Northeast Regional Strategy Committee Releases 2020 Update to Regional Wildland Fire Management Action Plan
JANUARY 6, 2020
This 5 year update to the Northeast Regional Action Plan that was published in May 2015, and has been produced to formally communicate recommended actions based on the work of the Northeast Regional Strategy Committee (NE RSC) and its priority work groups to all NE RSC partners and stakeholders to help advance the three national goals and regional priorities of the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy.
The National Cohesive Strategy goals:
1) Restoring Resilient Landscapes
2) Creating Fire Adapted Communities
3) Safe and Effective Wildfire Response
The NE RSC regional priority areas:
- Northeast LANDFIRE
- Prescribed Fire Coordination
- Wildfire Risk Assessment and Planning
- Engaging Fire Departments
- Fire Adapted Communities
- Resource Sharing and Availability
- Communication and Collaboration
The NE RSC sincerely hopes all wildland fire management partners and stakeholders will consider these priorities and recommendation actions as they develop and implement their respective natural resource and wildland fire management strategic and implementation plans.
View and download the complete Northeast Regional Action Plan - 2020 Update
Contacts:
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Taking on Excellence: Wisconsin
Blog Post created by megan.fitzgerald-mcgowan on Dec 12, 2019
Photo credit: Bill Santner II, resident leader
For this next edition of our Sites of Excellence highlight, we head to Crystal Lake Club in Wisconsin. Bill Santer II shares the journey his community has taken on the wildfire risk reduction path.
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NFPA and State Farm announce launch of the Wildfire Community Preparedness Day application process for grant funding to help support wildfire risk reduction projects
January 7, 2020 – Home improvement projects that resist flames and embers. Teaching neighbors about wildfire risks and how to reduce them. Removing flammable debris that could fuel a wildfire. These and other related activities are being actively supported by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and State Farm® via the national Wildfire Community Preparedness Day campaign.
The seventh annual Wildfire Community Preparedness Day will take place on Saturday, May 2, 2020. Since 2014, community groups and individuals have taken part in the campaign, completing hundreds of wildfire safety projects across the United States. Preparedness Day gives people of all ages a chance to plan and participate in a risk reduction or wildfire preparedness activity that makes their community a safer place to live.
Financial support from State Farm will once again enable NFPA to provide 150 applicants from across the country with $500 awards to complete a wildfire risk reduction project on Saturday, May 2. Project applications can be submitted through February 28, 2020. Apply for an award.
Currently, an estimated 43 million homes are in areas prone to wildfire, and wildfire risk is present in every state. In 2018, nearly all of the $13 billion in property damage and losses from large fire incidents was due to just six wildfires. That same year, 88 people were killed in wildfires, most in the devastating Camp Fire that obliterated the town of Paradise, California.
"According to the recent, staggering statistics, preparing our communities for wildfire is more critical today than ever before,” said Lorraine Carli, NFPA vice president of Outreach and Advocacy. “NFPA and State Farm work closely together on this yearly campaign in a continued effort to raise awareness and educate homeowners that they have the power to save their homes and communities before a wildfire ignites, and we have the resources and information to help.”
“State Farm finds it important to inform and encourage homeowners and communities to adopt effective wildfire mitigation programs that produce stronger, safer homes where lives are saved and a family’s largest investment is better protected,” said Vickie Hodges, State Farm Underwriting Analyst.
For more information about Wildfire Community Preparedness Day, funding awards, project ideas, and free resources to download, please visit www.wildfireprepday.org.
For this release and other announcements about NFPA initiatives, research and resources, please visit the NFPA press room.
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Massachusetts DCR shares 2019 State Prescribed Fire and Forest Health Reports
January 2020
The Massachusetts Dept. of Conservation and Recreation, Bureau of Forest Fire Control and Forestry has recently provided summaries of the state’s prescribed fire accomplishments and forest health situation for 15 forest health insect, disease, and forest damaging agents. Both these natural resource areas of interest are important to Northeast Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy considerations for managers and citizens to be aware of as they plan for managing the risk from wildfires in their areas and communities.
