- Happy Camp Coordinating Committee ship (WKRP), a collaborative that is Happy Camp Fire Safe Council working to improve forest resiliency Working in Hayfork Watershed Research and Training Center and community safety. As part of the CECILVILLE, FORKS OF SALMON, Inter-Tribal Timber Council Fire Learning Network, this partner- HAPPY CAMP, ORLEANS, SAWYERS Smoke rising from low-intensity burns on the Nix Karuk Tribe—Community Development ship has held a series of eight facilitated BAR, SEIAD and SOMES BAR, and unit during the October 2014 Klamath River TREX. with the KARUK PEOPLE Corporation, Dept. of Natural Resources, three-day workgroup sessions, and Photo: Thomas B. Dunklin via Facebook Emergency Preparedness Department has reached agreement in principle for in northern California Our current focus Klamath Forest Alliance projects at the landscape scale. Mid Klamath Watershed Council is on convening National Oceanic and Atmospheric partners to ramp up the scope and systems. We are trying to reverse that Administration—Fisheries scale of our planning and implemen- trend and revitalize the human-fire Northern California Prescribed Fire tation capacities. We are improving relationship so we can once again Council Orleans Volunteer Fire Department mechanisms to obligate funds from the From left: Fire rejuvenating a patch of bear grass, a thrive as a people of place in our To help reach these goals Orleans-Somes Bar Fire Safe Council Forest Service to the Bureau of Indian basket woven from materials that depend on fire, original homelands. acorns. Prescribed fire in this landscape supports Salmon River Fire Safe Council Affairs for the tribe to systematically cultural values as well as community safety and , we are Salmon River Restoration Council progress our WKRP collaborative en- forest resilience. Photos: Bill Tripp; USFS/Frank Lake planning on gaining administrative Salmon River Volunteer Fire and Rescue deavors as a Cohesive Strategy Demon- access to the Incident Qualifications U.S. Environmental Protection Agency stration Area. More than $1.1 million in and Certification System (IQCS) and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service funding was obligated in 2014 for NEPA Resource Ordering Status System University of California, Berkeley planning and for completing NEPA- But we are progressing in a manner (ROSS) in the coming year. This will USDA Forest Service—Klamath NF, ready projects. Among the year’s high- that we believe will produce tangible enable us to manage the qualifications Shasta-Trinity NF, Six Rivers NF; Pacific Southwest Research Station lights was the fall Klamath River Pre- results for the long term. Seed money of tribal, NGO and community volun- USDA Natural Resources Conservation scribed Fire Training Exchange, where from the FAC Learning Network has teer personnel so the workforce that Service—Fortuna Service Center, Yreka 53 participants built their fire skills been instrumental in convening the we are growing locally for the restora- while treating 240 acres with fire. discussions needed to help our vision Service Center Our long-term goals tion and maintenance of fire resilient Western Klamath Restoration Partnership Our integrated approach to fire man- start to become a reality. landscapes will also be able to respond Western Region Strategy Committee agement has been highlighted in the include bringing to wildfires in a safe, effective, and Western Region Strategy Committee fire back to the people in Karuk consistent manner.The Fire Adapted Communities Learning Network is supported by Promoting Ecosystem Resil- newsletter, the Cohesive Wildland Fire Territory. Fire as an ecological process ience and Fire Adapted Communities Together, a cooperative agreement between The Nature Management Strategy Facebook page, Conservancy, USDA Forest Service and agencies of the Department of the Interior through a Collaborative leadership is not currently fulfilling its functional and in many newspaper articles. subaward to the Watershed Research and Training Center. role in this landscape. People have For more information, contact Nick Goulette ([email protected]). in a large, not been serving in their capacity as v. 31 Dec 14 27 complex system presents challenges. responsible stewards within ecological Fire Adapted North Lake Tahoe Communities Fire Protection District

LEARNING NETWORK HUB ORGANIZATION FAC Contact: Forest Schafer [email protected] (775) 690-7506 With seven fire districts KEY PARTNERS , five coun- California Department of Forestry and ties, and two states the Lake Tahoe Ba- Fire Protection / California State Parks sin presents unique challenges for co- Senator Dianne Feinstein presents a proclamation honoring the release of the Multi-Jurisdictional / California Tahoe Conservancy / City ordinating FAC activities. Since joining Fuel Reduction and Wildfire Prevention Strategy to of South Lake Tahoe Fire Department the FAC Learning Network, fire, land the forest supervisor and fire protection district Working in / Fallen Leaf Lake Fire Department / management, and regulatory agencies chief. Photo: USFS/Lisa Herron LAKE TAHOE BASIN communities Fire Public Information Team / Lake have strengthened partnerships by for- in Washoe and Douglas Counties in Valley Fire Protection District / Meeks malizing the role each plays in creating Nevada and El Dorado and Placer Bay Fire Protection District / Nevada a Fire Adapted Community. The asso- Counties in California Division of Forestry / Nevada Division ciation of 15 organizations, called the project to review the factors that lead of State Lands / Nevada Network of Tahoe Fire and Fuels Team, recently to a neighborhood’s continued success, Fire Adapted Communities / Nevada completed the Multi-Jurisdictional difficulty, or eventual disinterest. The Wildfire is inevitable Tahoe Conservation District / North Fuel Reduction and Wildfire Preven- process will identify the organizational Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District / tion Strategy. This strategy creates a strategies that the Tahoe Fire and Fu- in the Lake Failure gains value Tahoe Douglas Fire Protection District framework for information exchange, els Team will promote in the future. Tahoe Basin, but catastrophic fire is / Tahoe Fire and Fuels Team / Tahoe resource sharing, and coordinated when participat- preventable. Through FAC programs, Regional Planning Agency / University education and outreach across juris- the character of the community and Until 2011 ing in a learning network. Lake Tahoe of Nevada—Cooperative Extension dictional boundaries. organizations have shared their suc- the landscape is gradually shifting to / USDA Forest Service—Lake Tahoe , a non-profit organization cesses and challenges, and in turn have become more fire-adapted. To contin- Basin Management Unit provided substantial support to Lake learned from others throughout the ue the transition, the team is striving Tahoe communities working to reduce nation. Methods for sharing and col- for an effective partnership of agencies and the public that can be sustained fire risk. When the non-profit went laborating are being adapted from the To provide cost-effective bankrupt, it left communities without national program for use in regional without the need for outside funding. Increased burning will be facilitated support and financial assistance. The networks. Participation in the FAC mainte- by: exchanging resources, knowledge, Tahoe Fire and Fuels Team is focused Network has helped build a culture nance of fuels reduction treatments, and training to build the skill base in on rebuilding support functions for the where organizations are encouraged Basin agencies seek to increase the the Basin; increasing structure and public, and increasing their involve- to take calculated risks that can lead to use of prescribed fire, especially on landscaping ignition resistance to allow ment in basin-wide decision mak- important breakthroughs and innova- private and local government land. The understory fire to be safely applied ing processes. Key to rebuilding is a tions in becoming fire adapted. land is often adjacent to homes and nearby; and developing agreements and businesses, and the understory burns processes for burns that span federal, are technically difficult to implement. state, local and private ownerships. The Fire Adapted Communities Learning Network is supported by Promoting Ecosystem Resil- ience and Fire Adapted Communities Together, a cooperative agreement between The Nature Actions from community work days to information tables at block parties, and from chipper days to Conservancy, USDA Forest Service and agencies of the Department of the Interior through a conducting prescribed burns, are being offered to help communities prepare to live safely in a landscape subaward to the Watershed Research and Training Center. with inevitable wildfires. Photos: Tahoe Douglas FPD (left), North Lake Tahoe FPD (others) For more information, contact Nick Goulette ([email protected]). 28 v. 14 Jan 15 Fire Adapted California Communities Fire Safe Council HUB ORGANIZATION LEARNING NETWORK FAC Contacts: Margaret Grayson [email protected] Katie Martel [email protected] The California Fire Safe Council (626) 335-7426

