Project Summary: The purpose of this project is to continue the creation of Community Wildfire Protection Plans (CWPP) in the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) zones of the Colville National Forest. The creation of these next two community fire plans, at the Jack Knife and Geo-Physical areas, will be linked to the permitting of two US Forest Service WUI fuels reduction thinning projects. This will bring the implementation of the Forest Service fuels reduction WUI project quickly upon the heals of the creation of the CWPP for each community area. This simultaneous activity will create enhanced public support and engage the local community much more intensely in both processes because the fire threats on the adjacent federal lands are being addressed at the same time that individual private landowners are focused on the same threats to their own lands.

The Colville Community Forestry Coalition has just completed the creation of two CWPP at two other WUI zones in the Colville National Forest. This project will use a similar system of community outreach and education, ongoing collaboration amongst the area stakeholders, cooperation between agencies and private landowners, the use of local media and the establishment of a multi-party monitoring protocol. The result will be the creation and publishing of the CWPP for each of the two community areas. The Colville Coalition will be the project lead and central to the collaborative process for this project. Local contractors will be employed through open solicitation to provide the multi-party monitoring, the outreach, the educational component and the actual compilation of the CWPP. The funding requested from the National Forest Foundation is targeted to provide these specific services for these two CWPPs and are not part of the organizational overhead and normal operating expenses of the Coalition.

What the Project will accomplish and its demonstrable benefits: Each CWPP will assemble the information needed to complete the CWPP. The two handbooks, “A Framework for Community Fire Plans” and “Preparing Community Wildfire protection Plans” are will be used as models for the type of information needed to successfully create a CWPP. The two CWPPs will be detailed enough to provide actual and practical information to each community for its efforts to provide safety to area residents from wildfire. The project will also provide community support for the US Forest Service WUI project on the adjacent federal lands. This will include public input within the permitting process for the WUI projects. The result is that the community will be highly motivated to accomplish fire safety procedures on private land while the Forest Service performs fire safe treatments on the neighboring public lands. Approximately 4,500 acres of federal land will be treated in each of the project areas with recognition of the priorities set by the local CWPP.

Relevance to NFF and the Forest Service Goals and Priorities: the creation of Community Wildfire Protection Plans within the Wildland Urban Interface are of the highest priority to both the NFF and the US Forest Service. Community collaboration in support of fuels reduction projects on federal lands adjacent to private residences is also a high priority. This project will accomplish both priorities.

How we will gain public support and involvement: Public support for the creation of the CWPP in each area flows naturally from the intensive community outreach that will be employed; all resident landowners will be contacted. Several “neighborhood meetings” will be conducted to gather detailed information from the area residents. Interaction with the local County Fire District and any Fire Department and all County EMS and 911 Public Safety data will be a critical component of the project. The local governmental entities (County Commission and City Councils, Homeowners Associations, etc.) will be contacted and brought into the process. The local newspapers, radio stations and community bulletin boards will be utilized, as well as some direct mailing, to advertise educational forums.

The Colville Community Forestry Coalition has a high profile identity in the field of “positive collaborative planning”. The Coalition will engage the local residents of each community area along these same lines; that is: that we can create a meaningful CWPP for our community and simultaneously support a Forest Service WUI project that will reduce fire threats and improve forest health and also provide material for the local lumber mills. This approach has gained broad based public support in earlier projects.

Monitoring and Evaluation: A multi-party monitoring protocol will be established for each project area. The purpose of this protocol will be to evaluate whether or not the public lands fuels reduction project in each area is done according to the prescriptions.

Data and photo points will be established for long-term monitoring of the forest stands that have been thinned. The creation of the CWPP for each area will satisfy the prerequisites for the receipt of National Fire Plan funding for the implementation of the CWPP. The Coalition has worked closely with the Washington State Department of Natural Resources which has been the lead in the application for and receipt of National Fire Plan implementation funding.

The Mission of the Colville Coalition: Mission: To demonstrate the full potential of restoration forestry to enhance forest health, public safety and community economic vitality.

Objectives:

· To design and implement forest restoration and fuels reduction projects that demonstrate innovative approaches to forestry.

· To demonstrate how a diverse coalition of stakeholders can work together to successfully promote restoration forestry and community protection from wildfire.

· To improve rural community economic vitality by including job training as a key component of forest restoration and fuels reduction projects.

· To use the projects to educate the public about the ecological and socio-economic benefits of restoration forestry and fuels reduction strategies.

· To develop model forest restoration and fuels reduction projects that can be emulated in other regions of the country.

The Colville Coalition has been active in the Colville National Forest area for four years. During that period the “group” moved from a fledgling organization to a formal incorporated non-profit through the NFF CAP grant and assistance. The Coalition has been instrumental is the successful permitting of the Quartzite project (10 mbf) and the Deadman project (5 mbf) through a community collaborative process. The Coalition has recently, through a NFF MAP grant, assisted the communities of the Chewelah and the Lower Kettle River in the creation of CWPPs for each area. The Coalition has been successful in the creation of a community based organization comprised of loggers, mill owners, environmentalists, educators and community leaders that has effectively worked with the public agencies to create fuels reduction and forest restoration projects on public lands.

The Colville Coalition, the US Forest Service and the WA – DNR has just completed a three day “workshop” to create a Memorandum of Understanding for the “process” for permitting WUI fuels reduction projects and for future collaboration. This MOU will be a significant step towards the goals of true collaboration rather than antagonism in the permitting process of all projects on public forest lands. This Workshop and the creation of the MOU is a direct result of the projects earlier funded by the National Forest Foundation.

Preliminary Project Budget: See Attached.