Prescribed Fire
Massachusetts State Chief Fire Warden, Dave Celino is understandably proud of his state’s prescribed fire accomplishments in 2019, “The numbers really stood out to me as a success story about partnerships and the value of Federal State Fire Assistance and Wildfire Risk Reduction (WRR) grant funding, especially for a "small state". For example, DCR Fire and Forestry had supporting resources on almost every one of the 52 burn operations, however a majority of this effort was only made possible by budgeting State Fire Assistance funding to support the personnel costs. WRR Funds had a direct impact on preparing the 206 acres of DCR State Forestland burns, making them quickly ready for the 2019 burn season by constructing solid burn unit fire breaks for holding”.
Forest Health
Nicole Keleher, Forest Health Program Director for the Massachusetts DCR provided the Forest Health Program 2019 Summary which describes the state’s forest health program’s projects and major concerns for 2019.
The annual forest health aerial survey was completed between 6/27/19-7/2/19. The flights were timed to capture the peak impact of gypsy moth defoliation and white pine needle damage. Mapped forest damage was ground truthed by DCR Forest Health staff in July and August.
Examples of significant areas of concern for 2019 include:
- Emerald Ash Borer (Agrilus planipennis) - Emerald ash borer (EAB) has been rapidly expanding in Massachusetts; EAB was detected in 50 new communities in 2019, including the first detection in Plymouth County. At this time, EAB has been detected in 10 Massachusetts Counties in a total of 99 communities. New infested communities are detected through several survey methods, as well as, confirmation of public reports.
- Red Pine Scale (Matsucoccus matsumarae) - The infestation of the invasive red pine scale, along with needle and root fungal pathogens, has caused a decline complex that affects red pines across the region. In 2019, we continued to see tree mortality in red pine plantations.
- White pine decline - Eastern white pines in Massachusetts are experiencing a general health decline caused by multiple needlecast and canker pathogens. There was an explosive increase in occurrence and severity of needle loss in 2019. White pine decline damage was detected in 26,510 acres across twelve counties during the Forest Health aerial survey.
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READY, SET, GO! (RSG): TARGETED RISK REDUCTION OPPORTUNITY
The Ready, Set, Go! (RSG) Program invites fire departments operating in areas with a high wildfire risk to apply for its targeted risk reduction opportunity. Ten fire departments across the country will be selected to receive assistance from RSG staff and Subject Matter Experts on implementing wildfire risk reduction efforts in their communities.
Staff and contracted SMEs will work with department personnel to identify the specific needs of their community and assist with implementing a public awareness campaign that engages and motivates residents in community risk reduction efforts.
All 10 departments will receive assistance with:
- Development and implementation of a community engagement plan, including printed customized education and outreach tools.
- Conducting a defensible space demonstration for the community, highlighting smart practices in fuels reduction.
Departments may also receive help with developing/updating a Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) or an evacuation tabletop exercise.
Departments will be evaluated based on both the merits of their application and independent risk mapping from both state and federal sources.
The application closes at 11:59 PM ET on February 28. Contact RSG staff at rsg@iafc.org with any questions.
As members of the RSG! Program, fire departments have access to the national-level program resources. The National Action Guide, available in both English and Spanish, is the program’s most popular resource. The 12-page booklet walks residents through steps they can and should take to harden their homes, mitigate their property, maintain situational awareness, prepare for evacuation, and follow evacuation orders for their communities.
Program resources are available at no-cost to active members of the RSG! Program. Utilizing these resources in outreach and education efforts aids members with engaging their residents in conversation about the importance of reducing wildland fire risk.
To be considered an active member of the program, departments and organizations must record their outreach, education, and mitigation efforts in the program’s Achievement Management System (AMS). AMS was designed to help RSG! Program staff capture the outreach, education, and mitigation efforts of program members and has expanded into a reporting tool that members can utilize for their own tracking purposes.
