USDA Forest Service Launches Interactive Map Showcasing Wildfire Reduction Projects
By Garrett Christensen on Friday, November 18th, 2022 in More Top Stories Northeastern Oregon News
OREGON – (Release from the U.S. Forest Service) The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service has launched a new interactive map showing the progress the agency and its partners have made in addressing the wildfire crisis in eight western states as part of the Forest Service’s 10-year wildfire crisis strategy. This easy-to-use “story map” gives users the opportunity to see the impact of the historic investments from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law across 10 initial landscapes in Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho, Montana, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona. This announcement comes as USDA celebrates the accomplishments made since the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law was signed one year ago.
“Western states are living the reality of climate change every day, where record droughts and catastrophic fire threaten lives and livelihoods like we have never seen in our history,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “This new resource gives everyone a chance to see the real impacts of the on the ground work the USDA Forest Service and its partners have already done to protect the communities and the resources that are most at risk.”
“We are working with communities and partners to implement critical hazardous fuels work on the initial landscapes. This work will meaningfully change how people, communities, and natural resources experience risk from wildfire,” said Forest Service Chief Randy Moore. “With this story map, audiences across the country can see in real-time where investments are being made to create safer communities and healthier, more resilient forests.”
This online story map is designed to be easy to use and is continually updated to show the progress of wildfire reduction efforts on national forests and grasslands as well as other federally managed, state, and private lands. Individual landscape maps allow users to interactively identify national forests, Congressional Districts, active partners, landscape boundaries and “firesheds,” or areas where wildfire is likely to pose the greatest risk to communities and resources.
Since it was first announced earlier this year, the Forest Service and its partners have used the best available science to identify the highest risk landscapes for treatment projects as part of the 10-year wildfire crisis strategy. The Forest Service found that around 80% of the wildfire risk to communities is concentrated in fewer than 10% of firesheds.
These initial investments focus on firesheds of the highest risk, where projects are ready to begin or to expand. The first-year investments are a part of the strategy to reduce the exposure of communities and infrastructure to the risk of catastrophic wildfire. A detailed update on first-year investments is available at https://www.fs.usda.gov/managing-land/wildfire-crisis/landscapes.
Each year the Forest Service will plan and implement more work as part of the 10-year strategy as funding allows, continuing to reduce the risks of extreme wildfire for communities in these vulnerable areas.
Two national initial investment landscapes in the Pacific Northwest Region are currently receiving Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding for planning and implementation of the 10-year Wildfire Crisis Strategy:
Central Washington Initiative:
The Central Washington Initiative (CWI) initial investment landscape encompasses 2.45 million acres of federal, State, Tribal, private and other lands surrounding the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest and nearby communities. The CWI landscape contains the top ten areas with the highest wildfire risk to communities in Washington. These communities continue to grow in numbers and expand into the wildland urban interface, placing increasingly more people and homes at risk. Tourism and recreation are also high in the area, with more than 3.5 million people visiting the CWI landscape each year. Over the next 10 years, the Forest Service and local partners, including Tribes, and State and local governments, will undertake projects to reduce wildfire risk on just over 14 percent of the CWI landscape (350,000 acres). This critical work will reduce the impacts of wildfire to the landscape, infrastructure and surrounding communities including Winthrop, Twisp, Chelan, Entiat, Wenatchee, Cashmere, Leavenworth, Cle Elum, Roslyn, Ellensburg, Naches & Yakima.
Central Oregon Landscape:
The Central Oregon Landscape (COL) encompasses over 2.6 million fire-prone acres centered on the Deschutes National Forest and Crooked River National Grassland. This area is a prime destination for tourism and recreation – Forest visitation continues to grow and is projected to reach over 5 million visitors in 2023. The COL contains t two of the highest wildfire risk areas in Oregon (The Sisters and Sunriver Firesheds). Additionally, three of the four counties in the project area (Jefferson, Klamath and Lake) are classified as vulnerable. There has also been a significant increase in houseless communities on the Forest – these communities are vulnerable to wildfire and add complexity to risk reduction efforts. The Forest Service and local partners plan to implement fuels treatments on an estimated 95,000 acres of this landscape over the next 10 years. This will dramatically reduce wildfire risk to resources, infrastructure, and to local communities, including tourist destinations like Sisters, Sunriver and Bend.
For more information about the Pacific Northwest Wildfire Crisis Team, visit our regional website at https://tinyurl.com/bd3steh4