(CFSC) is a state-wide nonprofit that KEY PARTNERS provides wildfire education and out- CAL FIRE reach support and capacity-building Working National Fire Protection Association— assistance to organizations in California throughout the state of California Firewise that are engaged in fire preparedness. Ojai Valley Fire Safe Council This wide-reaching influence and sup- Homeowners participate in home ignition zone USDA Forest Service port of local community groups makes assessment training organized by California Fire Safe Council. Photo: CFSC/Katie Martel us especially well positioned to spread innovative ideas from local California A key area of focus Fire Safe Councils and Firewise Com- munities through the FAC Learning as part of the Network, and to bring innovations For more than 20 years FAC Learning Network this year is to back to our California partners. increase wildfire preparedness among , CFSC has residents in the wildland-urban inter- been a leader in California’s fight to face (WUI) through development of an reduce the impact of wildfire. CFSC is innovative mobile application. We will recognized by state and federal fire be expanding the Ojai Valley FSC’s on- California Fire Safe Council Attendees visit exhibitors at the 2014 Fire Summit, agencies as a vital link to communities. line home safety survey to create a mo- staff manage a grants clearing- which was hosted by the Southern California house for the state, and work Regional Area Taskforce and sposored by California Private corporations, including bile app assessment tool for Fire Safe with applicants to ensure their Fire Safe Council. Photos: CFSC insurance and utility companies, have Councils and Firewise Communities to success and help them meet shown generous support for CFSC’s use with homeowners. This tool will their responsibilities as grant- CFSC offers workshops ees. CFSC is also the state work. apply current technology to make the liaison for the Firewise CALIFORNIA FIRE SAFE COUNCIL and one-day assessment process more convenient Communities program. MISSION for in-field implementation and allow conferences on fire and disaster pre- Mobilizing Californians to protect for easy communication of assessment vention topics several times each year We continue their homes, communities and findings to the homeowner. in locations throughout the state. Fire forum will allow FSCs, Firewise Com- environment from wildfires Safe Councils communicate regularly to advance networking munities, grantee organizations and with CFSC to share information about among local Fire Safe Councils and community groups to share tips, local events and successful projects Firewise Communities in California. lessons learnedThe Fire and Adapted best Communitiespractices. Learning Network is supported by Promoting Ecosystem Resil- and outreach programs. In turn, In addition to the workshops and ience and Fire Adapted Communities Together, a cooperative agreement between The Nature CFSC offers networking and training conferences, the CFSC website will be Conservancy, USDA Forest Service and agencies of the Department of the Interior through a subaward to the Watershed Research and Training Center. opportunities that help the local expanded. New website content will For more information, contact Nick Goulette ([email protected]). groupsv. 16 Jan 15 continue their critical work in highlight successes of local FSCs and 29 wildfire prevention and preparedness. Firewise Communities, and an online Fire Adapted Greater Flagstaff Communities Forests Partnership LEARNING NETWORK HUB ORGANIZATION FAC Contacts: Mark Brehl [email protected] (928) 853-2735 Anne Mottek Lucas The Greater Flagstaff Forests Part- [email protected] nership (928) 213-0413 (GFFP) is a long-standing KEY PARTNERS collaborative representing numerous Arizona Game and Fish Department academic, environmental and private Arizona Prescribed Fire Council organizations as well as municipal, Working in the Arizona State Forestry Division county, state and federal agencies. City of Flagstaff viewed from the steep, rocky slopes GREATER FLAGSTAFF AREA Centennial Forest Since 1998, GFFP has endeavored of the Dry Lake Hills. Photo: FWPP/Mark Brehl COMMUNITY of northern Arizona City of Flagstaff to increase community protection Coconino County through research and demonstration Coconino County Conservation District of various approaches to restore houses and activities associated with on a 140-acre tribal in-holding in the Flagstaff Fire Department natural ecosystem structure, function the annual Flagstaff Festival of Science, middle of the Dry Lake Hills (FWPP) Friends of Northern Arizona Forests and composition in the ponderosa pine including the Science in the Park Festi- area that is surrounded by the Co- Northern Arizona University— forests surrounding Flagstaff, Arizona. val, Forest Fires & Floods Hike into the conino National Forest. A two-panel Ecological Restoration Institute GFFP has helped lead a shift in public Dry Lake Hills and a Brown Bag Lunch log kiosk was built and installed on the Northern Arizona University—School of Forestry understanding and support for pro- detailing the history of our local forest property to host project details, parcel Ponderosa Fire Advisory Council active forest management designed to ecosystems and the current and future history and forest/fire management In 2015 Southwest Fire Science Consortium promote the safety and sustainability efforts being planned to create sustain- information. In 2012 GFFP recently collaborated The Nature Conservancy of our community and forests. able communities and resilient forests. we will continue to promote , City residents chose not to be with the FAC at various community events, host helpless victims in the face of inevi- Arizona Rural Policy Institute, City of field trips and produce videos related table wildfire, but instead voted with Flagstaff and Ecological Restoration to prescribed fire and smoke manage- a community wildfire preparedness overwhelming support (74 percent) to Institute on the FWPP Cost Avoidance ment. We are also working on signs contest to be held in conjunction with spend municipal bond money to fund Study. The study conservatively esti- recognizing property owners working the 2015 National Wildfire Community forest treatments on state and federal mates the FWPP’s proactive funding proactively to reduce wildfire risk, and Preparedness Day. MORE INFORMATION land that would reduce risks of severe of $10 million was a sound investment wildfires and minimize post-fire considering it will avoid between $552 Greater Flagstaff Forests Partnership http://www.gffp.org/ impacts such as flooding. GFFP’s work million and $1.2 billion in potential Flagstaff FD Wildland Fire Management Division http://www.flagstaff.az.gov/wildlandfire to advance the goals of the Flagstaff damages; not to mention the scenic and Coconino National Forest http://www.fs.usda.gov/COCONINO Watershed Protection Project (FWPP) spiritual loss the community would Flagstaff Watershed Protection Project http://www.flagstaffwatershedprotection.org/ Helping initiate discussions is well aligned with FAC and the endure. GFFP hosted Cohesive Strategy. , planning The Fire Adapted Communities Learning Network is supported by Promoting Ecosystem Resil- and participated in efforts and permitting with the Navajo ience and Fire Adapted Communities Together, a cooperative agreement between The Nature numerous events in 2014 promoting Nation, GFFP facilitated the Flagstaff Conservancy, USDA Forest Service and agencies of the Department of the Interior through a subaward to the Watershed Research and Training Center. the common goals of FAC, the FWPP Fire Department’s Wildland Fire Man- For more information, contact Nick Goulette ([email protected]). 30and the Partnership. Events included agement Division meadow restoration v. 13 Jan 15 numerous community meetings, open project, eliminating pine encroachment Fire Adapted Communities The Forest Guild HUB ORGANIZATION LEARNING NETWORK FAC Contact: Eytan Krasilovsky [email protected] (505) 983-8992 x 16 Public and stakeholder KEY PARTNERS Angel Fire—Fire Department engagement A prescribed fire training exchange (TREX) in Octo- is a high priority for this partnership, ber helped build local capacity while treating fuels Black Lake—Fire Department as is building capacity to implement on 255 acres near Black Lake Chris’s Tree Service FAC projects in northern New Mexico. Photo: NMSLO/Mark Meyers City of Santa Fe—Fire Department In 2014 we made tremendous strides Working in Fire Services Support, LLC The Forest Guild on both fronts. SANTA FE COUNTY and McKINLEY La Cueva Road a FAC leader from southwest Colorado COUNTY, New Mexico McKinley County joined the New Other outreach efforts Mexico Wildland Urban Interface to bring a fresh outside perspective. and the communities of Angel Fire / New Mexico Association of Counties Summit planning team in the spring have included: Black Lake / Breadsprings / Dixon / La New Mexico State Forestry and helped plan the three-day event • overhauling the www.fireadapted- Cueva / Penasco / Santa Fe / Timber New Mexico State Land Office around the theme of fire adapted newmexico.org website based on Lake Ranches Santa Fe County Santa Fe County Commissioners communities. The summit drew more feedback from FAC partners; The fall TREX combined than 110 people from around the state. • discussing FAC issues on the local training, treatments and The Nature Conservancy—New Mexico Throughout the year, the FACLN con- radio program Radio Café; outreach: a local reporter USDA Forest Service—Santa Fe conducted a video interview National Forest (Pecos/Las Vegas tinued to work with the City of Santa • giving FAC presentations at the South- with the NM State Lands Fe FAC Coalition and the budding west Fire Science Consortium Forest Forester during ignitions. Ranger District) Wildfire Network. The Nature Conser- Resiliency conference—interviews Photo: NMSF/Mary Stuever vancy invested in local FAC efforts to here resulted in three articles in expand impact by convening two peer major media outlets mentioning FAC learning workshops in the Rio Grande concepts—and “Wildland Smoke in new funding sources in 2014. A three- implement actions recommended in Water Fund region. In October, the first the Air—What Does it Mean to ME?” year FAC-targeted implementation the 2013 McKinley County CWPP; this workshop brought together partici- workshop; project supported by the Forest Service cost-share grant will help 30-40 home- pants from northern New Mexico and • presenting the webinar “Working Collaborative Forest Restoration Pro- owners reduce their risk. And FAC Across Fence Lines: Multijurisdic- gram will restore forests and improve partner Fire Service Support is work- tional Planning and Prescribed Fire,” watershed conditions across 350-450 ing on a project for the New Mexico which shared experiences from two acres in the Rio Trampas watershed. Association of Counties that will Forest Guild projects in northern Implementation of the new FAC self- expand the tablet-based home-site New Mexico. assessment tool is part of this project risk assessment program in Santa Fe Combining outreach and implementa- and is already underway. A home risk County into the high-risk community tion, 55 rural youth worked in eight reduction grant from the New Mexico of Turquoise Trail by training volun- crews across six districts on three AssociationThe of FireCounties Adapted will Communities be used Learningto Networkteer firefighters is supported toby Promoting do assessments. Ecosystem Resil - national forests on FAC and conserva- ience and Fire Adapted Communities Together, a cooperative agreement between The Nature Kids gather around a matchstick “forest fire” tion projects like fuels reduction and Conservancy, USDA Forest Service and agencies of the Department of the Interior through a To expand and leverage demonstration at an Earth Day outreach event in prescribed fire line construction. subaward to the Watershed Research and Training Center. Santa Fe. Photo: Forest Guild For more information, contact Nick Goulette ([email protected]). FACLN v. 16 Dec 14 31 investments, the Guild secured three Fire Adapted FireWise of Communities Southwest Colorado

LEARNING NETWORK HUB ORGANIZATION FAC Contact: Pam Wilson [email protected] (970) 385-8909 Southwest Open High School students sport the Fire- Since joining the FAC Network Wise Helping Hands t-shirts they got for volunteering Working in at a low-income pilot project work day. They helped Montezuma, La Plata, and Archuleta Counties install screening below decks, lay weed-barrier fabric , and gravel near homes, plant fire-resistant shrubs and in southwest Colorado FireWise of Southwest Colorado has de-construct a carport. Photo: Rita Strammel REGIONAL PARTNERS American Red Cross / BLM—Southwest hosted and participated in numerous District Field Office / Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control / Colorado Division of Home- stakeholder events to discuss, plan and land Security / Colorado State Forest Service / Farmers Insurance / Mountain Studies Institute / NRG Consulting / San Juan Citizens Alliance / San Juan Mountains Association / Short Forestry / Southern implement activities across its three- Rockies Fire Science Network / Southwest Conservation Corps / State Farm Insurance / University county area. These included taking Archuleta County to make three slash of Colorado, Boulder—Institute of Behavioral Sciences / USDA Forest Service— Rocky Mountain part in public meetings hosted by La depot locations into sustainable opera- Research Station, San Juan NF / Wildfire Mitigation Professionals’ Association Plata County to support new drive- tions. FireWise has also championed ARCHULETA COUNTY PARTNERS Archuleta County— Administrator, Board of County Commissioners, way standards and a meeting with the many other FAC-related projects that County Landfill, OEM / BIA—Southern Ute Agency / Colorado State University—Archuleta County Extension Office / Los Pinos FPD / Pagosa Area Water and Sanitation District / Pagosa FPD / Pagosa county to discuss revising its CWPP; support regional wildfireBest Practices risk reduction. for Springs High School / San Juan Headwaters Forest Health Partnership / Stollsteimer Watershed Group hosting a wildfire forum in Montezuma TheseHomeowners include: / USDA Forest Service—San Juan NF (Pagosa RD) / USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service County (where 30 people discussed • development of a LA PLATA COUNTY PARTNERS BIA—Southern Ute Agency / City of Durango / Durango & Silverton opportunities for increasing wildfire directory, Narrow Gauge Railroad / Durango FPD / Fort Lewis Mesa FPD / La Plata Conservation District / La preparedness); and a workshop on FAC • a low-income pilot project in Mont- Plata County— Board of County Commissioners, OEM, Planning and GIS Depts. / La Plata Electric Association / La Plata Open Space Conservancy / Los Pinos FPD / San Juan RC&D / Upper Pine River and wildfire preparedness for realtors, ezuma County that included creation FPD / USDA Forest Service—San Juan NF (Columbine RD) insurance agents and residents. There of a fuel break to protect a 96-unit MONTEZUMA COUNTY PARTNERS BIA—Ute Mountain Ute Agency / Colorado Division of Parks were also follow-up meetings for two mobile home park and fuels reduc- and Wildlife / Cortez FPD / Cortez Open Learning High School / Dolores County OEM / Empire Electric working groups that emerged from a tion and hardening of homes on four Association / Four Corners Bar Association / Four Corners Home Builders Association / K&N Fuels Management / Lewis-Arriola FPD / Mancos FPD / Montelores Habitat Partnership Program / wildfire collaboration conference in individual properties, Montezuma County— Administrator, Board of County Commissioners, County Landfill, OEM / May: The Regional Council Working • a new partnership with the La Plata National Park Service—Mesa Verde National Park (Fire Management) / Pleasant View FPD / Tri-State Group met to discuss creating a group County GIS Department to map fuels- Generation and Transmission Cooperative / USDA Forest Service—Dolores Public Lands Office / Ute to recommend priority areas for treat- reduction efforts across the region, and Mountain Ute Fire and Rescue / Western Area Power Administration ment, guide grant applications and • a collaborative effort that conducts Left: The 2014 FireWise chipper rebate pro- address regional issues. The Regional fuels mitigation work on conservation gram provided almost $20K in rebates to 91 Biomass Working Group is addressing easements near communities with residents and HOAs, who matched with $107K Plans are underway and 4,065 hours of work. Photo: P. Wilson opportunities for developing a biomass CWPPs or FireWise Ambassadors. Right: A 2014 tour of the 2012 Weber Fire. industry in the region. In September, for wildfire pre- Due to education, mitigation and evacuation FireWise of Southwest Colorado’s planning laid out in their CWPP, no homes paredness events in all three counties in were damaged in the 10,000-acre fire and all executive director took part in a New 2015. FireWise will also host a wildfire residents were evacuated safely. Mexico FAC peer-learning workshop, Photo: Cortez Journal/Jim Mimiaga Other recent accomplishments collaboration conference, and is work- sharing learning between the regions. ing with the San Juan National Forest to The Fire Adapted Communities Learning Network is supported by Promoting Ecosystem Resil- highlight a 1,100-acre prescribed burn ience and Fire Adapted Communities Together, a cooperative agreement between The Nature include the addition of a new Firewise conducted adjacent to a Firewise Conservancy, USDA Forest Service and agencies of the Department of the Interior through a subaward to the Watershed Research and Training Center. Community, bringing the area’s total to Community. The FAC Learning Network’s For more information, contact Nick Goulette ([email protected]). eight.32 FireWise has also been working self-assessment tool will also be intro- v. 31 Dec 14 with the landfill and other partners in duced in all three counties. Fire Adapted Coalition for the Communities Upper South Platte HUB ORGANIZATION LEARNING NETWORK FAC Contact: Jonathan Bruno [email protected] (719) 748-0033 To successfully implement KEY PARTNERS Logs from a thinning project are stacked for sale. Black Forest Together / City of the Front Whenever possible, CUSP sells logs to local Woodland Park / Collaborative Forest Range Fire Adapted Communities businesses to offset treatment costs. Photo: CUSP Landscape Restoration Program / Program, the Coalition for the Upper Colorado Department of Natural South Platte (CUSP) focuses on areas Resources / Colorado Parks and of high to extreme fire risk and critical underway, or have been recently com- Working in In the Upper South Platte Wildlife / Colorado Springs Utilities / infrastructure. pleted on federal, state and local lands, WOODLAND PARK and along the Colorado State Forest Service / utilities lands and private properties. Colorado Front Range watershed, Florissant Fire Protection District / This coordinated work increases the CUSP works to tie together completed In 2015 CUSP Front Range Fuels Treatment overall impact on ecosystem resilience, and planned forest management in Partnership / Help the Needy / Home wildfire risk reduction and watershed the watershed to increase the overall Projects in at-risk will undertake several Owners Associations / Mile High Youth protection. impact on ecosystem resilience and prescribed burns, focusing efforts in Corps / Northeast Teller County Fire wildfire risk reduction. This program wildland-urban the northern watershed. With a skilled Protection District / Palmer Land Trust of work includes interface (WUI) zones along the Colo- staff of 25 and several new pieces of / Park County / Pikes Peak Wildfire • implementing Community Wildfire rado Front Range are also a priority. equipment, CUSP is well positioned to Prevention Partners / Teller County Protection Plan and landscape-scale Having completed over 2000 acres in even more effectively implement forest / The Nature Conservancy / U.S. Air activities that reduce hazardous 2014, CUSP has begun to expand its management projects. Participation in Force Academy / USDA Forest Service fuels; area of influence, and has begun men- the FAC network affords staff opportu- / USDA Natural Resources • increasing forest resiliency; toring several other non-profit orga- nities to discuss with others in the fire Conservation Service / Wood Ministry • raising community awareness, pre- nizations facing the same challenges. and land management field both chal- paredness and ownership; and CUSP’s biomass facility, located in Fair- lenges and new approaches to creating • building local capacity for both bio- play, is now fully operational, provid- more resilient communities. The FAC mass utilization and project manage- CUSP works ing wood chips from fuel management network has also raised the organiza- ment and implementation. projects to heat the Fairplay School. tion’s national visibility, extending its Looking ahead in areas adjacent to impact. projects that are planned, already , CUSP will be focusing on risk reduction in the home ignition zone, influencing policy and tax code related to the WUI, identifying and A CUSP crew burns piled slash in the snow, to remove excess fuels from the forest when the risk securing sustainable long-term funding of wildfire is at its lowest. Photo:CUSP sources, and increasing awareness of the Front RangeThe Fire FAC Adapted program. Communities Learning Network is supported by Promoting Ecosystem Resil- ience and Fire Adapted Communities Together, a cooperative agreement between The Nature Knowing that the only way to protect our commu- Conservancy, USDA Forest Service and agencies of the Department of the Interior through a Before and after forest restoration work completed nities is by working together, CUSP volunteers lend subaward to the Watershed Research and Training Center. in the Woodland Park area. Photos: CUSP a hand. Photo:CUSP For more information, contact Nick Goulette ([email protected]). v. 16 Jan 15 33 Fire Adapted Communities Boise Fire Department