Join the RSG! Program and be part of the 1,900+ members representing fire and emergency response agencies in all 50 states.
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Penn State Extension program to help private forest owners use prescribed fire
Management tool promotes desired trees, controls invasive plants, helps wildlife, suppresses ticks
Penn State Extension will help private landowners form burn associations common in other states, offering training to those groups and helping them make arrangements with certified burn bosses required by state law to conduct controlled fires. Image: Phil Roeder
January 03, 2020
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Pennsylvania state agencies that manage public forest lands increasingly have employed prescribed fire as a management tool, but significant challenges exist for private landowners to do the same. Now, Penn State Extension is launching a program to help them use prescribed fire, too.
Using low-intensity fire to help manage forests offers many benefits, according to Jesse Kreye, assistant professor of fire and natural resources management in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences. Among those benefits are promoting desired tree species such as oak, spurring new growth that provides food and cover for wildlife, controlling invasive plants, and suppressing ticks, which often carry pathogens such as the one that causes Lyme disease.
“In a number of states, such as Florida, hundreds of thousands of acres are burned in a controlled way each year to manage private forest land,” said Kreye, who is spearheading creation of the new extension initiative. “We believe that forest landowners in Pennsylvania could have that option.”
Fire was used historically in Pennsylvania, Kreye pointed out, and the state's forests have changed a lot over the last century because of a lack of fire. Because there was considerable interest in bringing fire back to help restore the landscape, the General Assembly in 2009 passed legislation called the Prescribed Burning Act.
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Falling Dominoes: A Planner’s Guide to Drought and Cascading Impacts
Climate projections suggest persistent droughts over the continental United States that are longer, cover more area, and are more intense than what has been experienced in the 20th century. Unlike hurricanes, which have a clear beginning and end, drought is a slow on-set hazard and its effects are not felt at once and can only be partially anticipated. Further, drought has unique characteristics that exacerbate other hazards, like wildfire and flooding.
This guide makes the case for establishing drought as a priority for local planning. Planners are central in influencing land-use patterns and helping communities guide how development and redevelopment occur. Planners do this by planning at all scales, creating land-use regulations, and reviewing development projects. This provides opportunities to address drought.
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Meetings and Trainings
[See the NE RSC Events Calendar for more details]
REGIONAL
January 28 to 30, 2020: Winter Awareness Meeting, Portland Maine at the Holiday Inn by the Bay
January 29, 2020: Fire in Minnesota Ecosystems Workshop, Cloquet, MN
February 4-5, 2020: 6th Annual Burning Issues Workshop, Battle Creek, MI
February 6, 2020: Interagency Fuel Treatment Decision Support System Workshop, Kalamazoo, MI
NATIONAL
January 9-10, 2020: WFLC Meeting, Tallahassee, FL
January 27-20, 2020: NASF-CMS Meeting, Orlando, FL
March 23-26, 2020: 2020 Hazard Mitigation Partners Workshop, National Emergency Management Institute - Emmitsburg, Maryland
March 24–26, 2020: IAFC's Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) Conference, Peppermill Resort | Reno, NV
October 26-30, 2020: 4th Annual National Cohesive Strategy Workshop, Asheville, North Carolina
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The Northeast Regional Strategy Committee (NE RSC) delivers articles and stories each month that demonstrate the collaborative efforts of agencies, organizations and communities supporting and promoting the three goals of the Cohesive Strategy: Restoring Resilient Landscapes, Creating Fire Adapted Communities and Responding to Wildfire.
This news update is our primary communication tool with our partners and the public. Looking for more Northeast Region Cohesive Strategy information or past published news update issues? Go to: http://northeasternwildfire.net
| GOT NEWS? Does your agency, organization or community have a wildland fire management project or event you'd like to see featured in the NE RSC News Update? Tell us about it! Submissions should be sent by the end of each month to appear in the next monthly issue. Just email to Larry Mastic. |
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