HUMBOLDT COUNTY COMMUNITY WILDFIRE PROTECTION PLAN, 2019 MID KLAMATH PLANNING UNIT ACTION PLAN The Klamath River. Photo: Mid Klamath Watershed Council (MKWC). Chapter 4.3: Mid Klamath Planning Unit Action Plan HUMBOLDT COUNTY COMMUNITY WILDFIRE PROTECTION PLAN, 2019 Table of Contents — Mid Klamath Planning Unit Action Plan 4.3 Mid Klamath Planning Unit 4.3.1 Mid Klamath Planning Unit Description ............................................................ 4.3-1 4.3.2 Mid Klamath Assets and Values at Risk ............................................................ 4.3-2 4.3.3 Mid Klamath Wildfire Environment .................................................................. 4.3-3 4.3.4 Mid Klamath Fire Protection Capabilities.......................................................... 4.3-7 4.3.5 Mid Klamath Evacuation ................................................................................. 4.3-8 4.3.6 Mid Klamath Community Preparedness ........................................................... 4.3-9 4.3.7 Mid Klamath Local Wildfire Prevention Plans ................................................. 4.3-15 4.3.8 Mid Klamath Community Identified Potential Projects .................................... 4.3-17 4.3.9 Mid Klamath Action Plan ............................................................................... 4.3-21 Figures Figure 4.3.1 HWY 96 Neighborhoods ................................................................................... 4.3-1 Figure 4.3.2 Mid Klamath: Community-Identified Assets at Risk ......................................... 4.3-2 Figure 4.3.3 Mid Klamath: Fires Over 10 Acres 1998-2017 .................................................. 4.3-5 Figure 4.3.4 Mid Klamath: Fire Protection Water Draft Sites ............................................... 4.3-7 Figure 4.3.5 Mid Klamath: Fire Protection Resources .......................................................... 4.3-7 Figure 4.3.6 "High Priority” Emergency Access Routes in the Orleans/Somes Bar CWPP ... 4.3-9 Figure 4.3.7 Mid Klamath: Fire Prevention Accomplishments ........................................... 4.3-14 Figure 4.3.8 Mid Klamath: Community-Identified Proposed Projects, Non-geographic .... 4.3-19 Figure 4.3.9 Mid Klamath: New Community-Identified Projects ........................................ 4.3-20 Helpful Links KARUK TRIBE OFFICICAL WEBSITE: http://www.karuk.us MID KLAMATH WATERSHED COUNCIL: http://www.mkwc.org ORLEANS VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT: https://www.orleansvfd.org HUMBOLDT COUNTY WEB GIS: https://webgis.co.humboldt.ca.us/HCEGIS2.6_CWPP HUMBOLDT COUNTY FIRE SAFE COUNCIL (HCFSC): https://humboldtgov.org/FireSafeCouncil HCFSC REPRESENTATIVE, CYBELLE IMMITT: [email protected] Chapter 4.3: Mid Klamath Planning Unit Action Plan HUMBOLDT COUNTY COMMUNITY WILDFIRE PROTECTION PLAN, 2019 4.3 MID KLAMATH PLANNING UNIT ACTION PLAN 4.3.1 MID KLAMATH PLANNING UNIT DESCRIPTION The Mid Klamath Planning Unit encompasses 135,466 acres situated in the northeast corner of Humboldt County. Highway 96 is the main transportation route through the Planning Unit and cuts diagonally across the area following along the Klamath River—the second largest river system in California. The Unit encompasses a portion of the Lower Klamath sub-basin and its tributary watersheds, which include Red Cap, Bluff, Camp, Hopkins, Slate, Pearch, and Aikens Creeks. Public lands, managed by the Six Rivers National Forest, make up the majority of this unit’s landmass. Nearly all of the land within the planning unit falls within the Karuk Ancestral Territory as defined by the Karuk Tribe, which extends as far north as the Oregon border, following the Klamath River. The town of Orleans comprises the community A larger map of this planning unit can be viewed population center of this planning unit. Orleans is in Map 4.3.1, Mid Klamath Planning Unit. included on the federal communities at risk list for 1 FIGURE 4.3.1 HWY 96 NEIGHBORHOODS damage from wildfire. Nearby Somes Bar, in Siskiyou Bluff Creek Pearch Creek County, is also a designated community at risk and is Camp Creek/Lower Red Cap/Upper Red included in many of the plans and activities mentioned Camp Creek Cap in this plan. Several other small neighborhood Cedar Camp Slate Creek groupings border the Highway 96 corridor with a few outlying in-holdings scattered throughout the Donahue Flat Ten Eyck surrounding National Forest. Not all residents in these Lammon Bark Shanty communities have access to electricity or telephone Lower Ishi Pishi Upper Ishi Pishi service. The 2010 Census reported 605 people in Owl Mine Road Orleans, with approximately 39% having Native American heritage, mainly of the Karuk Tribe.2 Wildland-urban interface (WUI): The zone where Parcels in this planning unit range