LEARNING NETWORK HUB ORGANIZATION FAC Contact: Capt. Jerry McAdams [email protected] (208) 570-6576 The Boise Fire Department COMMUNITY PARTNERS Ada County Emergency Management / Ada County Juvenile Court Services / Ada County Parks & Waterways / Boise Fire Department / Boise is engaged Heights Neighborhood Association / Boise Parks Department in many FAC activities supported by a / Boise Planning & Development Services / Boise Police variety of grants and through its par- Goat grazing is one of the treatments being used to Working in Department / Briarhill Owners’ Association / Bureau of Land ticipation in the FAC Learning Network. reduce fuels. Above, before and after grazing on a ADA COUNTY, Idaho Management—Boise District / Central Foothills Neighborhood slope in the Oregon Trail area. Most work directly tied to the FAC City of Boise communities Association / City of Eagle Parks & Recreation / Collister Photo: Boise Fire Dept./M. Beaudoin Neighborhood Association / Columbia Village Owners’ Learning Network will begin in 2015. Boise Heights NA / Collister NA / Cove East / Dallas Harris Association / CT Biological Weed and Brush Control Inc. In the meantime, the Boise Fire Depart- Estates / East End NA / Harris / Eagle Fire Protection District / East End Neighborhood ment has been busy with many wildfire Ranch NA / Highland NA / Association / Flutterby Gardens Landscaping LLC and North mitigation projects, including manag- its partners. For example, a tour for Homestead Rim / Hulls Grove End Organic Nursery / Forest Management Inc. / Harris ing numerous projects supported by the Public Lands Foundation examined / Oregon Trail Heights / River Ranch—Dallas Harris Estates / Harris Ranch Neighborhood Association / Harris Ranch Wildlife Mitigation Association / its partner, the Southwest Idaho RC&D. an area where a fatal wildland fire Heights / Surprise Valley Firewise Communities Healthy Hills Initiative / Highlands Neighborhood Association These include creating fuel breaks occurred, and where several years of Briarhill / Central Foothills / / Idaho Power / Morningside Heights HOA / Quail Ridge through sagebrush thinning, goat graz- phased wildfire mitigation work have Columbia Village / Morning- Neighborhood Association / Stone Creek Fire LLC / USDA ing, herbicide applications and re- taken place to reduce future risks. A side Heights / Quail Ridge / Agricultural Research Service / Warm Springs Mesa Neighbor- seeding, and a small ancillary erosion similar, more in-depth version of this Warm Springs Mesa hood Association REGIONAL PARTNERS Boise State University—Department of Community & Regional Planning; control project. Another project funded tour will be part of the IAWF Inter- City of Eagle Hidden Springs Town Association Department of Geosciences; Public Policy Center / Bureau by the RC&D is the acquisition and national Wildland Fire Safety Summit of Land Management / Idaho Bureau of Homeland Security installation of a Remote Automatic and Human Dimensions of Wildland / Idaho Department of Fish & Game / Idaho Firewise / Idaho Weather Station (RAWS) in the Boise Fire Conference taking place in April Transportation Department—District #3 / International Front, which includes a VHF radio that 2015 in Boise. The Boise Fire Depart- Association of Fire Chiefs—Ready, Set, Go! / International Association of Wildland Fire / National Interagency Coor- can alert firefighters in real time to ment also shares its expertise in classes dination Center / Southwest Idaho RC&D / University of changing weather conditions during at the National Interagency Fire Center Idaho—Dept. of Agricultural Economics & Rural Sociology wildland firefighting operations. City and at Boise Fire Headquarters, teach- Participants in Public Lands Foundation tour of the Oregon Trail pause at an interpretive point. Signage with of Boise Neighborhood Reinvestment ing segments on FAC, Ready, Set, Go!, take-home flyers is used to share information about mitigation projects and increase communication about Grant funding has supported chipping Firewise and local wildfire mitigation fire adapted communities concepts. Photo: Boise Fire Dept./C. Colwell Through participation of hazardous fuels for homeowners in activities to professional firefighters. targeted neighborhoods throughout in the 2014 the Boise wildland-urban interface. In FAC Learning Network workshop activities, and provides opportunities and provide consistent, effective late 2014 the Boise Fire Department in Colorado Springs, the Boise Fire to share experiences with others. The countywide public outreach, in learned that it will probably get partial Department made new contacts and Boise Fire Department’s long-term FAC addition to ongoing boots-on-the- funding, through a Western States Fire learned a great deal about wildfire goal is to bringThe Fire in Adaptedadditional Communities partners Learning Networkground is wildfiresupported mitigationby Promoting Ecosystemactivities. Resil- Grant, to acquire remote sensing mitigation initiatives around the ience and Fire Adapted Communities Together, a cooperative agreement between The Nature (LiDAR) data to improve assessment Conservancy, USDA Forest Service and agencies of the Department of the Interior through a Sharing what has been learned country. The department has found and planning. subaward to the Watershed Research and Training Center. that using FAC concepts and messaging For more information, contact Nick Goulette ([email protected]). 34 is helps more efficiently streamline and v. 24 Dec 14 also important to the department and tailor mitigation and public outreach Fire Adapted Island Park Communities Sustainable Fire Community HUB ORGANIZATION LEARNING NETWORK FAC Contact: Jessica Simpson [email protected] (208) 680-6852 The Island Park Sustainable Fire KEY PARTNERS Community Farm Bureau Insurance Fire Safe Landscaping, LLC (IPSFC) is a collaborative Fremont County group consisting of concerned citizens High Country RC&D as well as representatives from private Smokey Bear was a popular visitor at Island Park’s Working in Idaho Bureau of Homeland Security businesses; non-profit organizations; first Wildfire Awareness Week Idaho Department of Lands and local, state and federal government Photo: Jessica Simpson ISLAND PARK, Idaho and WEST YELLOWSTONE, Montana Idaho State Fire Marshall— agencies. The IPSFC is working hard Department of Insurance to help make Island Park and West OUR VISION Island Park volunteer Fire District Yellowstone fire adapted communities. Local homeowners We are committed to developing strong fire department and the Community Human and ecological communities Our activities Our outreach representatives The Nature Conservancy—Idaho (Flat social and ecological communities. Emergency Response Team. of Island Park and West Yellowstone are resilient to fire, insect and disease Ranch) con- have included complet- through awareness, outreach and USDA Forest Service—Caribou-Targhee tacted approximately 200 people in ing risk evaluations for homeowners, action. National Forest (Ashton and Dubois four fuels reduction demonstration 2014, handing out informational bro- Ranger Districts) chures and informing property owners projects, hosting tours of the projects, Website: www.islandparksustainablefirecommunity.com giving presentations at homeowners’ about our organization as well as the Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IslandParkSustainableFireCommunity association meetings and other events, risk evaluations, Wildfire Awareness launching a website and Facebook Week, and slash pickup days. As a page, hiring a full-time project co- result of the outreach representa- ordinator, and scheduling slash pickup tives’ work and the postcards, we have days in the Yale Creek and Stonegate received requests from 87 property subdivisions. We also mailed postcards owners to complete risk evaluations for home evaluations to homeowners, on their properties. The majority of created and distributed a brochure, these evaluations have been completed and hired two part-time outreach rep- or are scheduled to be completed in Wildfire Awareness Week To conclude our summer Fuels were cut and ready for removal at one of the resentatives to contact homeowners. 2015. four defensible space demonstration projects reached activities, completed by the Island Park collaborative in 2014. Photo: Jessica Simpson The Fire Adapted Communities approximately 300 people. Discussion we hosted our very first slash pickup Learning Network is supported by topics included insurance coverage for days in September. Homeowners In the coming year Promoting Ecosystem Resilience and homes and property in the event of a placed slash by the side of the road for Fire Adapted Communities Together, a cooperative agreement between wildfire, firefighting responsibilities IPSFC to pick up in both Yale Creek and we hope to main- The Nature Conservancy, USDA Forest Service and of each agency, disaster preparedness, Stonegate subdivisions. One-hundred tain or improve all of these programs agencies of the Department of the Interior through and wildfire risk to homes. Activities seventy-four piles (approximately 45 and activities, including completing six a subaward to the Watershed Research and Training Center. For more information, contact Nick Goulette included games and prizes for kids, tons) were collected between the two more demonstration properties so that ([email protected]). subdivisions over the course of three more residents can see what a prop- meetingv. 16 Jan 15 Smokey Bear, and demonstra- 35 tions by the Island Park volunteer days. erly mitigated home/lot looks like. Fire Adapted Communities Dovetail Partners

