By Liz Smith, Assistant Region Manager, Southeast Region, Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR), Liz.Smith@dnr.wa.gov
I recently had the pleasure of presenting with Raul Martinez, Forest and Community Resilience External Affairs Manager with the Washington Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to the Yakima Rotary Club. With over 100 Rotarians in attendance, we had an engaged crowd with several questions and comments regarding the work the DNR Service Forestry team is completing in Yakima County. Our presentation covered what home and landowners can do to prepare their homes and property for wildfire. Raul focused on the Home Ignition Zone along with DNR’s Wildfire Ready Neighbors program.
I focused my presentation on how our Wildfire Resilience and Forest Health program works with private landowners, and the process to sign up for financial assistance. I was able to incorporate a key partnership with the West Valley Fire Department on a project that was completed near Tampico, WA, and a project on private land in the Ahtanum. Partnerships are critical with the work we do, and we have the luxury of have many great partners in Yakima county!
DNR’s wildfire resilience and forest health programs are funded by state and federal dollars. Federal grants are critical to the success of our Service Forestry program and provide much needed funding to implement our financial assistance and strategic fuels reduction contracts. We also now receive quite a bit of state funding for our Forest Resilience program work on private lands, through House Bill 1168 which created a first-of-its-kind Wildfire Response, Forest Restoration, and Community Resilience Account.
We are working on Western States Fire Managers (WSFM) grants, funded by the USDA Forest Service’s State, Private, and Tribal Forestry Consolidated Payment Grant program. This one, along with our National Fire Plan (NFP) Non-Federal WUI grants, are grants we’ve annually applied for since at least 2008. We write our grants for areas and communities in need of extra funding due to high landowner demand, and when the areas rank as a high priority in DNR’s Treatment Prioritization Layers (if available).
Given the increased demand for our program services, we’ve begun seeking out additional grant funding sources that fit our program needs, and not overburden our staff with tricky or unexpected grant administration. New to our program beginning last year is the addition of Community Wildfire Defense Grants (CWDGs). We were successful in receiving two CWDGs last year: I-90 Horsepark, and White Salmon. We just submitted three more proposals for this year. CWDGs are open to any organization or entity in the country, so they are extremely competitive.
The 14-acre Tampico project was highlighted on the West Valley Fire and Rescue Facebook page in August. Below is the post along with a couple of before and after pictures of the work that was completed.
“Tampico area landowners, are you aware the DNR has funding to reduce fuels on your property? Today we visited a property up the South Fork that recently completed fuel reduction work on 14 acres, final project completion will be this fall when all the brush piles are burned. What a difference removing brush and ladder fuels made on this property to reduce fire risk to their home and buildings. If you would like more information on how you can receive funding to improve your properties defensible space contact the WADNR.”
The “Ahtanum” fuel break (pictures below) is currently in progress, with 32 acres of 67 completed. The project is located in a very important recreation area and attracts hikers, horseback riders, and hunters from all across the PNW. Many come to access the NE corner of the Goat Rocks Wilderness.
I am pleased with the feedback and questions we received and am hoping the presentation turns into our next project in Yakima County!
For landowner assistance questions or information needs please visit our Landowner Assistance Portal.
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