KERN RIVER VALLEY

FIRE SAFE COUNCIL

August 19, 2010

Meeting Minutes 

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KERN RIVER VALLEY FIRE SAFE COUNCIL

Thursday, August 19, 2010

 

Board of Directors and Stakeholders Meeting Supervisor McQuiston's Conference Room, Lake Isabella 19 August 2010

Board of Directors Meeting

Meeting was convened at 9:00 by the President, Lloyd Smith. Attendees: Lloyd Smith, Ed Royce, Christine and Gordon Hancock, and Sharon Rooney. Gordon Ehmann's resignation was read and accepted by the members of the board. Lloyd reminded the board members that we have operated without a vice president and that we will need to nominate new board members at the November 2010 meeting. We briefly discuss payment for Patrick Pontes for the Forest Service Cooperative Agreement, resolving that Lloyd and Ed would determine an appropriate start time and the appropriateness of pre-award charges.

Stakeholders Meeting

Meeting was convened at 9:30 by President Lloyd Smith. Attendees: Nickie Washington (USFS), Bob Robertson (MRCD), Debbie Santiago (BLM), Derrick Davis (KCFD), Tom Teofilo The Lodge at Paint Rock), Hayward Mendenhall (Valley View POA), Mike Lanza (Squirrel Valley POA), Jim Phillips (KCFD), Mary Davis (Alta Sierra POA), Don Davis (Alta Sierra POA), Penny Lampkin (Alta Sierra POA), Scott Williams (USFS), Don Brady (KCFD), Penelope Shibley (USFS), Patrick Pontes (KRVFSC Grant Administrator), Christine Hancock (KRVFSC BoD), Gordon Hancock (KRVFSC BoD), Ed Royce (KRVFSC BoD), and Lloyd Smith (KRVFSC BoD).

Presentations:

"Kern River Valley Fuel Reduction Projects-Changing Threats and Review of Priorities", Ed Royce (KRVFSC) (inserted below)

"Kern County Fire Department Projects in the Kern River Valley", Don Brady (KCFD) (presentation)

"2010 Grant Funded Fuel reduction Projects", Patrick Pontes (KRVFSC Grant Administrator) (insert below)

"Interagency Fuels Treatment Effectiveness Review", Scott Williams (USFS) (presentation)

Committee Reports:

Grants (Ed Royce)

+ 2011 grant project proposals approved in June + CFSC grant workshop 25 August (Wednesday) at Santa Barbara + Collaborative meeting 21 October (Thursday) at 0900 at USFS Kernville conference room

Fundraising (Lloyd Smith)

+Contributions received in 2010 of $1,725. This is behind last year's contributions

Chipper Days (Lloyd Smith)

+ 2010 chipper day at Squirrel Valley, Walker Pass, Mountain Mesa, Isabella Highlands, Greenhorn Mountains/Alta Sierra, and BMX bike track + Compiling data for report and archive

Website (Ed Royce)

+ No activity. An update is planned in the next week or two, so please send me any changes/corrections/additions.

Education/Speaker's Bureau (Lloyd Smith)

+ Distribution of Living With Fire - 5 May + Kern River Preserve presentation by Chris Horgan - 9 June + Amateur Radio Club presentation by Lloyd Smith - 12 June + Purchased pet stickers for homes (Gordon and Christine Hancock donated KRVFSC logo stickers) + Roadside sign rotation (Steve Griffin (USFS)) + Radio station KQAB talk show by Lloyd Smith and Dennis Monahan (KCFD) - 6 August + Walter Mortensen Insurance provide information pamphlets + Provided KRVFSC description and logo to Kernville Chamber of Commerce for their website

Agency Reports:

Kern County Fire Department (Don Brady)

Forest Service (Nickie Washington)

BLM (Debbie Santiago)

Next KRVFSC Meeting: Thursday, 18 November 2010, 9:30-11:30, in Supervisor McQuiston's conference room, 7050 Lake Isabella Blvd., Lake Isabella, CA 93240.

Respectfully submitted by Lloyd Smith 26 August 2010

Committee Reports (Electronic Meeting)

President's Report-Lloyd Smith

President's Activities + Lloyd attended Bull fire information meeting 29 July in Lake Isabella (80 miles for matching). + Lloyd participated in a 6 August KQAB Talk Show with Bat Chief Monahan (80 miles for matching). + Lloyd provided information and logo to Kernville Chamber of Commerce for their website. + Lloyd resolved payment for the publication and distribution of Living With Fire between KCFD and the three councils. + Lloyd picked up information pamphlets from Walter Mortensen Insurance and will leave some at the two Chamber of Commerce. + Lloyd developed minutes for the August 2010 meeting of the stakeholders.

Fund Raising Committee -- A total of $1,725 has been donated this calendar year. Received contributions from Southern California Edison ($250) thanks to Debbie Hess and from Fred and Teresa Zullo ($50) in Walker Basin since the July reporting period. Thank you letters were sent and a SCE form was returned.

Education Committee/Speaker's Bureau -- Lloyd will delivered a presentation to Kern River Valley Revitalization (KRVR) at their 1 September in Kernville providing an update on our projects. + Steve Griffin (USFS) completed rotation of the roadside signs.