LEARNING NETWORK HUB ORGANIZATION FAC Contact: Kathryn Fernholz [email protected] (612) 333-0430 Ely, Minnesota KEY PARTNERS Ely Emergency Preparedness is a community within Committee hiking distance of the Canadian border Firewise—Northeast Regional Specialist and about a 4-hour drive north of the Lake County Twin Cities. With a population of about Working in ELY, Minnesota Minnesota Department of Natural 3,400, Ely is in the middle of a complex Resources landscape. Forests in this region have Morse/Fall Lake Township regrown from the heyday of railroad FIRE SAFE COUNCIL VISION logging and Paul Bunyan more than USDA Forest Service To engage and encourage community Vermilion Community College 100 years ago. Ely also provides a gate- The owners of this lake resort have worked with the partnerships to establish a wildfire way to the Boundary Waters Canoe Firewise program in Lake County and the Forest Service to mitigate wildfire risk on their property. resilient landscape for Ely and the Area Wilderness (BWCAW), drawing Photo: Lake County surrounding wildland-urban residents and visitors from all over the Ely is on the frontlines interface. world. of wildfire risk for many reasons. The area has increases the risk of destructive crown fires, including the May 2012 Highway beautiful forests, but the forests are This past summer reduction projects using our CWPPs as 1 wildfire. thick with balsam fir which burns aWe baseline. will also continue like paper when green and is almost , local Ely FAC as bad as a box of matches when it partners came together to implement to work with is dead and dry. The balsam fir and a “chipper day” fuels reduction project. the Ely Emergency Preparedness Com- other understory growth in the forests This event has sparked the interest of mittee to establish evacuation strate- around Ely can act as ladder fuel and more neighborhoods, residents and gies for Ely residents. And we hope to lake associations. Additional chipper work with County Emergency manag- days are being planned, and local lead- ers on much-needed evacuation plans/ Partners are also in the early stages ership and capacity are developing. routes in the surrounding wildland- urbanFor Ely, interface. being fire adapted of developing an Ely Area Fire Safe requires Council. The goal of the Council will be balancing recreation needs, resource Ely’s first annual Chipper Day was sponsored by local FAC partners in the summer of 2014. to engage and encourage community utilization and public safety. That’s not Photos: Gloria Erickson partnerships to establish a wildfire always an easy balance to strike, but A FAC and Firewise presentation held at the resilient landscape for Ely and the we are makingThe Fire progress. Adapted Communities Learning Network is supported by Promoting Ecosystem Resil- Morse/Fall Lake Fire Department was aimed at surrounding wildland-urban interface. ience and Fire Adapted Communities Together, a cooperative agreement between The Nature raising awareness about the need for homeowners Our main objectives are to: (1) provide Conservancy, USDA Forest Service and agencies of the Department of the Interior through a in the Ely region to create defensible space. subaward to the Watershed Research and Training Center. Photo: Gloria Erickson education and demonstrations of Fire- For more information, contact Nick Goulette ([email protected]). 36 wise best practices, and (2) continue v. 16 Dec 14 to identify and implement fuels Fire Adapted Mercer County Communities Soil Conservation District HUB ORGANIZATION LEARNING NETWORK FAC Contact: William F. Brash, Jr. [email protected] (609) 586-9603 Barnegat Township KEY PARTNERS is “ground zero” Barnegat Fire Company for wildland-urban interface (WUI) in Barnegat Township New Jersey, located in the heart of the Horizons at Barnegat New Jersey Pine Barrens, an extremely Above: The 2007 Warren Grove Wildfire burns Mirage at Barnegat flammable ecosystem. The area has behind businesses on County Route 72 in Barnegat Working in New Jersey Forest Fire Service become popular with retirees, who are Township. Photo: NJ Forest Fire Service/Kevin Burke BARNEGAT TOWNSHIP, New Jersey mainly new to the area and have little Below: That fire burned right to the brink of the New Jersey Forest Service Our fire adapted communities mobile home Community of Brighton at Barnegat. At the state level Sustainable Jersey or no understanding of their fire risk. The FAC Learning Network has resulted in new relationships with residents and the owner of the work community, with an emphasis on the Firewise and we are working with has been at two scales. At the local Ready, Set, Go! programs and on wildfire resiliency. the environmental community to pro- Being part of the FAC level, the Barnegat Fire Company has Photo: NJ Forest Fire Service mote wildland fire resiliency through been conducting workshops with Bar- the Sustainable Jersey Program. This Learning Net- negatWildfire Township Fuel communities for Ocean to County keep involves developing a suite of emer- work has been very beneficial for Bar- gency preparedness actions tied to the negat. We have learned about the value Sustainable Jersey Program. To reduce and potential for Fire Safe Councils at their risk and be certified as “sustain- both the local and statewide levels, and able” under that program, communities as a result hope to form and support as many local councils as are needed to implement wildfire preparedness Our long-term goals programs and other actions. These may benefit New Jersey’s WUI residents. include the Firewise and Ready, Set, Go! are to create a them informed of the risk reduction programs, developing Community network of fire resilient municipalities water efforts being made. Two Firewise Wildfire Protection Plans (CWPPs) using existing fire prevention and miti- low Communities—Horizons and Mirage— and Community Forestry Management gation programs, and to coordinate moderate have talented, motivated liaisons that Plans, and instituting a Fire Safe Council those efforts through a statewide Fire high keep their communities informed and to coordinate efforts at the municipal Safe Council that trains local members very high extreme productive in reducing risk through level. We have worked with Sustainable and targets funding to motivated and urban Barnegat mechanical fuel reduction projects. Jersey to define this suite of emergency educated councils where the preven- agriculture Township They have also begun spreading the preparedness actions, and have drafted tion efforts provide the best return barren land FAC word to other WUI communities a model municipal ordinance that on investment. In this way we hope in Barnegat Township and beyond. Our municipalities can adapt to initiate to bring additional state and federal top priorities in Barnegat Township their own FireThe FireSafe Adapted Councils. Communities Learning Networkresources is supported to New by PromotingJersey’s FACEcosystem efforts. Resil- Map: NJ Forest Fire Service are to continue to promote Firewise ience and Fire Adapted Communities Together, a cooperative agreement between The Nature There are 56 retirement communities with 125,000 and Ready, Set, Go! in the most vul- Conservancy, USDA Forest Service and agencies of the Department of the Interior through a residents in Ocean County, including 5 communities subaward to the Watershed Research and Training Center. (7,400 people) in Barnegat Township. nerable neighborhoods, and to create For more information, contact Nick Goulette ([email protected]). additional evacuation routes for one of v. 14 Jan 15 37 our largest WUI communities. Fire Adapted Chestatee-Chattahoochee Communities RC&D Council

LEARNING NETWORK HUB ORGANIZATION FAC Contact: Frank M. Riley, Jr. [email protected] (706) 897-1676 During its first year REGIONAL PARTNERS Blue Ridge Mountain Soil & Water Conservation District / Broad River Soil & Water Conservation in the FAC District / Georgia Department of Agriculture / Georgia De- Learning Network, Towns County FAC partment of Natural Resources / Georgia Forestry Commis- increased the number of Firewise Working in sion / Georgia Mountain Regional Commission / Hall County Soil & Water Conservation District / Stephens County Soil & communities from three to ten. Another TOWNS COUNTY, Georgia Water Conservation District / The Nature Conservancy / Up- ten communities are in the process of Volunteers at Leisure Woods Retirement Park— including the communities and per Chattahoochee River Soil & Water Conservation District completing their plans, holding their Towns County’s second designated Firewise subdivisions of Admirals Point / / USDA Forest Service— Chattahoochee/Oconee National work days, and submitting the paper- Community—marking the first neighborhood Asheland Cove / Brasstown Creek Forest / USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service chipper day. Photo: Frank Riley Estates / Campbell Terrace / work needed to be recognized as COMMUNITY PARTNERS Blue Ridge Mountain Electric Wildfire calls Cedar Cliff / Deerfield Estates / Firewise communities. Membership Corporation / City of Hiawassee / City of Young Frog Pond / Harris Ridge / Hi Harris / Hiawassee River Watershed Coalition / Towns County in Towns County have River Country / Hiawassee 911 Mapping / Towns County Chamber of Commerce / been reduced by 75 percent since Overlook / Lake Forest / Leisure Towns County Commissioner / Towns County Emergency Woods / Long View / Nantahala Management Services / Towns County FAC Citizens Coalition starting the FAC/Firewise program. At reduce wildfire calls. The group will Bay / Pine Crest / Plantation a time when two neighboring counties continue to focus on homeowner / Towns County Fire Corps / Towns County Fire Rescue / Villas / Posey Road / Riverstone Towns County Home Owners Association & individual com- had 57 and 33 wildfires, Towns County education by all methods available, / Scarlets Way / Shallow Creek / munity HOAs / Towns County Schools / Young Harris College had only seven. This is attributed to and will work on private lands hazard Sherwood Forest / Soapstone / NEW COUNTY PARTNERS Lumpkin County CERT / the constant messages from the FAC mitigation where possible. Most of the Tate City / Twiggs Road / Wood- crest / Young Harris College Lumpkin County Commissioners / Lumpkin County Emergen- group about wildfire safety and risk wildland-urban interface is connected cy Management / Lumpkin County Fire Department / Lump- reduction around homes. Our success kin County Homeowners Association / White County CERT to national forest land, which has lim- and expanding into is due largely to the formation of a / White County Commissioners / White County Emergency ited opportunities for fuel reduction. WHITE COUNTY and FAC Citizens Coalition, which is made However, the Forest Service is planning Management / White County Fire Rescue / White County LUMPKIN COUNTY Homeowners Association up of six local citizens and represen- more prescribed burns in the future, tatives from three fire agencies (the which will help achieve the risk reduc- The long-term goal Left: Towns County celebrated U.S. Forest Service, Georgia Forestry tion that communities would like to see. Wildfire Community Prepared- Commission and Towns County Fire). ness Day with open houses at all for this FAC six county fire stations. This coalition gives ownership to local Learning Network hub is to continue to Right: Educational outreach to citizens, while FAC hub leaders can actively spread the FAC concept among schools—such as visits from begin spreading the concept to other Smokey Bear and volunteer all of the 13 northeast Georgia counties firefighters—are an important counties in the area. As a result, new served by the Chestatee-Chattahoochee part of community engagement FAC programs have recently been RC&D, and to help facilitate its spread strategies in the county. Photo: Frank Riley started in White and Lumpkin Counties across the Southeast through the in northeast Georgia, and more coun- learning network process. The team’s The Fire Adapted Communities Learning Network is supported by Promoting Ecosystem Resil- ties are inquiring about starting their The current focus ultimate goal is to help make citizens’ ience and Fire Adapted Communities Together, a cooperative agreement between The Nature own FAC programs. homes and property safer from wildfire Conservancy, USDA Forest Service and agencies of the Department of the Interior through a subaward to the Watershed Research and Training Center. for this FAC group and to minimize losses, thus boosting For more information, contact Nick Goulette ([email protected]). is38 to develop more Firewise commu- the economies and quality of life of v. 11 Dec 14 nities in the area, in order to further communities all across the region. Fire Adapted Communities Florida Forest Service HUB ORGANIZATION LEARNING NETWORK FAC Contact: Ronda Sutphen [email protected] (850) 681-5929 Baker County embraces KEY PARTNERS Baker County a vision of Baker County Fire Department safely living with wildland fire, and Citizens Corp brings this with it to the FAC Learning City of MacClenny Network. The county has a long his- A forest ranger from the Florida Forest Service Florida Division of Emergency tory of wildfire activity, which makes blows leaves from a roof as part of wildfire mitiga- Working in Management FAC a logical and needed next step. tion efforts. All photos: FFS BAKER COUNTY, Florida Florida Forest Service The concepts of FAC align well with Greater Okefenokee Association of existing local efforts, including the Landowners Local Mitigation Strategy (LMS), Com- highlighting the county as a FAC FAC; engaging residents in the Ready, North Florida Prescribed Fire Council munity Wildfire Protection Plans and Learning Network pilot community. Set, Go! program through county fire Northeast Florida Chapter American Action Plans, and Firewise Communi- These activities fall broadly into the department and law enforcement Red Cross ties. The Florida Forest Service (FFS) following categories: wildland fuel efforts to educate residents about Plum Creek Timber Company also actively partners with the Osceola management, community outreach preparing for wildfire, developing Taylor Firewise USA Community National Forest, Baker County Fire and education, Firewise Communities situational awareness, and planning for The Longleaf Alliance Department and other local coordina- engagement through building retrofits evacuation; using the new Southern The Nature Conservancy tors to successfully implement mitiga- and landscaping, policy and regulatory Wildfire Risk Assessment Portal U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service— tion efforts, such as annual cleanup recommendations, and wildland fire (SouthWRAP) to perform data and Examples of FAC activities Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge days, continued work on the control response improvements. program updates; and highlighting the USDA Forest Service line around Taylor Firewise Commu- planned Taylor Firewise Community as a model nity, and prescribed fire assistance on to adjacent communities to showcase As part of their participation for 2015 include conducting a mechan- private, state and federal lands. ical treatments and prescribed fire how residents can apply defensible in the demonstration for the public; updating space and fuel reduction and attain activities. As future efforts unfold, they recognition. Many of these activities are FAC Learning Network, FFS works with the county CWPP in coordination with The Florida Forest Service will also look to reconvene existing new and existing partners in Baker county planning officials and the LMS delineated in the Baker County CWPP. collaboratives; recruit new partners; County to undertake FAC activities that work group; holding a Taylor Firewise and local and build relationships with planning, address mitigation challenges and op- Day; engaging Fire Prevention Teams Baker County cooperators rely on zoning, and building code development portunities. A significant kickoff event to assist with countywide support for partnerships to help coordinate FAC and enforcement staff. in October 2014 brought community The Fire Adapted Communities Learning Network is supported by leaders and stakeholders together to Promoting Ecosystem Resilience and learn about FAC and its importance to Fire Adapted Communities Together, Baker County and surrounding com- a cooperative agreement between The Nature Conservancy, USDA Forest Service and munities. The event also showcased agencies of the Department of the Interior through aRight number: At a Taylor of planned Firewise Community FAC activities work day, a subaward to the Watershed Research and Training neighbors work and then play together to help Center. For more information, contact Nick Goulette prepare the community for wildfire. ([email protected]). v. 14 Jan 15 39 Fire Adapted Austin Travis County Communities Wildfire Cooperative

