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firemanwithfirebehindhim

HISTORY

The 10-Year Comprehensive Strategy Implementation Plan significantly increases the level of input required from state and local governments with regards to fire mitigation and suppression (as well as other land management issues). Prior to the creation of the National Fire Plan, agencies and quasi-governmental groups representing all levels of government made policy decisions and distributed grant funding independently, sometimes without direct consultation with other associated groups. Shortly after passage of the National Fire Plan, the Idaho Department of Lands, in consultation with federal agencies and the Governor’s Office, held a series of meetings around the state in order to solicit input about National Fire Plan implementation. These seven listening sessions resulted in the creation of the Idaho Statewide Implementation Strategy, which establishes the Idaho State Fire Plan Working Group.

Idaho Statewide Implementation Strategy—In June of 2002, a collaborative group representing federal, state, and local interests in Idaho developed the Idaho Statewide Implementation Strategy for the National Fire Plan. The five page document, mirrored after the national 10-Year Comprehensive Strategy, succinctly explains how fire mitigation plans will be developed in the state. Perhaps most importantly, the document directs counties to act as lead conveners for implementing the National Fire Plan in Idaho: “Within the State of Idaho, the Counties, with the assistance of State and Federal agencies and local expert advice, will develop a risk assessment and mitigation plan to identify local vulnerabilities to wildland fire (page 2).” This is significant because all documents related to the National Fire Plan designate communities to take a leadership role in directing local wildfire risk assessments (with direction from state governments). The decision to use counties as the basic implementation unit is a logical choice in many ways given the requirements of the Disaster Mitigation Act (to be explained in more detail shortly).

The Statewide Implementation Strategy requests that each county to form a “County Wildland Fire Interagency Group” for purposes of developing a “Wildland Fire Mitigation Plan.” Counties have been given the option of either completing their plans in-house or hiring a contractor to write the plans (in conjunction with the County Wildland Fire Interagency Group). All but a handful of Idaho counties have chosen to hire outside consultants to write their plans. The BLM Community Assistance program has provide funding for the development and writing of almost all of these plans.

As described by the Idaho Statewide Implementation Strategy, County Wildland Fire Mitigation Plans were originally intended to be a “simple” document designed to allow counties to identify areas most susceptible to catastrophic wildfire. Soon after the Idaho Statewide Implementation Strategy was written, however, the newly formed State Working Group recognized that County Wildland Fire Mitigation Plans could also be used to meet the wildland fire pre-disaster mitigation component of the Disaster Mitigation Act (as explained in § 201.6 of the Act). The decision to use County Wildland Fire Mitigation Plans in this manner has changed the intent of the documents in two significant ways. First, the length and complexity of the plans has increased significantly. Documents that were originally intended to be ten to twenty pages in length are now more than one hundred pages long. Second, the documents are subjected to review and approval by FEMA. It is perhaps for these reasons that almost all counties have used contractors to write the plans rather than writing the documents in-house (as originally envisioned by the Idaho Statewide Implementation Strategy).

After the passage of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act, County Wildland Fire Mitigation Plans have taken on yet another role. They are now designed to meet the requirements of the Idaho Statewide Implementation Strategy and the Disaster Mitigation Act as well as CWPP requirements under the HFRA. The process of making the documents CWPP compliant has been a difficult one because a number of plans were written (or were in the process of being written) before the HFRA became law. Additionally, while FEMA must approve all portions of Pre-Disaster Mitigation plans (including the wildland fire portion), CWPPs do not require approval by any agency (or other group), making it difficult to determine whether the plans are truly compliant with the law. The ISFPWG recently reviewed all County Wildland Fire Mitigation Plans in order to determine if changes need to be made to some plans to ensure CWPP compliance.

The next portion of the Idaho Statewide Implementation Strategy establishes the Idaho State Fire Plan Working Group and defines its membership and goals. According to the Implementation Strategy:

“This group will disseminate information; provide oversight and prioritization; and accomplish additional tasks as the group deems necessary to facilitate the implementation of the National Fire Plan within Idaho. This group will also be available for advice and counsel to the County Wildland Fire Interagency Groups.”

Membership in the ISFPWG includes representatives from federal, state, and local agencies and nonprofit groups with direct ties to National Fire Plan Implementation.

The final section of the Statewide Implementation Plan calls for the Idaho Department of Lands to maintain a website containing the following information:

CHARACTERISTICS

The Idaho State Fire Plan Working Group has attempted to maintain balanced representation from local, state, and federal entities as well as capture most of the different groups associated with National Fire Plan issues. This has resulted in a group that is more collaborative because it is not dominated by a particular interest or level of government. In addition to the permanent members of the State Working Group, three subcommittees have been created: Hazardous Fuels/GIS, Fire Prevention and Education, and Fire District Capability. Some members of these subcommittees are alternate members of the ISFPWG that may provide technical support or have an expertise in certain areas.

The ISFPWG normally meets three times a year, with each meeting taking place in a different part of the state. The spring and fall meetings focus primarily on the prioritization of grant funding requests corresponding to two major grant funding cycles. At these meetings, the State Working Group sets the criteria to be used for scoring grant applications and then scores each application as a group using this criteria (the State Working Group may break up into subgroups, for purposes of expediency, so that two separate grant programs can be prioritized at the same time). Those applications that receive the highest scores are funded. The winter meeting (as well as portions of the other meetings) are dedicated to dealing with National Fire Plan related issues and the development of new policies. All meetings focus on the sharing of information between local, state, and federal entities in order to keep open communication between groups in an attempt to create more collaboration between entities for work that is conducted.

Another important component of the ISFPWG is the oversight of assistance funding. All funds that are prioritized by the State Working Group are managed by the Idaho Department of Lands. In most cases, the IDL receives federal funding which it then grants to counties, fire districts, or other groups (the subgrantee). This results in oversight of numerous grants by the Department of Lands, including on-site visits to hazardous fuels treatment locations.

Adapted from Hazardous Fuels Treatments: National Fire Plan Implementation in Idaho.