ALL BOARD OFFICERS AND COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN ARE EXPECTED TO PROVIDE AN ACTIVITY REPORT FOR THE BOD MINUTES.

Website Committee Report -- Ed Royce:  No activity. An update is planned in the next week or two, so please send me any changes/corrections/additions.

Grants Committee Report -- Ed Royce   Much of the work on our 2010 Burma Road Extension fuel break project had been completed when the Bull fire started on 26 July. This fuel break and the US Forest Service 2009 Burma fuel break were important in saving homes along Burma Road and the upper end of Burlando Road in Kernville. Cathy Brooke of the state FSC will visit the Bull fire site to view this success in person on 3 September. Undoubtedly, this success will get wider publicity.

Work has started on our 2010 Bodfish III project.

Patrick has completed quarterly progress reports on the Burma and Bodfish projects. We have funds to pay for work on both projects and are waiting for a billing from KCFD.

Work has also started on our Forest Service Alta Sierra project, with the piling of slash in the county park area and the burning or grinding of some of the slash. This slash was left over after an earlier cleanup and fuel reduction project by the county park folk. Roadside fuel reduction is also a major part of this three-year project and has not started yet. We are waiting for a billing from KCFD on the work that has been done.

Both of our 2011 fuel reduction project proposals (Lake Isabella and Mountain Shadows, aka Pala II) are to be funded. Patrick and Ed will be attending the state FSC mandatory workshop on how to manage grants in Santa Barbara on 25 August. Focus of the workshop will apparently be the 2011 grants, though I'm sure other issues will come up.

Ed will also be attending a meeting of the Forest Service "Kern and Tulare Counties Resource Advisory Committee" on 26 August (teleconference in Kernville of a meeting in Porterville). It appears that this committee will be able to make recommendations to the Forest Service for the expenditure of funds for projects on federal lands or that affect federal lands. Ed will be seeking clarification of just what this means, how proposals are to be handled, how much funding will actually be available, and whether fuel reduction is part of their interest. Kern County Supervisor McQuiston's aid Judy Hyatt and Ed's Tulare County Supervisor Mike Ennis are members of the committee.

Patrick requests that everyone keep track of miles driven and hours for the purpose of meeting our match requirements.

Patrick's detailed report is attached.

Kennedy Meadows Report -- Ed Royce: I will be making a presentation covering all aspects of safety from wildland fire at the meeting of the local property owners association on 5 September.

 

KERN RIVER VALLEY FUEL REDUCTION PROJECTS CHANGING THREATS AND REVIEW OF PRIORITIES

The meeting of the Collaboration Group in October has as its main objective the identification of fuel reduction projects that the Council will pursue this fall for funding in 2012. Lloyd has suggested -- and I agree -- that this annual process has become increasingly ad hoc. That's not all bad, but annual repetition of an ad hoc process can lead to less than optimal results.

Background - The Kern River Valley Community Wildfire Protection Plan CWPP (nee Fire Safe Plan) was prepared for the Council by a contractor in 2002 under a Forest Service grant. Projects identified in the plan were identified principally by Rich Olson and Ken Stevens, but the main content of the plan was the contractor's broad analysis of the threat. In 2005 an inter-agency Collaboration Group was chartered. Under Scott Williams's leadership, this group separated the projects from the basic text of the CWPP, so that the project listing could be updated annually without changing the basic text. This two-part form is the present form of the CWPP. The CWPP and project listing is available in local libraries and on krvfiresafecouncil.org (links on the home page or on the "projects" page).

For completeness, the CWPP lists all projects the US Forest Service or the BLM plan on their own lands. This listing is to facilitate coordination only, since the Council has no jurisdiction over these projects. Also listed are all projects on private lands, both those that are funded through the Council -­ generally with work to be done by the Kern County Fire Department - and those KCFD is pursuing on their own - the latter again listed only to facilitate coordination. We leave completed projects in the plan to remind ourselves of the need for maintenance.

Changing Threats - The following are examples of changed conditions that may make it appropriate to change our perception of the threat that justifies each project.

Fires that have created open space, e.g. Bull? Fuel breaks now completed -- do they lessen the need for other specific planned fuel breaks? Fuel breaks now completed on federal land -- do they create specific opportunities for linkages? Construction of new homes, e.g. Walker Pass area? Changing climate and vegetation? Regrowth of vegetation and a need for maintenance?

Action Requested - I do not propose any revision of the general threat treatment in the text of the CWPP. The purpose of this exercise is not to generate paper. Rather I propose a project by project re-assessment of each Fire Safe Council project in the plan, with the idea of changing project priorities or perhaps re-designing the project if appropriate. If we make no changes, that's OK, too, as long as we've thought about the question. Finally, we will prioritize all projects that the Council may seek 2012 funding for through the state FSC Clearing House or through other channels.

I would ask that each agency participating send a representative knowledgeable -- in detail -- about the fire threat in the Kern River Valley. This will be a project by project review. Each representative should also be able to describe his or her agency's projects in enough detail to allow coordination between projects across agency lines.

--Ed Royce... 19 August, 2010


Kern River Valley Fire Safe Council ● PO Box 633, Kernville, CA 93238

General information: Lloyd Smith ● (760) 377-3542

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