LEARNING NETWORK On adoption of the plan HUB ORGANIZATION FAC Contact: Justice Jones [email protected] , a CWPP task- (512) 974-0199 force member from the city Watershed In September 2013 Protection Department said that they KEY PARTNERS , before joining are “passionate about serving the com- Travis County— the FAC Learning Network, the City munity and are excited that, together, Office of Emergency Management of Austin hosted the state’s first Fire we can accomplish collaboration in a Transportation and Natural Resources Adapted Communities Symposium in way that has never been done before.” City of Austin— an effort to build buy-in and consensus Her comment also reflected how fire Working in the Austin Water Utility around the FAC concept. The work- and water interests have aligned for a CITY OF AUSTIN and 21 communities Fire Department shop provided a common operating common purpose, with transparency at risk in TRAVIS COUNTY, Texas Office of Homeland Security and picture of how cooperators could and commitment to find areas of agree- Emergency Management The most critical action leverage the concept into action. ment. In the end, there was much more Planning and Development Review agreement than had been imagined identified Department possible—the 940-page plan reflects a Department hopes to accomplish a was the completion of the Community Watershed Protection cultural shift that started with appre- cultural shift by sharing with others Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) for Capital Area Fire Chiefs Association hension and ended with cohesion. The what we have learned: that wildfire an area that only recently realized that CWPP will be leveraged to implement is everyone’s fight—and that fight Small Cities Alliance of Travis County wildfire was a part of their new reality. Future FAC efforts a local cohesive strategy that connects starts with understanding your role. Texas A&M Forest Service The plan development and review to the FAC Learning Network by shar- process lasted almost two years as the will include the ing lessons learned and embracing Austin Travis County Wildfire Coalition Building on this monumental integration of WUI considerations into Wildfire is everyone’s fight— innovations. —a multijurisdictional taskforce— land management planning, develop- and that fight starts with worked to find common ground in effort, ment of a local prescribed fire network understanding your role. a novel environment. The plan was the City of Austin’s Fire Department that includes organizations with pre- unanimously approved by the Austin has several other key FAC goals: scribed burning responsibilities to City Council and Travis County Com- • Leverage the CWPP taskforce into ensure coordination across the county, missioners Court along with the Texas a permanent standing wildfire co- pre-incident planning for both com- understanding of the power of collabo- A&M Forest Service in November 2014. operative, whose focus will be imple- munities and natural areas, and the ration. The Austin Fire Department development of a functional evacuation menting the cohesive strategy at the Being a part hopes to learn from the successes and local level using the newly adopted model. challenges that other communities CWPP as the springboard. of the FAC Learning Net- have experienced, and to develop a • Engage the public by effecting a work is facilitating benchmarking with model for wildfire preparedness that cultural shift from feeling at risk to other communities at risk, increasing other large municipalities and counties becoming empowered to act. During exposure to novel research and subject can use to rapidly implement a local matter experts, and providing a better cohesive strategy. The recently-adopted Austin Travis County Com- the CWPP recognition ceremony and The Fire Adapted Communities Learning Network is supported by Promoting Ecosystem Resil- munity Wildfire Protection Plan was celebrated subsequent workshop, the over- ience and Fire Adapted Communities Together, a cooperative agreement between The Nature by stakeholders and the public during a signing arching theme was an interest from Conservancy, USDA Forest Service and agencies of the Department of the Interior through a ceremony on November 14, 2014. subaward to the Watershed Research and Training Center. Photo: Austin Fire Department communities at risk across Travis For more information, contact Nick Goulette ([email protected]). 40 county to recognize their role in v. 14 Jan 15 wildfire preparedness. Austin Fire Prescribed Fire Training Exchanges

TREX Prescribed Fire Training Exchange Niobrara River Valley Nebraska March 2014 Ft. Niobrara NWR Valentine Chadron Middle Niobrara Valentine NWR River Valley SD FLN Loess IOWAHills Crescent Lake FLN Spring break NWR Lower Loup Rivers FLN X80 YZ Omaha prescribed fire training North Platte exchanges have become annual events in and around The Nature Conservancy Niobrara Valley Preserve. This training Lincoln is designed to integrate a diverse group of fire practitioners, including, as the

Service Layer Credits: Source: Esri, DigitalGlobe, GeoEye, i-cubed, Earthstar Geographics, CNES/Airbus DS, USDA, USGS, AEX, Getmapping, Aerogrid, IGN, IGP, swisstopo, and the GIS User Community name suggests, a large contingent of Sources: Esri, USGS,CO NOAA NEBRASKA students from several universities, along with municipal, state, federal Organizing Partners & Hosts and contract firefighters, and other Fire Learning Network / Great Plains Fire Science Consortium / Nebraska Game & natural resource managers, scientists Photos: Jeffrey Kane The 2014 Spring Break Parks / Nebraska Natural Legacy Project / Pheasants Forever / The Nature and researchers. Conservancy—Nebraska / The Nebraska Environmental Trust TREX ran from March 9-22, with two over- Up, Look Down, Look Around), topics Participants’ Organizations lapping waves of students taking part. addressed included: Center for Natural Lands Management / Colorado State University / Doane College At its peak, there were more than 90 • Delivering effective briefings / Estes Valley (CO) Fire Department / Firestorm / Glenwood (IA) Fire Department / people on site, making this by far the • Interviewing and the media Hardin County (IA) Conservation Board / Joint Base Lewis-McChord / Key Peninsula largest TREX to date. As with all TREX, • Fire weather and fire effects reporting (WA) Fire Department / National Park Service / Nebraska Forest Service / Northern this was organized as an incident, • Firing/ignitions Land Trust / Private contractors / Ranchers / Stephen F. Austin University using the Incident Command System, • Wetline operations / The Nature Conservancy / U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service / University of California, with participants serving in both quali- • Great Plains grassland conservation Berkeley / University of Idaho / USDA Forest Service / Utah Department of Natural fied and trainee firefighting positions • Resources / Wildlands Restoration Institute on a prescribed fire team. At this TREX, • Orienteering/land navigation participants took part in preparation, • TREXFire adapted Highlights communities scouting, igniting, holding, mop-up and A total of 102 people attended this training exchange, completing 3,885 patrol on eight prescribed fires, treat- acres of prescribed fire treatments on private and state grasslands. Prescribed fire training exchanges (TREX) are ing 3,885 acres. On other days, they supported by Promoting Ecosystem Resilience and The event was covered by several local papers and radio stations, as well completed pre- and post-fire monitor- Fire Adapted Communities Together (PERFACT), as the regional publication Prairie Fire (http://www.prairiefirenewspaper. a cooperative agreement between The Nature ing, trained with equipment, practiced com/2014/05/igniting-flames-sparking-change-fire-trainees-leave-nebraska- Conservancy, the USDA Forest Service and agen- leadership skills and learned about cies of the Department of the Interior. For more with-new-skills-perspectives) information about TREX, contact Jeremy Bailey fire in the context of the Great Plains. ([email protected]). 42In addition to NWCG courses S131 v. 24 Dec 14 (Firefighter Type 1) and S133 (Look Prescribed Fire Training Exchange Lower Loup Valley Nebraska March/April 2014 Ft. Niobrara NWR Valentine Chadron Middle Niobrara Valentine River Valley NWR SD FLN Loess IOWAHills Among the participants in this TREX were four Crescent Lake FLN Partners from the Loess Hills FLN biologists from Pheasants Forever who worked on NWR Lower Loup Rivers FLN their FFT1 (basic firefighter) task books and got YX80 experience in grassland burning. Z Omaha North Platte and Pheasants Forever took the lead Photo: Jeremy Bailey in hosting this TREX in Howard and Greeley counties in Nebraska. From Lincoln March 24 through April 2, a group of of the property in the burn complex 24 practitioners that included several reported that they were “very satisfied”

Service Layer Credits: Source: Esri, DigitalGlobe, GeoEye, i-cubed, Earthstar Geographics, CNES/Airbus DS, USDA, USGS, AEX, Getmapping, Aerogrid, IGN, IGP, swisstopo, and the GIS User Community municipal firefighters and a large with the quality of the crews that Sources: Esri, USGS,CO NOAA NEBRASKA contingent from fire agencies in Spain treated their land. They also reported completed 3,182 acres of controlled satisfaction with eastern redcedar Organizing Partners & Hosts burning during this training. They also mortality from the burning, as well as Fire Learning Network / Loess Hills FLN / Pheasants Forever got some unexpected wildfire experi- grass response. The three respondents ence: as participants were engaged also estimated that the TREX crew’s Participants’ Organizations in non-burning learning exercises treatments would result in savings of Colorado Springs Fire Department / Doane College / Hanford (WA) Fire on a day that was too windy to burn, at least $45,000 over five years—and, Department / Milpitas (CA) Fire Department / Ministry of the Environment they saw smoke. Their offer to assist although they had not used fire on (Spain) / Pheasants Forever / The Nature Conservancy / Torija (Spain) Regional local responders was accepted, and so most these lands before, they would Fire Agency / USDA Forest Service / Villares de Jadraque (Spain) Regional Fire they proceeded to help contain what like to conduct another prescribed Several months The survey Agency became a 7,000-acre grass fire. burn within the next 5 to 10 years. after the burns, has allowed TREX organiz- Successful eastern redcedar mortality. Survey respondents reported being “very satisfied” (the Pheasants Forever surveyed landown- ers to get a better view of the impact highest category) with mortality of tress less than a ers whose properties were part of this of the program in this region, and foot tall, and “moderately” or “very satisfied” with TREX to assess treatment effectiveness. will help inform planning to further mortality in all larger size classes. The three landowners who owned most increase its effectiveness. Photo: Jeremy Bailey Event Highlights Twenty-four participants completed 3,182 acres of prescribed burning during this TREX, and assisted local responders with a 7,000-acre wildfire. Prescribed fire training exchanges (TREX) are Media coverage included a TV story from the wildfire assist (http://www. supported by Promoting Ecosystem Resilience and khastv.com/story/learning-through-fire-20140328) and a longer story by Fire Adapted Communities Together (PERFACT), Nebraska Public Radio (http://netnebraska.org/article/news/911117/ a cooperative agreement between The Nature Conservancy, the USDA Forest Service and agen- firefighters-make-fire-work-them-prescribed-burn) that shared some good cies of the Department of the Interior. For more messages about prescribed fire. information about TREX, contact Jeremy Bailey ([email protected]). v. 14 Jan 15 43 Prescribed Fire Training Exchange Virginia March/April 2014

WEST WashingtonMD OHIO VIRGINIA Spearheaded by partners Stokesville Lodge (Shenandoah Mt.) Charlottesville in the Heart of the Appalachians Warm Central Appalachians FLN, the first FLN Springs TREX held east of the Mississippi River Mountain Richmond spent its first week in the coastal plain KENTUCKYCumberland Roanoke JamesVIRGINIA River NWR burning at the Conservancy’s Piney River FLN Piney Grove Preserve Grove Preserve and other partner sites, Chub Sandhill/Antioch Pines Natural Area Preserve Norfolk and the second week in the uplands, at Great Dismal Swamp NWR the base of Shenandoah Mountain.

