In this issue:

• Utah Shifting its Wildfire Strategy from Reactive to Proactive with New Wildland Fire Policy
• IAWF Working for a Higher Standard
• Leveraging Partnerships for $2 Million in Kansas
• From CWPP Recommendation to Implementation on the Ground
• USAA Adds New Mexico and Utah for Homeowner Discounts  
• Wyoming Nets $1.4 Million for Collaborative, Cross-Boundary Projects
• Using Science to Help Communities Address Risk
• Cohesive Strategy Implementation and Science
• Upcoming Learning Opportunities

Pile burning is an option for participants to "pay" their commitment under the new policy.  Photo: John Schmidt.
 

Utah's legislature passed a comprehensive wildland fire policy that shifts the lead for prevention and risk reduction to local governments. The state will pay the costs of large, extended attack fires in exchange for local governments implementing prevention, preparedness and mitigation actions that reduce the risk and cost of wildland fire over the long-term. The policy was developed collaboratively, and allows city, county and fire district participants to "opt in" to a five-year agreement with the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands. Participants must agree to initial attack on fires, the completion and regular updating of a Community Wildfire Protection Plan, and a "commitment" to be met by prevention, preparedness or mitigation work. More here. 

Tom Zimmerman, President of the International Association of Wildland Fire (IAWF), looks towards a future where fire intensity and severity will continue to increase, vegetation and fuel complexes will continue to change, populations and communities will continue to expand, and climate change will magnify these issues. Wildland fire management is inextricably bound to land and resource management, he explains. Future actions founded on an over-reliance on past experience will cause weakening in success and land management efficiency; ecological, social and management concerns will not be appeased through the use of a single wildfire response.

As the Cohesive Strategy insists, proactive measures are necessary. Expanded ecological knowledge, along with other scientific and technological advancements, must be used in the shaping of management activities. Policy makers, he suggests, must be actively engaged and support program development. The IAWF is the professional association for this discipline and is actively seeking to set the standard in wildland fire management, bringing science, best practices and the best people together to shape the future. Read more from Tom Zimmerman here. 

The 400,000 acre Anderson Creek Fire in Kansas and Oklahoma. March 2016.  Photo: Kansas Forest Service.
 

The Anderson Creek Fire burned almost 400,000 acres (620 square miles) in Kansas and Oklahoma last March, consumed 600 head of cattle, 16 homes, 25 structures and countless miles of fencing. Following an assessment of the damage and documenting the need for a proactive approach to prevent similar future losses, the Barber County Conservation District partnered with the Kansas Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) for $2 million targeting prescribed grazing, woody residue treatment, brush management, fire breaks, weed control and prescribed burning. The Cohesive Strategy promotes this kind of partnership leveraging to improve the resiliency of the landscape while achieving rangeland management goals. More here. 

Firefighters from the Stonewall Fire Protection District help thin the forest at North Lake State Wildlife Area.
Photo: Colorado State Forest Service
 

Through a project that stemmed from a 2014 Community Wildfire Protection Plan, firefighters from the Stonewall Fire Protection District have been hand-thinning the forest at North Lake State Wildlife Area in Colorado by removing unhealthy, suppressed and dying trees, as well as trees in overly dense stands. The main goal of the project is to protect the water quality of the North Fork of the Purgatoire River watershed, which supplies water to Trinidad and almost 85 percent of Las Animas County residents. This project highlights a number of Cohesive Strategy behaviors including a strong Community Wildfire Protection Plan; restoring resilient landscapes to protect watersheds, communities and future firefighting efforts; collaborating with a diverse stakeholder group to get this project from a recommended action to implementation on the ground; and continued communication with the local public to help them understand what living with wildland fire is all about.  More here. 

 

Up to seven states now, USAA added New Mexico and Utah with approved filings to give homeowners insurance discounts to members living in communities recognized by the Firewise Communities/USA program. The Cohesive Strategy encourages incentives to help increase participation in wildland fire mitigation programs.

This discount applies to policies in California, Colorado, Texas, Arizona, Oregon, New Mexico and Utah. More here. 

Alva, Crook County, Wyoming. Photo: Landwatch. 
 

The US Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) recently announced their 2017 investment of $1.4 million for two collaborative, cross-boundary projects in northeastern Wyoming. The Northeast Wyoming Forest Resiliency Project was awarded $1,285,540 to improve forest and rangeland health and resiliency, decrease wildfire risk and enhance wildlife habitat and the Northeastern Wyoming Sage-Grouse Habitat Enhancement project will receive $200,000 to help expand conservation efforts with a focus on restoring sage-grouse habitat while maintaining viable agricultural operations. Both projects will build on existing collaborative efforts among landowners, state and federal agencies, academia and other conservation organizations working in northeast Wyoming. These types of public-private partnerships are strongly supported by the Cohesive Strategy because the increased benefits achieved by working collaboratively across boundaries.  More here. 

The Colorado-based Wildfire Research group is an interdisciplinary team of experts who use scientific data to make fire-prone communities safer. Photo: WiRē.
 

The Colorado-based Wildfire Research (WiRē) group helps to make fire-prone communities safer by applying scientific data to tailor wildfire education and outreach programs to better meet local needs, beliefs and attitudes. By tackling assumptions about what's happening in fire-prone communities, the WiRē group assists by gathering data and providing insights that allow wildfire education and outreach programs to do their work in ways that are informed by science. The Cohesive Strategy is firmly based in sound science and strongly supports implementation efforts to achieve its three goals that are rooted in science.

At the beginning and throughout all stages of planning and development of the national strategy, science was at the center of both the vision statement and goals. Continued advancement and accomplishment of Cohesive Strategy goals hinge on reinforcing the importance of science in implementation activities and improving mechanisms to facilitate science integration with implementation. Please save the date for this valuable workshop!  Call for papers has been extended.  More information here. 

Workshop Objectives:

1. Provide clear understanding of the importance and critical role of science in all Cohesive Strategy planning and implementation. 
2. Reinforce that the focus of the Cohesive Wildland Fire Strategy implementation is "all hands, all lands" and that seamless access to the best available and correct science is vital to success at every level and every action.
3. Identify examples and opportunities where implementation (current and planned) is informed by the "right" science and information.
4. Identify processes to ensure science integration in all planning and implementation activities and identify future research needs in support of Cohesive Strategy implementation. 
5. Utilize the Workshop format to develop recommendations for continuing actions on this subject.

from www.fireadaptednetwork.org