Wallowa Whitman National Forest planning new defensible fuel zone near Sumpter
By Garrett Christensen on Friday, December 22nd, 2023 in More Top Stories Northeastern Oregon News
SUMPTER – The Wallowa Whitman National Forest is planning what it has dubbed the Huckleberry Defensible Fuel Profile Zone. This is a planned series of fuel breaks roughly three miles south of Sumpter along Highway 7 and Forest Service Road 1100 meant to reduce the risk of wildlife in the Sumpter/McCully Forks Wildland Urban Interface. As described in detail in the project’s official scoping letter:
“Location
The project area lies in Baker County, OR, on the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, Whitman District. It is located West of Baker City and East of Whitney. Access is by National Forest System Roads (NFSR) 1100, 1075, 1080, 1090, and State Hwy 667 (see figure 1).
The proposed treatments are within and directly adjacent to the Sumpter/McCully Forks Wildland Urban Interface area described by the Baker County Community Wildfire Protection Plan.
Purpose and Need
The Baker County Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) for the Sumpter/McCully Forks Watershed Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) identifies a need for safe evacuation routes along the Highway 7 Corridor and Skyline Forest Road 11. The CWPP also strives to create, restore, and maintain a fire-resistant landscapes sufficient to minimize the risk and damage caused by wildland fire within the designated Wildland Urban Interface (Baker County CWPP). The primary purpose of this project is to establish and maintain fuel breaks to reduce the risk of uncharacteristic wildfire on both Federal land and Sumpter Valley community. This purpose aligns with both local needs identified by the Baker County CWPP and national direction identified in the Wildfire Crisis Strategy.
The purpose and need for this project area can be accomplished by creating Defensible Fuel Profile Zones (DFPZS); strategically placed treatments along roads and ridgetops where tree densities, canopy base heights, surface fuel loadings and ladder fuels are reduced to modify fire behavior and provide a safe place for firefighters to initiate fire suppression activities. Reduction of tree densities, base heights, ladder and surface fuels within the DFPZ’s provide a location that a wildfire would reduce the risk for fire to carry through the overstory canopy, would have limited ladder fuels to create crown fires, and surface fuel loadings would produce fire intensities that would be generally confined to a surface fire where firefighters would have a high likelihood of stopping the fire spread safely. DFPZ treatments would be a combination of commercial harvest, NCT/PCT and prescribed burning dependent on the existing condition of vegetation. Treatments would reduce tree density, favoring fire resistant tree species, and reduce existing fuels, as well as reduce live fuels that favor torching and crow fire.”
Wallowa Whitman will accept public comments on the project until January 18, 2024. Written comments can be submitted to Cody Taylor, Fuels Planner for the Wallowa Whitman National Forest, at the Baker City office, 1550 Dewey Ave., Suit A. Office Hours are 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Electronic comments can be submitted to https://www.fs.usda.gov/project/wallowa-whitman/?project=63523
