BAILEY HEALTHY FORESTS INITIATIVE
For a Fire Adapted Community
The NIMO report begins by setting the stage in describing the conditions that prevailed in June 2012 and how the “drought stressed vegetation” formed “a continuous fuel bed directly into the suburbs.” Everything, the study says, led to a “worst-case scenario.”
Fuel treatments on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation:
Learn more about the effectiveness of fuel treatments in the Wallow Fire Fuel Treatment Effectiveness on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation in this report.
The Okmulgee Agency and Eastern Oklahoma Region, Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) produced this video. Learn more at fire adapted.org
Given the desire to keep fire out of some forest ecosystems where human developments are in harms way, forest logging and thinning projects can help keep trees healthy.
Take a listen to this story on Colorado Public Radio to learn more about the current direction of wildfire-urban interface (WUI) legislation in Colorado.
Examples of this perseverance in the face of catastrophe abound among our Firewise brethren. For example, in response to last year’s Waldo Canyon Fire, which destroyed nearly 300 homes in Colorado, community activists Bonnie Sumner and Scott Lord led their respective communities (Majestic Park and Forest Edge County Ridge Estates) in stepping up their local efforts. Sumner recalls attending a remembrance marking the 10-year anniversary of the 2002 Hayman Fire, where she picked up information about Firewise principles. Three days later, the Waldo Canyon Fire struck.
Read the full article in the Fall 2013 Firewise How-To Newsletter
U.S. SENATOR MICHAEL BENNET
Member: Agriculture, HELP, and Finance Committees
Bennet to Chair Senate Hearing on Reducing Risk and Severity of Wildfires
Washington, DC – Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet, Chairman of the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Conservation, Forestry and Natural Resources, will convene a Subcommittee hearing on Tuesday, November 5 at 2:30 p.m. EST in room 328 of the Russell Senate Office Building. The hearing, “Shortchanging Our Forests: How Tight Budgets and Management Decisions Can Increase the Risk of Wildfire,” will feature testimony from local Colorado business representatives from wildfire-affected areas. Jim Hubbard, the Deputy Chief of the U.S. Forest Service and former Colorado State Forester from 1984-2004, will also testify. Additional witnesses detailed below.
A live webcast of the hearing can be viewed on the Committee’s website at http://ag.senate.gov.
WITNESS LIST
Mr. Jim Hubbard, Deputy Chief, U.S. Forest Service, Washington, DC
Mr. Davey Pitcher, President and CEO, Wolf Creek Ski Area, Pagosa Springs, CO
Mr. Chris Topik, Director, Restoring America’s Forests Program, The Nature Conservancy, Washington, DC
Mr. Tom Troxel, Executive Director, Intermountain Forest Association, Rapid City, SD
Ms. Sallie Clark, Incoming Vice President, National Association of Counties, Commissioner, El Paso County, CO
“Udall’s bill and its House companion would place wildfires on par with other natural disasters such as hurricanes, floods and tornadoes, and would make Colorado and other states eligible to receive an additional 15 percent of the total funds FEMA allocates for fire suppression to support wildfire-mitigation efforts.” Read more in this press release from Senator Mark Udall’s office.
Colorado researchers share their research results and insights into what drives homeowners to reduce their wildfire risk in the wild land-urban interface (WUI) in the September/October 2013 Science You Can Use Bulletin: Bulletin Sep-Oct – Fire on the Mountain
