HomeMy WebLinkAboutForester Update0c.,'CES❑
Deschutes County Board of Commissioners
1300 NW Wall St., Suite 200, Bend, OR 97701-1960
(541) 388-6570 - Fax (541) 385-3202 - www.deschutes.org
AGENDA REQUEST & STAFF REPORT
For Board Business Meeting of February 9, 2011
Use "tab" to move between fields, and use as much space as necessary within each field. Do not leave any fields
incomplete. Agenda requests & backup must be submitted to the Board Secretary no later than noon of the
Wednesday prior to the meeting to be included on the agenda.
DATE: February 2, 2011
TO: Deschutes County Board of Commissioners
FROM: Joe Stutler, Forestry, 322-7117
TITLE OF AGENDA ITEM:
Forester Update
PUBLIC HEARING ON THIS DATE? NO
BACKGROUND AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS:
See attached narratives for the following topics: FEMA/OEM Grant update for amending the Scope of
Work; International Association of Fire Chiefs; Two grant opportunities; ICS training, MAC Exercise;
Defensible Space Ordinance.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None
RECOMMENDATION & ACTION REQUESTED:
Questions from the BOCC on updates
ATTENDANCE: Joe Stutler
DISTRIBUTION OF DOCUMENTS:
MEMORANDUM
DATE: February 9, 2011
TO: Deschutes County BOCC and County Administrator
FROM: Joe Stutler, Deschutes County Forester
RE: February 9, 2011 Update
Since December of 2010 I have focused on the following work projects:
1. FEMA and Office of Emergency Management (OEM) Grants; since 2007 we
have received two grants for approximately $1.7 million to treat fuels in
Deschutes and Crook Counties. Deschutes County is the official sub -grantee and
we have agreements with OEM and Crook County to complete the work and
share in the expenditures. For Grant 1 we were obligated to treat 1200 acres and
provide a in kind match of $358,210. To date we have treated 5,134 acres and
provided $1,709,622 of in kind match by property owners contributions. Of the
$1 million grant we have spent approximately $750,000. For Grant 2 we were
obligated to treat 667 acres and provide an in kind match of $390,000. To date
we have treated 2,795 acres and provided $876,801 of in kind match from
property owner contributions. Of the $700,000 we have spent approximately
$300,000. Consequently, we still have approximately $650,000 left from both
grants. The issues with both grants are that the scope of work has been exceeded
by both acre accomplishment and in kind match. Additionally for both grants
there has been disagreement of specific areas to be treated which was covered by
the Environmental Assessment. On January 26, 2011 we met with FEMA/OEM
staff and have reached resolution of how to amend the scope of works for both
grants to include the new acres and in kind match amounts. Additionally with the
other Environmental Analysis completed by other federal and state agencies (over
60 documents) we suspect areas treated was covered. FEMA is reviewing those
various environmental analyses to ensure this is correct, if not a supplemental
analysis will be completed. We are completing the requirements to amend the
grants at this point. We are not able to expend any more grant dollars until we
complete the revisions. We anticipate having this resolved by April 1, 2011. For
Grant 3 which is for $3 million for Deschutes, Crook and Klamath Counties, we
meet with FEMA and the contractor to begin the process of completing the
necessary environmental analysis on February 15-16, 2011. Our specific task is
to succinctly identify the scope of work and specific work areas beforehand and
we anticipate this new grant will be coming around July 1, 2011.
2. International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC); last June I was chosen to
serve on the Wildland Fire Policy Committee. In summation the IAFC
represents the leadership of over 1.2 million firefighters and emergency
responders worldwide. IAFC members are the world's leading experts in
firefighting, emergency medical services, terrorism response, hazardous
materials spills, natural disasters, search and rescue, and public safety
legislation. Since 1873, the IAFC has provided a forum for its members to
exchange ideas and uncover the latest products and services available to first
responders. The issues of wildland fire have dominated the discussions
around the world for the last decade. How the fire service (particularly
structural and local government) responds to this growing need resulted in
the creation of the Wildland Fire Policy Committee in 2002.This opportunity to
be part of the leadership on both federal and national fire policy will serve
Deschutes County well not only from an information perspective but having
firsthand knowledge of emerging issues for compiling grant applications will
prove invaluable in coming years. IAFC pays for all travel, per diem and
associated costs of participating. The latest endeavor is creating a National
Cohesive Strategy for dealing with wildland fire in the United States for all
agencies with wildland responsibility. This Cohesive Strategy was mandated
by the FLAME Act from Congress in 2010. This will be an ongoing effort for
the next 2-3 years.
3. We are in the process of completing two grant applications, the first is to FEMA
for prevention and education to implement the Ready, Set, Go evacuation
planning process in Central Oregon and at the same time create a learning
laboratory @ the High Desert Museum for healthy forest, defensible space and
use the Ready, Set, Go model for the visiting public, over 350 people per day..
The grant amount is approximately $215,000. The second grant application is for
a National Fire Plan fuels treatment proposal which furthers our "Sweat Equity"
fuels treatment and defensible space efforts throughout the county. This grant
amount will be approximately $200,000. I am seeking BOCC approval to
proceed with the grant application. There is no match requirement for the FEMA
grant and approximately $20,000 soft match for the National Fire Plan grant.
4. ICS training and MAC simulation exercise; over the past month I have instructed
in three different training sessions for both COCC and the Forest Service Training
Center to assist with ICS training (upper level 400 series) for federal, state and
municipality wildland fire service personnel throughout the western US.
Additionally on January 25 we developed and conducted a MAC training exercise
for Central Oregon. We plan one additional training exercise plus one additional
MAC programmatic meeting this calendar year to institutionalize both MAC
systems and MAC coordination for Central OR.
5. We have completed a Memorandum of Understanding for COPWR (biomass
coordination for Central OR) and a Charter for the Collaborative Restoration
Project named the Skyliners Collaborative. This Charter will create an
organization to guide the treatment and restoration of 130,000 acres of public
lands between Bend and Sisters over the next decade. Commission Unger and I
will serve on the Steering Committee and members of Project Wildfire will serve
on numerous task forces for implementation.
6. Qualified Pool; in December we conducted a "listening session" for all
contractors on the current Qualified Pool. We had approximately 20 of the 31
contractors attend and provided feedback to our process. Almost without
exception all were pleased with the process and offered constructive feedback as
to how we can improve our practices which we will implement this year. We
completed the Request for Proposal for this years Qualified Pool and will have 34
contractors who will qualify and provide valuable fuels mitigation services using
our grants to create both defensible space and biomass opportunities. We are
completing the Notice to Proceed and Waivers for BOCC approval and will make
that presentation in a forthcoming work session.
7. Defensible Space Ordinance; Mark Pilliod and I have essentially completed the
ordinance and are resolving where in County Code the ordinance will reside with
Community Development. I will bring the first reading of the ordinance to the
Board later this month.
I will be glad to answer any questions you may have.
Joseph E. Stutler
Deschutes County Forester