Source: Esri, DigitalGlobe, GeoEye, i-cubed, Earthstar Geographics, CNES/Airbus DS, USDA, USGS, AEX, Getmapping, Aerogrid, IGN, IGP, swisstopo, and the GIS User Community, Sources: Esri, USGS, NOAA Organizing Partners & Hosts Fire Learning Network / National Park Service / The Nature Conservancy / U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service / USDA Forest Service / Virginia Department of Conservation & Recreation / Virginia Department of Game & Inland Fisheries Participants’ Organizations Department of Defense (USMC Camp Lejeune) / Doane College / National Park Service (Shenandoah NP) / Shenandoah Mountain Touring / The Nature Burning at the Piney Grove Preserve: Conservancy (North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia) / U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Left: A participant from the Hiawatha NF (Michigan) led the burn, gaining experience as a burn boss. (Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia) / USDA Forest Service (George Washington Above (top to bottom): Briefing; checking the & Jefferson NFs, Hiawatha NF, Apache-Sitgreaves NF, NFs in Alabama, NFs in effects of a section that was just lit; and walking in the black after the fire has passed through the North Carolina) / Virginia Department of Conservation & Recreation (Natural area. Photos: TNC/Robert Clontz Heritage) / Virginia Department of Game & Inland Fisheries

Event Highlights Thirty-six people from nine states took part in the first TREX offered in the The crew at Stokesville Lodge (in the background), a Prescribed fire training exchanges (TREX) are partner in the Allegheny Highlands, just after com- eastern U.S. They completed about 1,200 acres of prescribed fire, including supported by Promoting Ecosystem Resilience and pleting the second of two demonstration burns some in support of conservation of the endangered red-cockaded wood- Fire Adapted Communities Together (PERFACT), at the campground. The burns will help improve pecker. A story in the Richmond Times-Dispatch was picked up by the a cooperative agreement between The Nature forest health and showcase ecological manage- Conservancy, the USDA Forest Service and agen- ment at a very popular destination/basecamp for Associated Press and reprinted in numerous papers across the species’ cies of the Department of the Interior. For more thousands of National Forest visitors every year. range, sharing the story of how fire can be a valuable tool for conservation. information about TREX, contact Jeremy Bailey Photo: TNC/Sam Lindblom ([email protected]). 44 v. 18 Dec 14 Prescribed Fire Training Exchange Organizing Partners & Hosts Yurok TREX Cultural Fire Management Council / OREGON May/June 2014 Fire Learning Network / Firestorm / Six RiversHappy Camp NF USDA Forest Service / Yurok Tribe Klamath Western NF Klamath Mountains Participants’ Organizations FLN Somes Bar The Yurok have managed Cultural Fire Management Council / Firestorm / Humboldt State Redwood Orleans National culturally University—Schatz Energy Research Park Yurok important plants with fire for millennia. Center / Northern California Indian TREX This training exchange is part of an Trinity Development Council / Private land- Arcata Mountains effort to ensure that these traditions Photo: TNC/Jeremy Bailey owners / Spain—Ministry of Agri- FLN Weaverville are not lost, and that appropriate fire culture, Food and the Environment Hyampom Shasta- will continue to be an important cul- Trinity / The Nature Conservancy / USDA NF tural and ecological force in this land- Hayfork training management team spent a Forest Service—Caribou-Targhee scape. Long known for their basketry day with tribal leaders learning about National Forest / USDA Forest skills, the Yurok use numerous native management and cultural practices of plants found along the Klamath River the tribe. The training exchange itself Service—Redmond Smokejumpers CALIFORNIA / Watershed Research and Training to construct and color their baskets. started with a boat ride down river Six Center / Yurok Tribe—Forestry Rivers Burn units were selected so that, once along the Klamath, where resource NF burned, quality basket-making materi- managers identified different vegeta- Mendocino NF als would be produced on the rejuve- Local context is always critical tion communities, discussed observed nated land. changes since the removal of fire from Event Highlights to the landscape and pointed out village Twenty-three people, many from the immediate vicinity, took part in the training exchanges. In addition to sites and places where traditional first TREX hosted with tribal organization partners. In spite of a serious dances and other important ceremo- ongoing drought, participants completed 37 acres of prescribed fire, an scouting the potential burn units, the Fire practitioners nies still occur. important step in the return of cultural burning to this landscape. An article from federal and in Yurok Today (“Fire Council Ignites Long Term Burn Plan”) describes the state agencies and NGOs as well as the larger efforts that this training helped support. The article is available at the tribe’s fire crew took part in this http://www.yuroktribe.org/documents/june_2014_YUROK_web.pdf exchange. Together they heard from local scientists, ecologists and private land owners as well as tribal elders. And they got that all-important fire Prescribed fire training exchanges (TREX) are back into hazel patches and prairie supported by Promoting Ecosystem Resilience and Fire Adapted Communities Together (PERFACT), land to do its work. a cooperative agreement between The Nature A prescribed fire training exchange focuses on the Conservancy, the USDA Forest Service and agen- “why” of burning as well as the “how.” cies of the Department of the Interior. For more Photos: Jose Luis Duce (left) information about TREX, contact Jeremy Bailey TNC/Jeremy Bailey (right) ([email protected]). v. 18 Dec 14 45 Prescribed Fire Training Exchange Organizing Partners & Hosts International TREX Alamosa Fire Learning Network / Santa Fe Cortez Durango SanPagosa Juan NF New Mexico September 2014 National Forest / Valles Caldera Trust Springs Rio Grande NFCO UT Chama Raton Participants’ Organizations Questa Agentes de Protección de la Naturaleza Clayton Carson (Aragon, Spain) / Chiapas Biomasa National Taos OK The fourth international TREX Forest (Mexico) / Comisión Nacional Forestal NEWCuba Española (Mexico) / Consorcio Provincial de Los Alamos MEXICOValles Caldera brought together 26 participants from Fuegos (Cordoba, Spain) / Forestacio- Los Alamos Nat'l Lab Bandelier NM Santa Fe AZ Santa NationalLas six foreign countries—Andorra, Argen- nes Operativas de México / Principado ForestVegas Bernalillo Fe TX tina, Costa Rica, Mexico, Portugal and de Andorra / Sistema Nacional de Tucumcari Spain—along with several U.S. states Áreas de Conservación—Área de CibolaAlbuquerque NF and Puerto Rico to burn and learn Conservación La Amistad-Pacífico Los Lunas Rio Grande together. As in all training exchanges, (Costa Rica) / The Nature Conservancy Waterfund the days were full: There were presen- / U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service / tations from local land managers and Burning on the Santa Fe National Forest. University of New Mexico / USDA scientists, tours to explore the effects Photos: TNC/Liz Rank; Elyssa Duran Forest Service—Santa Fe NF of recent large wildfires and visit agency facilities, and, of course, days Event Highlights of applying prescribed fire in the field. Twenty-six participants completed 225 acres of prescribed burning during Each evening participants gathered this TREX, assisting local agency crews with two key units strategically after dinner for presentations from placed to help protect several communities from the next big wildfire. their peers that shared the challenges, opportunities and they face New Mexico is a bilingual state, and so provides a great place to bring in their home counties and various fire together Spanish-speaking fire and forest workers with a wide range of At the end of two weeks, organizations. backgrounds to share knowledge and learn from each other. international The mess tent became a classroom each evening, participants and hosts alike returned as participants and local practitioners took turns at sharing their knowledge with peers. home with new ideas, broader Photo: Karla Sartor perspectives, and a much wider net- work of peers in the fire community.

Prescribed fire training exchanges (TREX) are supported by Promoting Ecosystem Resilience and Fire Adapted Communities Together (PERFACT), In addition to preparing for and conducting prescribed burns, participants took field tours to sites of recent a cooperative agreement between The Nature wildfires (including to the Valles Caldera (left), at the edge of the 2011 Las Conchas Fire) and to several Conservancy, the USDA Forest Service and agen- agency facilities (including the Simtable at Valles Caldera Preserve, where they discussed a simulation of cies of the Department of the Interior. For more that 156,000-acre fire (far right)). Photos: TNC/Liz Rank; Karla Sartor information about TREX, contact Jeremy Bailey Group photo (left): Veronica Quintanilla ([email protected]). 46 v. 23 Dec 14 Prescribed Fire Training Exchange Organizing Partners & Hosts Black Lake, New Mexico Alamosa Bureau of Land Management—Taos Cortez Durango SanPagosa Juan NF September/October 2014 Field Office / Collaborative Forest Springs Rio Grande Restoration Program (Carson NF) / Fire NFCO UT Chama Raton Learning Network / Forest Guild / Moreno Questa

Valley Fire Department / New Mexico Clayton State Land Office / Village of Angel Fire Carson National Taos OK The second Black Lake TREX Forest Participants’ Organizations NEWCuba Española built Angel Fire Fire Department / Bureau of Los Alamos MEXICOValles Caldera Land Management / City of Santa Fe Fire on the foundation of the previous Los Alamos Nat'l Lab Bandelier NM Santa Fe Department—Wildland Fire /AZ Colfax Santa NationalLas year’s event, further supporting local Photo: Forest Guild Fe ForestVegas County / Forest Guild / Glacier Technolo- Bernalillo Tucumcari TX prescribed fire capacity and social gies / Moreno Valley Fire Department— acceptance. The treatments were part Black Lake Station / New Mexico Energy, CibolaAlbuquerque NF of Forest Service Collaborative Forest after the burning. Public meetings Minerals and Natural Resources Depart- Los Lunas Rio Grande Waterfund Restoration Program (CFRP) work before the TREX let people know what ment—State Forestry Division / New in this landscape, with participants to expect and to address concerns. On Mexico Game and Fish / New Mexico implementing strategically-placed fuel burn days, public information officers Highlands University / New Mexico Land reduction to protect the greater Angel The first Black Lake TREX and volunteers conducted “trap lining” Conservancy / New Mexico State Land Fire wildland-urban interface. in the community, circulating through Office / NRG Consulting / Rocky met with gathering areas, answering questions, Mountain Youth Corps / Taos County / some skepticism from residents, who and letting key community members Vigil Small Products were anxious about the use of fire (such as owners of convenience stores after recent wildfire experiences. The frequented by hunters) know what success and safety of that TREX made was happening that day, as well as the people more comfortable with this long-term benefits expected from the year’s burning. Acceptance—and even burns. After the burn, a public tour of welcoming—of the use of prescribed the site allowed community members fire was also helped by a robust to see and discuss the effects of the outreachEvent Highlights program before, during and treatments. Photo: Forest Guild Fifty-eight participants completed 255 acres of prescribed burning during this TREX. The training gave a good boost to local prescribed fire capacity, with the vast majority of people coming from within the state. This train- ing gave 20 new fire personnel a start, and gave many others advanced experience, including one participant who was able to complete the Prescribed fire training exchanges (TREX) are supported by Promoting Ecosystem Resilience and requirements to be qualified as a burn boss as result. Fire Adapted Communities Together (PERFACT), Information about the training—including public meeting announcements a cooperative agreement between The Nature Conservancy, the USDA Forest Service and agen- and notes, and links to media coverage—is collected on a page of the cies of the Department of the Interior. For more Forest Guild’s website (http://www.forestguild.org/BlackLake). information about TREX, contact Jeremy Bailey ([email protected]). v. 5 Jan 15 47 Prescribed Fire Training Exchange Organizing Partners & Hosts Klamath River TREX Western Klamath Mountains Fire OREGON October 2014 Learning Network and CAL FIRE / Six Rivers Happy Camp NF Cultural Fire Management Council / Clear Creek Klamath NF Firestorm / Karuk Tribe / Mid Klamath Western Klamath Watershed Center / Northern Mountains FLN Led by long-time In addition California Prescribed Fire Council / Somes Bar Orleans Sawyers Bar Orleans-Somes Bar Fire Safe Council Redwood Forks of Fire Learning to making communities / Salmon River Restoration Council / NationalWeitchpec Park Salmon Network partners—who are now also safer, one of the goals of this TREX was USDA Forest Service leaders of Fire Adapted Communities to help build local fire capacity. In this Trinity Mountains Learning Network efforts in the area— it was successful, with 19 of the par- Participants’ Organizations Arcata FLN Shasta- this training exchange was the first to ticipants getting their first experience Bureau of Indian Affairs / California Trinity Weaverville NF engage with the local community conducting fire under NWCG protocols. State Parks / Deer Creek Resources, Hyampom through social media in near-real time LLC / Firestorm / Humboldt State Hayfork during the event. Over the course of University / Karuk Tribe / Local land- two very active wildfire summers the owners / Mid Klamath Watershed community had come to share news Center / Patterson Ranch / Salmon and hold discussions on two Facebook CALIFORNIA River Restoration Council / Schatz Six pages (one hosted by the Mid Klamath Note: some circles mark Rivers Energy Research Center / The Nature multiple burn units Watershed Center and another started NF

