Prevention
Mitigating Wildfire Risk within the Wildland Urban Interface
Fire personnel at Gifford Pinchot National Forest work year-round to help reduce the risk of wildfire to local communities, suppress wildfires that threaten resources and people, and use fire as a forest management tool to create healthy and resilient ecosystems.
Some key fuels management projects are currently being considered to help protect resources and communities surrounding the Forest from the threat of catastrophic wildfire.
Wildfire mitigation efforts in the Randle/Packwood area:
Forest Managers are assessing fuels management opportunities in the Skate Creek area which surrounds the Packwood community and is a key opportunity to address public concerns about wildfire. An interdisciplinary team will begin the planning process in fiscal year 2022, which includes opportunities for public engagement. https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MEDIA/fseprd1042863.jpg
The strategy will be to evaluate opportunities for fuels management near wildland urban interface areas along forest boundary. Tactics may include non-mechanical and mechanical fuels management. The non-mechanical fuels treatment is implemented with hand crews. This tactic includes reducing fuel loads from 50’ to 100’ along the boundary along the wildland urban interface (WUI) of Packwood, WA trimming ladder fuels, slashing small diameter trees & creating hand piles of slash fuels to burn during the winter. The mechanical fuels treatment consists of identifying opportunities for commercial thinning, reducing the canopy cover, and creating piles that will be burned in winter months.
Wildfire mitigation efforts in White Salmon/Willard area:
The Mt. Adams Ranger District is also ramping up their fuels program on the east side of the Forest. While Forest Managers have always executed fuels reduction in the form of thinning and pile burning of remaining slash, staff have been expanding the program to incorporate understory burning south of Mt. Adams in the Gotchen Meadows area, and the treatment of roadsides through a combination of thinning, mulching, and pile burning. https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MEDIA/fseprd1045276.jpg
An interdisciplinary team is currently developing a proposal for the Little White Salmon watershed, including the area just north of the community of Mill A and Willard. The proposal is still in the early stages of development and will include multiple objectives, but it is expected to include thinning and burning and roadside treatments to support escape routes and potential control lines to help assist fire staff for future fires in the area. Public comments are welcome during the public scoping period which is expected to be initiated summer and fall of 2022.
Partnering with the state
Additionally, the Forest continues to coordinate with the Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR). The Washington DNR may also pursue treatments on DNR-managed lands adjacent to communities.
For more information on projects and a schedule of proposed actions on the Forest please visit: https://nfs.fs2c.usda.gov/r06/giffordpinchot/projects .