in size from less structures and other human developments meet, or intermingle with, undeveloped wildlands. than one acre to more than 1,200 acres, with average parcel size between five and ten acres. The general building type is wooden houses built before wildland urban interface (WUI) building standards3 were in place. Recent development in the area has been primarily by the Karuk Tribal Housing Authority on Tribal lands in the Orleans Valley. The boundaries of this planning unit are based on the Humboldt County portion of the Orleans/Somes Bar Fire Safe Council’s planning area, which also includes portions of Siskiyou County. While the scope of this planning unit action plan includes Humboldt County only, the Orleans/Somes Bar Community Wildfire Protection Plan includes details about Siskiyou County as well and should be used in conjunction with this plan. 1 CAL FIRE. (2001). Communities at Risk List. Retrieved from http://osfm.fire.ca.gov/fireplan/fireplanning_communities_at_risk 2 Firewise Communities/USA® Recognition Program. (2011). Orleans Community Assessment. Retrieved from https://humboldtgov.org/735/Orleans 3 California Building Standards Commission. 2016 California Building Code of Regulations Title 24, Part 2, Volume 1, Chapter 7a: Materials and Construction Methods for Exterior Wildfire Exposure. Retrieved from https://codes.iccsafe.org/content/chapter/1774 Chapter 4.3: Mid Klamath Planning Unit Action Plan 4.3-1 HUMBOLDT COUNTY COMMUNITY WILDFIRE PROTECTION PLAN, 2019 4.3.2 MID KLAMATH ASSETS AND VALUES AT RISK Assets and values at risk are those things that are important to quality of life that can be threatened with destruction or loss from wildfire. These include a variety of things such as homes, businesses, critical infrastructure, cultural sites, wildlife habitat, natural resources, air quality, recreational facilities and areas, historical structures, and any other important attribute that individual communities rely on for their well-being. The majority of community assets at risk in this planning unit are residential homes, as well as community, Tribal, and United States Forest Service (USFS) lands and facilities, farmlands, and the Klamath River. Traditional subsistence resources and the hunting, fishing, and gathering areas of the Karuk People are also assets at risk. Other assets in this unit include communications and utility infrastructure. Map 4.3.2, found at the end of this Unit Action Plan, illustrates assets and values at risk to wildfire identified by community members at public workshops. More detailed descriptions of community- identified fire planning features can be found on the Humboldt County Web GIS5 Portal: https://webgis.co.humboldt.ca.us/HCEGIS2.6_CWPP. Some of the key community-identified assets at risk within this unit are listed in the table below. This list is not intended to be comprehensive and illustrates participating community members’ concerns. FIGURE 4.3.2 MID KLAMATH: COMMUNITY-IDENTIFIED ASSETS AT RISK Panamnik Building (houses the post office and Mid Central Orleans Klamath Watershed Council Offices) Crawford Creek watershed (Municipal water source) Perch Creek area (water source) Crawford Hill subdivision/Camp Creek Recreational river access points Ferris Ranch and south half of Orleans Red Cap homes and water Karuk Community Center Sandy Bar Ranch and other campgrounds/cabins Thunder Mountain and Madrone Neighborhoods and Orleans Community water tank Thunder Mountain water supply Note: The Orleans/Somes Bar Community Wildfire Protection Plan contains a detailed list of community assets and their relative risk ranking as identified by community and Tribal representatives and local fire professionals (see Part 4. Develop a Community Risk Assessment, starting on page 26 of the Orleans/Somes Bar Community Wildfire Protection Plan).4 Orleans Bridge. Photo: USFS. Orleans Fire Engine Bay. Photo: OVFD. 4 Orleans/Somes Bar Fire Safe Council. (2012). Orleans/Somes Bar Community Wildfire Protection Plan. Retrieved from http://www.mkwc.org/programs/fire-fuels/publications 5 Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Chapter 4.3: Mid Klamath Planning Unit Action Plan 4.3-2 HUMBOLDT COUNTY COMMUNITY WILDFIRE PROTECTION PLAN, 2019 4.3.3 MID KLAMATH WILDFIRE ENVIRONMENT There are several existing plans and resources where the wildfire environment of this area is described in much more detail. Readers interested in learning more on this topic are encouraged to begin by reviewing the following: o Orleans/Somes Bar Community Wildfire Protection Plan: http://mkwc.org/files/5113/7573/7763/OSB_CWPP_FINAL_withSignatures.pdf o Karuk Tribe Department of Natural Resources, 2010 draft of the Eco-Cultural Resources Management Plan: http://www.karuk.us/images/docs/dnr/ECRMP_6-15-10_doc.pdf