Conservancy / University of California, Service Layer Credits: Source: Esri, DigitalGlobe, GeoEye, i-cubed, Earthstar Geographics, CNES/Airbus DS, USDA, USGS, AEX, Getmapping, Aerogrid, IGN, IGP, swisstopo, and the GIS User Community Mendocino NF for a 2013 set of fires). Organizers of Sources: Esri, USGS, NOAA this TREX took advantage of this exist- Berkeley— School of Public Health / ing information channel and posted University of California, Davis / USDA almost daily as crews put smoke in the Forest Service—Klamath NF, Uinta- air, burning numerous strategically- Wasatch-Cache NF; Redmond Smoke- placed small units, many of which were jumpers / Wildland Restoration Inter- very near homes. Posts combined national / Wildtenders / Yurok Tribe updates on what was being done with The people—some local, and all enthusiastic proponents of “good fire”—were central to the pictures and stories about the people story of this TREX. All photos: MKWC Facebook page —many local—who were doing the burning, and why. Comments on the Event Highlights pages were overwhelming positive. Fifty-three people, many from the Klamath region, took part in the first of what organizers plan to be an annual TREX at sites along the Klamath Prescribed fire training exchanges (TREX) are River. In ten days of burning, they treated 240 acres in 32 units on 17 prop- supported by Promoting Ecosystem Resilience and erties, helping to make both the forest and communities more resilient to Fire Adapted Communities Together (PERFACT), wildfire. a cooperative agreement between The Nature Conservancy, the USDA Forest Service and agen- An in-depth article about this TREX appeared in the Two Rivers Tribune cies of the Department of the Interior. For more When safe to do so, landowners checked burn pro- (http://www.tworiverstribune.com/2014/10/learning-to-burn-again/) information about TREX, contact Jeremy Bailey gress. Their stories were also shared on Facebook. ([email protected]). 48 v. 5 Jan 15 Prescribed Fire Training Exchange Organizing Partners & Hosts Northern California Northern California Prescribed Fire Council, and Bureau of Land Manage- OREGON October 2014 Six RiversHappy Camp NF ment—Redding Field Office / California Klamath Western NF Fire Science Consortium / Fire Learning Klamath Mountains Network / Firestorm Wildland Fire FLN The Northern California Suppression, Inc. / Humboldt State Upper Somes Bar Lyons University—Wildland Fire Laboratory Orleans Prescribed / Milpitas Fire Department / National Fire Council spearheaded the offering Park Service—Redwood National Park, Redwood National of the first NorCal TREX in the fall of Whiskeytown National Recreation Area Park Trinity Mountains 2013. An immediate success, planning Arcata Weaverville / University of California—Cooperative FLN Community Shasta- Forest & WUI Shasta began shortly afterwards to repeat the TrinityDam Although the 2014 TREX Extension / Watershed Research and Weaverville NF event in 2014. Mule Mt Training Center Hyampom began Walker Mine Hayfork Redding inauspiciously, with a shelter deploy- Participants’ Organizations Mud Springs ment with minor injuries on the first Above: Learning to communicate about fire and Bureau of Land Management—Eagle prescribed burning is a key component of TREX. day of burning, organizers and partici- Lake Field Office, Redding Field Office, CALIFORNIA pants persevered. The incident was A reporter and photographer from the Redding Roseburg District Office, Surprise Field Record Searchlight gave participants some great Six thoroughly explored in after action Rivers media training opportunities during a day of pile Office / CAL FIRE—Nevada-Yuba-Placer NF reviews and proved to be a valuable burning with the BLM. Unit / Center for Natural Lands Manage- Service Layer Credits: Source: Esri, DigitalGlobe, GeoEye, i-cubed, Earthstar Geographics, CNES/Airbus DS, USDA, USGS, AEX, Getmapping, Aerogrid, IGN, IGP, swisstopo, and the GIS User Community Mendocino NF Participantslearning experience in this for TREX participants, Below: Grassland burning at Redwood NP. ment / City of San Rafael / Department Sources: Esri, USGS, NOAA and for the TREX program. Photos: Northern California Prescribed Fire Council/ Lenya Quinn-Davidson of Defense—Joint Base Lewis McChord conducted (Fish and Wildlife) / Firestorm Wildland burns in a variety of locations and fuel Fire Suppression, Inc. / Milpitas Fire types with a variety of goals. Burning Department / National Park Service— in Redwood National Park, for example, Whiskeytown National Recreation Area wasEvent primarily Highlights for ecological purposes, / Northern California Prescribed Fire Thirty-four people treated about Council / Occidental Arts and Ecol- ogy Center / Oregon Military Depart- In the distance, two burns take place on either side 364 acres with fire to maintain of Weaverville. Photo: TNC/Jeremy Bailey grasslands, improve forest resil- ment—Fire & Emergency Services / San iency and promote community Francisco State University / The Nature safety. With about two-thirds Conservancy / University of California, Berkeley—Fire Science Lab / University Prescribed fire training exchanges (TREX) are of the participants coming from supported by Promoting Ecosystem Resilience and northern California, this TREX of Nevada, Reno / USDA Forest Service Fire Adapted Communities Together (PERFACT), while burns in wildland-urban inter- also contributed to long-term —Klamath National Forest, Manti-La a cooperative agreement between The Nature face areas focused on fuel reduction Sal National Forest, Plumas National Conservancy, the USDA Forest Service and agen- prescribed fire capacity in the for community safety and broader cies of the Department of the Interior. For more region. Forest, Santa Fe National Forest, Uinta- information about TREX, contact Jeremy Bailey landscape resilience, in support of Wasatch-Cache National Forest ([email protected]). v. 5 Jan 15 local Scaling-up to Promote Ecosystem 49 Resiliency (SPER) work.

Scaling-up to Promote Ecosystem Resiliency

SPER Left: Thinning along a Santa Fe County road to allow wildland fire engines to Scaling-up to Promote pass; slash was laid down to combat erosion and promote understory regen- eration. Center: Glade restoration in the Ozarks. Right: Briefing for a prescribed Ecosystem Resiliency (SPER) burn in Douthat State Park in Virginia.

Collaborative partnerships Ashland Forest Resilience Partnership The Nature Conservancy, City of Ashland, Pale green outlines are Fire Learning Network landscapes; all five form the SPER projects are associated with a local FLN. foundation for SPER fire and forest Lomakatsi Restoration, Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest, Oregon Department of restoration projects. Treatments are Forestry and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service part of long-term plans, and leverage are conducting the prioritization, planning, work on adjacent federal lands. The landowner recruitment and coordination of ( current, second round of SPER, begun 50 acres of treatments that will help protect ( in late 2013, builds on earlier SPER the city’s watershed. work and on that of the Fire Learning Network, the Fire Adapted Communi- Trinity Integrated Fire Management ( ties Learning Network and Prescribed Partnership Fire Training Exchanges. The treatments The Watershed Center, Northern California ( ( improve system health and resiliency Prescribed Fire Council, Trinity Fire Safe Council, CAL FIRE, Weaverville Volunteer and contribute to longer term progress Fire Department, Shasta-Trinity and Six by strengthening partnerships and All SPER projects Rivers National Forests, Natural Resources increasing workforce capacity. Conservation Service, Bureau of Land Man- target treatments agement, Firestorm and private landowners are building on the partnerships and training to key areas that help restore and implemented as part of the first SPER maintain resilient landscapes. They program to complete two more landscape- specifically treat state and private scale burn plans, conduct a training course lands that support, leverage or fill gaps and treat 100 acres in Trinity County with prescribed fire. Ozark Pine Woodlands & Glade Allegheny & Potomac Highlands in existing or planned federal projects, Restoration Project Restoration Project bringing them to landscape scale. The The Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission, The Monongahela National Forest, North- projects in California, New Mexico and Collaboration to Reduce Risk in the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, ern Research Station, Virginia Department Oregon focus treatments on sites that Fire Prone Southern Sangre de Cristo Ozark-St. Francis National Forest, Buffalo of Conservation and Recreation, West Mountains also provide critical support to fire National River and The Nature Conservancy Virginia Department of Agriculture, West will implement 50 acres of invasive species adapted communities in those land- The Nature Conservancy, Forest Guild, Santa Virginia Division of Natural Resources, West Fe County, New Mexico State Forestry, Santa treatments and 1,000 acres of prescribed Virginia Rivers Coalition, U.S. Fish & Wildlife scapes. And in a variety of ways, all of Fe National Forest, City of Santa Fe and local burns. Service Partners Program and The Nature these projects also support improved companies and landowners are working Sites include calcareous glade-woodland Conservancy are implementing 2097 acres response to wildfire—by bringing together to thin and burn 50 high-priority complexes, old fields, stream corridors and of prescribed fire on state, federal and pri- diverse partners to work together, acres of private land in a landowner cost- roadsides on state land and adjoining private vate lands. They are also conducting inva- property. These lands are integrated as an by increasing contact between fire share effort. The project is also providing sive plant treatments on state, federal and training opportunities for local and regional active partners on large landscape-scale private lands, and offering stakeholders, practitioners and communities, and SPER projects firefighters and managers to increase their woodland and glade restoration efforts on neighbors and the general public field tours by augmenting the fire workforce. qualifications and capacity to promote and the Buffalo National River and Ozark- and opportunities to observe active and are on-the-ground em- deliver future controlled burns. St. Francis National Forest. completed controlled burns. bodiments of a broad-based, integrated approach to fire management.

52 v. 14 Jan 15 Fire Learning Network Indexes

Partner Types Organization and agency types of the key partners listed by the FLNs. Groups typically work with many other partners as well, tral tern tern thwest es

so this table is by no means exhaustive. en Ridge thern Blue C or Siskiyou W FireScape FireScape Monterey N Centennial Waterfund Pike's Peak Rio GrandeRio Mendocino ou Great Plains CA Klamath- Klamath Mts Appalachians South Central S WA Dry Forests FEDERAL AGENCIES USDA Forest Service             Bureau of Land Management       National Park Service      U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service         USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service       Department of Defense  other federal       OTHER GOVERNMENTS state agencies & departments              local government agencies & departments        volunteer fire departments     resource conservation districts       tribal agencies & departments      NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS The Nature Conservancy          other conservation NGOs              other NGOs   FireSafe Councils     prescribed fire councils    JFSP science consortia       university extension services   university researchers, faculty, students           PRIVATE & COMMERCIAL PARTNERS private landowners & homeowners     homeowner associations / neighborhood groups    contractors      timber, ranching or agriculture      professional associations     v. 13 Nov 14 55 Areas of Focus & Expertise tral tern tern thwest es en Ridge thern Blue C or Siskiyou W FireScape FireScape Monterey N Centennial Waterfund Pike's Peak Rio GrandeRio Mendocino ou Great Plains CA Klamath- Klamath Mts Appalachians South Central S WA Dry Forests HABITAT TYPES grasslands     native prairie     forests, eastern deciduous     forests, eastern mixed    oak woodlands / savannas        oak barrens  shortleaf pine    longleaf pine ponderosa pine         forests, other western conifer          forests, other western        pinyon-juniper   sagebrush   wetlands, riparian zones         arid lands sandhills old growth    COMMUNITY CONTEXT WUI (wildland-urban interface)            near major population center(s)       FAC Learning Network pilot site / hub ties        FireWise communities nearby           CWPPs nearby         smoke issues           

56 POLICY, PROCESSES,POLICY, SKILLS OTHER LANDSCAPE CONTEXT OTHER LANDSCAPE

Focus & Expertise & Focus monitoring protocols monitoring contracting stewardship NEPA planning forest MOUs implementation multi-agency implementation cross-boundary OHV recreation grazing public opinion information public opinion media experience volunteers using timber economy natural resource-based wilderness usedin landscape fire prescribed indigenous fire management practices management indigenous fire ties JFSP to consortia high ownership federal % fragmentation high ownership ties to prescribed fire council fire prescribed to ties facilitating collaboration facilitating recent wildfires nearby wildfires recent modeling                   CA Klamath- Siskiyou             Centennial                     Central Appalachians                FireScape Mendocino      FireScape Monterey           Great Plains                 Northwest              Pike's Peak        Rio Grande Waterfund                 South Central                   Southern Blue Ridge                 

v. 17 Jan 15 v. 17Jan WA Dry Forests                      Western Klamath Mts 57 Managing in Landscapes with Threatened & Endangered Species Many FLNs work in landscapes where species of conservation concern occur. In some cases the FLNs work directly in the management of such species—for example, as part of the Indiana Bat Project in the South Central FLN. In other cases, the work is less direct, or the presence of listed species affects the kinds of actions that are possible. The Indiana bat, northern spotted owl, Jemez Mountains salamander and fisher are among the species and subspecies of conservation concern that FLNs manage for in their landscapes. Photos: USFWS/Ann Froschauer, Rick McEwan, TNC/Anne Bradley, USFS/Dave Clayton tral tern tern thwest es Ridge thern Blue Cen or Siskiyou W FireScape FireScape Monterey N Centennial Waterfund Pike's Peak Rio GrandeRio Mendocino ou Great Plains CA Klamath- Klamath Mts Appalachians South Central S WA Dry Forests plants bladderpod, Missouri ( filiformis )  blazing star, Heller's (Liatris helleri )  checker-mallow, Keck's (Sidalcea keckii )  clover, running buffalo (Trifolium stoloniferum )  coneflower, smooth purple (Echinacea laevigata )  geocarpon (Geocarpon minimum )  golden-heather, mountain (Hudsonia montana )  howellia, water (Howellia aquatilis )  mallow, Peter's Mountain (Iliamna corei )  pondberry (Lindera melissifolia )  rock cress, shale barren (Boechera serotina )  trillium, persistent wake-robin (Trillium persistens ) 

