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Team seeks mitigation for fire damage
The Elmore County Disaster Task Force, formed in the wake of this year's devastating fires in Elmore County, met Friday to begin developing an action plan for recovery of the land and those economically impacted by the fires.
More than 30 people, representing stakeholders, politicians and key federal, state and local government agencies, gathered to share ideas and concerns.
T.J. Clifford, leader of the federal Burned Area Emergency Response team that spent two weeks evaluating the areas burned this year, noted that the Pony Complex Fire "is really about vegetation," the loss of habitat to support wildlife and ranching operations.
The fire also posed a risk of flooding due to the lack of ground cover, but not as great as the Elk Complex Fire, he noted.
"With (the) Elk (fire), the focus is more about human life and safety. There is a much higher risk for floods and debris flows" because of the extensive devastation in some areas caused by that fire.
"You can pretty much expect that any time a rainstorm comes in you'll have localized flooding," he said.
In addition, the damage to wildlife habitat includes threats to some endangered or threatened trout species due to the destruction of riparian areas and the silt in streams.
The next step, Clifford said, was to reseed the Pony fire area and fix some roads and culverts already damaged by flash floods.
The Elk Complex area will require "a lot of road work, some mulching, some trail and motorized closures, some rest from grazing and weeds will be a big issue."
Rehabilitation work on the BLM and Forest Service lands alone would take millions of dollars, he said.
Fixing the various problems created by the fires "is going to take a collaborative effort," added Dale Nader of the state Bureau of Homeland Security. "Nobody has the single tools to solve this problem."
Connie Sharp, of the National Resource Conservation Service, said several state-based agencies were helping people who had lost cabins clean up their properties, but because most of the buildings were second residences there were limits to how much help, especially financial, would be available.
She also noted that many federal agencies were under the gun to get requests in for funding before the federal fiscal year ends on Sept. 30.
She said her agency initially received 58 applications for help, totalling about $2 million in assistance, "but some people dropped out. They either sold their land, or decided the cost (to conduct repairs or rehabilitation) wasn't as great as they thought and they could do it themselves."
Jeff Groat, of the Farm Service Agency, which administers Farm Bill programs, said a declaration earlier this summer that Elmore was a drought-stricken county "will make it easier to get some help," primarily in the form of loans to find water for livestock, and other issues, "but we're still working on money for fencing," an emergency funding provision in previous Farm Bills that Congress let lapse.
Several ranchers and farmers impacted by the fires worried about how long it takes to proceed on some issues due to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), where the federal government has to make sure the programs they are planning for their lands don't cause more problems.
And in order to prevent future fires from causing as much devastation as this year's fires did, they asked that the procedure be speeded up to be able to respond. The ranchers asked that a policy be developed that would let them use a bulldozer to build a fire break without having to wait for the state archeologist to arrive and determine if they were going to damage or degrade historic sites, such as parts of the Old Oregon Trail that runs through both public and private lands in the county.
In fact, for the farmers and ranchers who took part in Friday's meeting, it wasn't just about recovering from this year's fires, but about looking ahead and being able to deal with fires in the future, as well.
Steve Damele urged implementation of the Paradigm Project, a proposal put forward several years ago by local landowners and government representatives, led by Ted Hoffman of Mountain Home, that called for increased numbers of firebreaks and the seeding of fire-resistant plants, especially certain native grasses, which could help slow the growth of fires.
That proposal has slowly been working its way since 2009 through the BLM's NEPA process.
And Jeff Lord said that reseeding efforts needed to be rethought. Since it was clear he'd need to rest his land for at least two years to allow the vegetation to recover, he urged that less effort be made to reseed with sagebrush "which will come back, anyway," and more effort be directed at grasses that would fix the soil and serve as fodder for his cattle and for wildlife.
Meanwhile, federal and state officials noted that there were efforts underway to find additional lands for the cattlemen to pasture their livestock, either by leasing other ranchlands or using limited amounts of land that had been set aside under the Conservation Reserve Program.
Cattlemen were clearly frustrated at past efforts to rehabilitate lands due to fires, and wanted to avoid the same mistakes or delays they'd faced before.
In a lengthy list of priorities they developed in their working group, they called for greater rancher involvement in the decision-making processes involving rehabilitation, that decisions be made less on the basis of some overall national policy and more on a case-by-case basis (and faster), that more green strips and fire breaks be created, and that there be a serious effort to battle noxious weeds and invasive species from taking over in the burned areas.
Grazing policies also need to be updated, they said, noting that area fires seem to be getting bigger and bigger. "We need to manage annual grasses better and knock down the fuel loads" with grazing practices and policies that would take that into consideration, John Blair said.
Other ranchers made it clear that some of the current firefighting policies created wasted effort. Jeff Lord, for example, noted that too many times firefighters spend resources trying to save outbuildings that don't need to be saved, because they're either dilapidated, abandoned or less important to the farmer or rancher than the land around them. He suggested ranchers identify in advance structures they are willing to lose. "Don't protect my dilapidated structures," he said, "protect my feed."
The ranchers also expressed their concern for wildlife and stressed that all too often the decision loop on firefighting issues is so slow that by the time a critical decision is made it's already been overtaken by events on the ground. To protect wildlife and their livestock, the ranchers said, public lands managers need better, streamlined policies that will let them make faster decisions.
Those attending the meeting were told an effort is being made to restore fencing as soon as possible.
In other issues discussed:
* Public safety officials said it became clear this year that they need to develop better warning systems and evacuation plans for mountain residents.
* The highway districts are going to be hard pressed to find the money and time to repair the roads and replace all the culverts damaged by the recent flash flooding, let along any additional damage expected to occur over the next year, plus the extra plowing that will be required because the lack of ground cover will create additional snowdrifts on the roads. State assistance with engineering is helping keep overall costs down, but the highway districts also will need more money for maintenance work.
* Federal logging practices need to be seriously adjusted to help thin the forests so catastrophic fires don't happen again. Participants noted that a billion board feet of timber burned. And because of environmental policies, it was charged by some at the meeting, Elmore County no longer has a timber industry or infrastructure to salvage any of it.
* Staff representatives from senators Jim Risch and Mike Crapo told the group the county needs to request a disaster declaration from the governor, which could help with some additional state and federal funding and loan programs. Commissioners Wes Wootan and Bud Corbus agreed to move on that proposal rapidly.
* Commissioner Corbus, who also is a fireman, said better policies also need to be developed for fires, usually caused by lightning, that begin in the "no man's land" between fire protection districts. Funding to pay for local fire crews and a plan on how to use them could help prevent small fires from becoming catastrophic events, such as happened this year, he said.
The entire task force effort, put together by the commissioners under the direction of Mir Seyedbagheri, was praised by state senator Bert Brackett "for pulling all these resources together."
The final recommendations of the group will be used to develop an action plan to present to state and federal agencies and to modify existing disaster planning efforts by the county.