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Cooperative Fire Hazard Mitigation Priority Project

By

Eric Geisler

Coeur d’Alene Tribe , Forestry

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• Cooperators – Approximately 30 Parties• Coeur d’Alene Tribe• Idaho Department of Lands• USDA - FS• USDI – BLM, BIA, USGS• Major Land Owners – Timber industry• County EMS• Rural Fire Districts• Panhandle Area Council

Cooperative Fuels Planning & Mitigation

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Objectives

• Build on existing plan.• Prioritize fuels treatment at stand level

across all ownerships in Benewah County & the Reservation

• Interagency/ownership planning group – Encourage implementation – Cooperate on funding & grant applications

• Provide County EMS GIS capability to track mitigation progress

• Use current data with minimum field measurement

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Procedures

• Aerial remote sensing for Fuels mapping– Acquire imagery– Develop baseline ground data – FIREMON– Use remote sensing to create fuels map

• Verification on ground – FIREMON & SCA• Use new and existing data in models

– LANDFIRE– FARSITE– FLAM-MAP– & Others

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Procedures- Continued

• Use models to develop risk rating based on– Vegetation, FRCC, Fuels characteristics– Topography and physical variables– Fire potential, fire history– Structure density

• Work out interagency approach to implementation of hazard mitigation program that will encourage participation

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Break Down of Activities

• Imagery Acquisition – Completed & on-going• Data Integration – On-Going• Data Collection – On-Going• Vegetation Modeling – In Process• The Future Plans – Working Groups

– Broad input– Values– Goals

• Development of Priority Lists• Funding and Implementation of Projects

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Bio-Physical Settings

• Fire Regime Condition Class (FRCC)– Geographic area– Physical setting

• Climate, Geology, Geomorphology, Soils

– Vegetative community• Native species and successional stages• Range of historic variation and disturbance

– Fire Frequency, size, severity– BpS ~ Potential Natural Vegetation ( PNV)– Handout of Fire Regimes for study area

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Biophysical Settings Summary

• BpS -primary landscape delineation for FRCC and incorporates both classification and map unit concepts.

• Vegetation is used as the environmental expression of the land’s capability—a proxy for describing the biophysical setting.

• FRCC uses a potential natural vegetation (PNV) concept that incorporates natural disturbance;

• Incorporation of disturbance is critical in FRCC determination because FRCC is an estimate of the departure from the natural or historical range of disturbance.

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BpS Summary – Cont.• Historical range developed under different climatic

regime; therefore, where data are available, use the current (natural) range of variation given lack of modern human interference.

• Existing, potential, and historical vegetation concepts used for FRCC Current conditions use existing vegetation.

• Concept of potential natural vegetation (PNV) represents the environmental setting and the landscape’s capability to generate the structure, function, and composition of ecosystems.

• Potential land capability, associated with an historical range of variation in disturbance, provides information on historical vegetation, which in turn provides a context for determination of the reference conditions used in FRCC assessments.

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Fire Regime

• Frequency, Severity, Pattern• Regimes

– I 0-35 year frequency and low severity to mixed severity

– II 0-35 year frequency and high severity– III 35-200+ year frequency and mixed severity– IV 35-200+ year frequency and high severity– V 200+ year frequency and high severity

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FIRE REGIME - Continued

Fire Regime Terrain Flat Steep

• I – Frequent, surface & mixed 50-2,000 50-1,000

• II – Frequent, replacement 50-2,000 50-1,000

• III – Infrequent, mixed & surface 500-2,000 250-1,000

• IV – Infrequent, replacement 5,000-1,000,000 2,000-250,000

• V – Rare, replacement 5,000-1,000,000 2,000-250,000

• V – Rare, mixed 50-10,000 50-10,000

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CONDITION CLASS

• Departure from Reference Conditions

• 3 Classifications– 1 Similar to Expected– 2 Somewhat Departed from Expected– 3 Considerably Different from Expected

• Some Reasons for Departure – Fire suppression, timber harvesting,

livestock grazing, introduction & establishment of exotic plant species, and introduced insects and disease

Reference Condition Characteristics for Forested Biophysical Settings, Western U.S. (*DRAFT: 01/11/05).

A: B: C: D: E: Fire Dominant Repl.

Early MidSer MidSer LateSer LateSer Freq Fire Fire

BpS Name Code Seral1 Closed Open Open Closed (MFI) Regime2 %

    % % % % %      

Cedar-Hemock-Pine (Washington) CHPI 15 49 1 5 30 125 IV 75

Douglas-fir Interior Rocky Mountains DFIR2 15 25 20 25 15 30 I 10

Fir-Hemlock (Wash., Oreg), Forest FHWO1 15 25 5 10 45 769 V 85

Grand Fir-Douglas fir GFDF 15 45 10 5 25 59 III 30

Interior West Lower Subalpine Forest #1 a

SPFI1 20 35 15 10 20 111 IV 67

Interior West Lower Subalpine Forest #2

SPFI5 20 40 10 5 25 167 V 83

Lodgepole Pine-Subalpine Calif. LPSC 20 10 30 30 10 77 III 25

Cedar-Hemlock Douglas-fir (Interior) CHDO 10 30 5 15 40 200 V 60

Pine-Douglas fir-Central Rockies PPDF3 15 10 20 45 10 33 I 15

Ponderosa Pine Northern & C.Rockies PPIN2 10 10 20 55 5 17 I 7

Ponderosa Pine PNW/Great Basin PPIN1 10 5 20 55 10 15 I 10

Ponderosa Pine Southern Rockies PPIN6 15 5 25 50 5 17 I 10

Ponderosa Pine-Douglas-fir (Inland NW)

PPDF1 15 10 25 40 10 22 I 24

Riparian (willow-sedge)3 RIPA Var. Var. Var. Var. Var. Var. Var. Var.

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FIRE REGIME

+ CONDITION CLASS

= FRCC