58 reptiles & amphibians & reptiles mammals birds Threatened Endangered & Species salamander, Jemez Mts. ( Mts. Jemez salamander, rattlesnake, timber ( legged red ( frog, ( wolverine ( wolf ( jumping meadow Preble's mouse, ( lynx ( fisher grizzlybear, ( ( Indiana bat, ( gray bat, big-earedbat, ( woodpecker, red-cockaded ( ( ivory-billed woodpecker, ( spotted northern owl, owl, Mexican spotted ( ( sage grouse, ( northern goshawk, ( peregrine falcon, baldeagle, ( ( California condor, frog, Oregon spotted ( preblei Lynx canadensis Lynx Canis lupus Canis Martes pennanti Martes ) Myotis grisescens Gulo gulo Gulo Haliaeetus leucocephalus Haliaeetus Myotis sodalis Myotis Ursus arctos Ursus Centrocercus urophasianus Centrocercus Corynorhinus townsendii, townsendii, Corynorhinus Rana draytonii Rana ) Falco peregrinus Falco Gymnogyps californianus Gymnogyps Accipiter gentilis Accipiter Crotalus horridus Crotalus ) ) Rana pretiosa Rana Strix occidentalis caurina occidentalis Strix Strix occidentalis caurina occidentalis Strix ) Plethodon neomexicanus Plethodon ) Campephilus principalis Campephilus ) ) Picoides borealis Picoides ) ) Zapus hudonius hudonius Zapus ) ) ) ) ) var. ssp.) var. ) ) ) ) ) )    CA Klamath- Siskiyou      Centennial

  Central Appalachians

  FireScape Mendocino   FireScape Monterey

Great Plains    Northwest   Pike's Peak

   Rio Grande Waterfund      South Central       ? Southern Blue Ridge      WA Dry Forests

     ? Western Klamath Mts 59 60 molluscs fish insects Threatened Endangered & Species rock pocketbook, Ouachita ( ( shagreen(snail) Magazine Mountain trout, cutthroat ( ( bull trout, ( steelhead salmon, salmon, coho ( ( chinook salmon, grayling ( arctic montana skipper, leonardus Pawnee montane (Hesperia dimorphus californicus ( longhorn elderberry valley beetle, burying ( American beetle, magazinensis Salvelinus confluentus Salvelinus ) Oncorhynchus kisutch Oncorhynchus Thymallus arcticus Thymallus Oncorhynchus clarki, Oncorhynchus Oncorhynchus tshawytscha Oncorhynchus Oncorhynchus mykiss Oncorhynchus ) Nicrophorus americanus Nicrophorus Arkansia wheeleri Arkansia ) ) Desmocerus Desmocerus ) Mesodon Mesodon var. ssp.) ssp.) var. ) ) ) ) )

   CA Klamath- Siskiyou   Centennial

Central Appalachians    FireScape Mendocino

 FireScape Monterey

Great Plains    Northwest   Pike's Peak

Rio Grande Waterfund    South Central

Southern Blue Ridge    

v. 14 Jan 15 v. 14Jan WA Dry Forests

? Western Klamath Mts Managing Invasive Species Many FLNs manage for one or more invasive plant species. In some cases, this is independent of their fire-related work, but in many cases, fire and invasive species are intricately related, each affecting the other in complex ways.

Prescribed fire training exchanges in the Great Plains help keep eastern redcedar from encroaching on grasslands in the north-central Nebraska'a Niobrara Valley (left ) and in the Loess Hills of Iowa (right ). tral tern tern thwest es en Ridge thern Blue C or Siskiyou W FireScape FireScape Monterey N Centennial Waterfund Pike's Peak Rio GrandeRio Mendocino Great Plains CA Klamath- Klamath Mts Appalachians South Central Sou WA Dry Forests grasses cheatgrass ( )  fescue, tall (Schedonorus arundinaceus )  Johnson grass (Sorghum halepense )  medusahead rye (Taeniatherum caput-medusae )   reed canarygrass (Phalaris arundinacea )  silvergrass, Chinese (Miscanthus sinensis )  trees eastern redcedar ( )   mimosa (Albizia julibrissin )  olive, autumn (Elaeagnus umbellata )  princess tree (Paulownia tomentosa )   tamarisk (Tamarix ramosissima )  tree of heaven (Ailanthus altissima )       

61 62 forbs, shrubs, etc. Invasive Species

yam, Chinese ( Chinese yam, vetch, crown( ( yellow toadflax, ( Dalmation toadflax, ( star thistle, thistle, nutans musk (Carduus Canadian ( thistle, ( common tansy, ( wort John's St. ( spurge, leafy ( lespedeza sericea ( multiflora rose, ( marlahan mustard, garlic ( mustard, knotweed, Japanese cuspidatum (Reynoutria knapweed, maculosa spotted (Centaurea ( diffuse knapweed, hawkweed, orange ( ( houndstongue ( poison hemlock, coltsfoot ( scoparius Scotch (Cytisus broom, ( French broom, ( blackberry bittersweet, Oriental ( Japanese( barberry, Tussilago farfara Tussilago Rubus pascuus Rubus Centaurea solstitialis Centaurea Euphorbia esula Euphorbia Coronilla varia Coronilla Dioscorea polystachya Dioscorea Cynoglossum officinaleCynoglossum Hypericum perforatum Hypericum Genista monspessulana Genista Alliaria petiolata Rosa multiflora Rosa Tanacetum vulgare Tanacetum Linaria vulgaris Linaria Conium maculatum Conium Cirsium arvense Cirsium Lespedeza cuneata Lespedeza Centaurea diffusa Centaurea Berberis thunbergii Berberis Isatis tinctoria Hieracium aurantiacum Hieracium Linaria dalmatica Linaria Celastrus orbiculatus Celastrus ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) )

      CA Klamath- Siskiyou     Centennial    Central Appalachians    FireScape Mendocino

FireScape Monterey   Great Plains      Northwest

Pike's Peak

Rio Grande Waterfund      South Central        Southern Blue Ridge

WA Dry Forests v. 14 Jan 15 v. 14Jan          Western Klamath Mts Fire Adapted Communities Learning Network Indexes Actions Taken by FAC Learning Network Hubs to Address Values at Risk er Countyer Soil rc e Foreste Guild uthern Oregon Forest reWise Council of SW h i Austin Fire Department Boise Fire Department CA Fire Safe Council Chestatee/Chattahoochee RC&D Council Chumstick Wildfire Stewardship Coalition Coalition for Upper the PlatteSouth Dovetail Partners F Colorado Florida Service Forest T Greater Flagstaff Forest Partnership Island Park Sustainable Fire Community Karuk Tribe Me Conservation District Fire Tahoe Lake North Protection District Project Wildfire So Restoration Collaborative state: TX ID CA GA WA CO MN CO FL NM AZ ID/MT CA NJ NV/CA OR OR WUI training for fire depts E E S E E S S E S S

wildfire evacution plan N N N N S S N S E S S N community preplanning and utilitization of ICS N E E E N S* S S E E S* N local area incident management team E E N E E S S E E E cross-trained local crews N E E N E E E S E E E S

WILDFIRE HAZARD AND RESPONSE mutual aid agreements S E S E E S S S E* S S S

risk mapping N N N S E S S S* S E E S E S

watershed management N S S E S S* N S E S S S COMMUNITY

VALUES AT RISK community assessments

(Non-Residential) E N E E E S N E E S S N E S E E S home ignition zone (HIZ) assessments & apps E* N E E E S N E E S* S S E* E S RISK engagement with HOAs VALUES AT S S E S S N S* E S S E E S E N RESIDENTIAL KEY S = stable E = expanding N = new * = special expertise Prescribed fire training exchanges in northern NM help train Many FAC hubs provide or assist with home assessments as well as 64 local fire personnel. Photos: M. Meyers/NMSLO; Forest Guild defensible space projects. Photos:North Lake Tahoe FPD v. 5 Jan 15 FAC Learning Network Hubs' Resources & Strategies

Austin Fire Department Boise Fire Department CA Fire Safe Council Chestatee/Chattahoochee RC&D Council Chumstick Wildfire Stewardship Coalition Coalition for Upper the PlatteSouth Dovetail Partners FireWise Council of SW Colorado Florida Service Forest The Forest Guild Greater Flagstaff Forest Partnership Island Park Sustainable Fire Community Karuk Tribe Mercer County Soil Conservation District Fire Tahoe Lake North Protection District Project Wildfire Southern Oregon Forest Restoration Collaborative state: TX ID CA GA WA CO MN CO FL NM AZ ID/MT CA NJ NV/CA OR OR CWPPs N E S S E S S* S* S S S S E* E* S S hazard mitigation action plan S E S S E S S S N S N S S S CCRs, codes, ordinances E E S S* E S E N PLANS AND REGULATIONS comp plans/ other plans E N S E S E S S S Ready, Set, Go! E E E S N/E E E N E N Firewise S S S* E S* S E S E N S E S E E N Fire Safe Councils S* S* N S S E N N chipping program S E S E S* S S S S awareness day/ week N N E E N S N S* E E S N S S S S trainings E E S S N S E S S S* S N E E E

REDUCTION PROGRAMS prescribed fire & smoke

WILDFIRE MITIGATION RISK E E E S/E E S S E N S* E N other fuel management N S S E S/E E S S N E S* S* S N local WUI tax or fee N* N S vegetation disposal E S E N E N S S S* grant & funding directory S* S S* N S N S S RESOURCES dedicated FAC staff S S E E E N E S S S KEY S = stable E = expanding N = new

* = special expertise Chipper days are held in communities across the country. FAC Learning Network works with many Firewise communities Photos: Pamella Wilson (FireWise of SW CO), Gloria Erickson (MN), Frank Riley (GA) Photos: Florida Forest Service v. 5 Jan 15 65 FAC Learning Network Hubs' Public Outreach & Partnerships er Countyer Soil rc e Foreste Guild uthern Oregon Forest reWise Council of SW h i Austin Fire Department Boise Fire Department CA Fire Safe Council Chestatee/Chattahooche e RC&D Council Chumstick Wildfire Stewardship Coalition Coalition for Upper the PlatteSouth Dovetail Partners F Colorado Florida Service Forest T Greater Flagstaff Forest Partnership Island Park Sustainable Fire Community Karuk Tribe Me Conservation District Fire Tahoe Lake North Protection District Project Wildfire So Restoration Collaborative state: TX ID CA GA WA CO MN CO FL NM AZ ID/MT CA NJ NV/CA OR OR FAC regional workshops E N E S E E E E E N ? N S N S E community / public meetings N E E E E S E S S S S S E E S E public demos / learning sites E E S S N S E S N E E E S S FAC brochures N E E N N N N N N S E* E N PSAs, videos N N S N E N E E FAC website / blog N N E E N N S N N N S E N social media E E E E E E S S S E N E S E E N

PUBLIC OUTREACH AND INPUT outreach plan N N N N/E E E E S E volunteer groups, citizen coalition N N E E N/E S* N E S E N E* FAC LN self-assessment tool N N N E N N N N N N N N N E FAC steering committee E E E S N N N S partner learning exchanges E N E E N/E N N N E S state partnerships E E S S S S N E S S E N E S S PARTNERS regional partnerships N E S S N/E E E S S E E E S S national partnerships N E S S S N/E E E E E S S KEY Field tours, volunteer work groups and S = stable peer-learning workshops all play a role in outreach, public engagement and E = expanding partnership-building in the FAC Learning Network. N = new Photos: Boise Fire Dept. (ID), CUSP (CO), * = special expertise Forest Guild (NM) 66 v. 5 Jan 15 http://conservationgateway.org/fln