Issue Overview

The purpose of this section is to provide information and boilerplate language that will help to provide a basic understanding of the issue by factually describing the issue, its scope, and dimensions.

Fire is a natural component of Utah 's ecosystems. Long-term changes due to past logging and grazing practices, changes in land use patterns, invasion by exotic species, and the exclusion of fire have created conditions in which fires burn more intensely and consume larger than historic norms. These fires are more difficult and costly to suppress and they are causing environmental harm.

Drought, a reoccurring event in Utah , intensifies the impact of fire; however, the environmental damage being inflicted is the result of many years of mistaken land management practices and misunderstanding of fire's role in the ecosystem. Under a natural fire regime, frequent low intensity fires act to regulate the natural environment by removing dead and dying vegetation and by recycling nutrients.

The larger, more intense fires we have been experiencing in recent years remove all plant materials (including roots), vaporize nutrients, and may even temporarily sterilize soil. Under these conditions, re-establishment of vegetative cover is slow even with human intervention. Floods and mud-rock flows have resulted, threatening life and property. Longer term damage to the watersheds and water quality is very possible.

These conditions affect federal, state and private lands. In recent years, the federal land management agencies have been hindered by litigation based on environmental rules and regulations; this has prevented useful management practices such as logging, grazing and prescribed fires. These conditions have all contributed to a long-term buildup of volatile fuels.

Over the last twenty-five years, tens of thousands of homes and cabins have been built in Utah 's wildlands. Around 137,000 acres of Utah 's wildlands, have been developed for housing. There are very strong indications this trend will continue and probably accelerate. Essentially, we are placing more lives and property into vegetation that is more prone to destructive wildfire. These wildland-urban interface developments have further complicated wildland fire management. About one in every four fires threatens lives and property in these developments. Greater suppression and the resulting costs are occasioned by these fires. The proximity of people and their machines have heightened the chances of ignitions in these vulnerable areas.

Efforts are being made by the State and federal land management agencies under the National Fire Plan to mitigate the hazards in and around the wildland-urban interface communities. A Community Fire Planning process has been developed to assist the communities in recognizing the hazards and identifying an array of mitigation possibilities. An overview of the process and community fire planning template can be viewed at www.ffsl.utah.gov/communityfirepln.htm.

Options & Trade-Offs

Are county-owned wildlands maintained in a healthy state as an example to county residents?

Do county ordinances or regulations discourage proper land management including such activities as logging and grazing?

Do county ordinances or regulations hinder or discourage the removal of dead, drying or overstocked vegetation?

Does the county have wildland-urban interface ordinances requiring the development and maintenance of:

• Defensive space around individual homes?
• Hazard fuels mitigation in and around developments?
• Clearance of vegetation on ingress/egress roads?

Are the county fire departments, or others who are knowledgeable about wildland, given the opportunity to review new wildland-urban interface development plans prior to approval?

Does the county encourage the development of local Community Fire Committees in wildland-urban interface communities to educate residents and encourage long term vegetative management to reduce fire hazard within their community?

Does the county have periodic inspection of wildland-urban interface communities by fire- knowledgeable people to ensure compliance with the community mitigation plan?

Potential for Conflict

Many of the people who have moved into the wildland interface are unaware of the hazard in which they have placed themselves. In many cases great effort and/or expense has been incurred to maintain what they deem to be the natural vegetation. They may see the reduction of vegetation around their home and subdivision as a violation of the natural element and their privacy.

Range of Alternatives

Protection of the individual home or subdivision in the wildland-urban interface is the total of many factors found in and around the development. Elements such as specific location, slope, fuel types, building materials and standards, ownership patterns, and road system determine what actions are necessary to mitigate the fire hazard to the individual and the development. One size does not fit all! Action in one area may preclude or lessen the action necessary in another. The purpose is to mitigate wildfire hazard to the community; how that is to be accomplished is a function of the physical factors on the ground and what best fits the community circumstances. Knowledgeable fire personnel, in conjunction with homeowners/developers, need to determine the give and take on the various components of mitigation actions.

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Existing Condition

The purpose of this section is to provide information and boilerplate language that will help to describe the existing condition.

Data Review

•  1997 Utah Statewide Interagency Fire Assessment. Copies of these may be obtained from the federal land management agencies or the State Forester's Office.

•  State Forestry Fire Management website: www.ffsl.utah.gov/communityfirepln.htm

•  Copies of completed Community Fire Plans are available from your local State Forester's office.

•  Utah “Communities at Risk” List (An incomplete list was published in the Federal Register 2002. A newer and more complete list will be maintained on the State Forestry website after May 2005.)

Items to Consider

Fire preparedness/hazard mitigation is a long-term process that will require coordination with the private landowners, local and state government and the federal land management agencies. The highest priority must be placed on the most voluble; in Utah , that means the wildland-urban interface. The degree of hazard to the wildland-urban interface varies from development to development. Those at the greatest risk should be addressed first; however, mitigation efforts must have the support of the community to be truly effective. The relative hazard posed to the community must be tempered by the communities' willingness to take action.

Boilerplate Language

•  Past logging practices, past grazing practices, invasion by exotic species and fire exclusion have resulted in wildlands which are more dense and less diverse (greater abundance of late successional species), with accumulation of large amounts of woody debris and increased fuel loads. These conditions have created the severe wildfires we have seen over the last decade. These intense fires burn more acreage, damage plants and soil, and are more costly to suppress. They also create conditions which allow invasion by noxious and exotic weed species, which poses additional long-term environmental and fire management issues.

•  Much of the vegetation on our wildlands is decadent and over-mature. At high elevations, we have tens of thousands of acres of dead and dying spruce. At lower elevations, we are experiencing the death of 25 to 50 percent of pinyon pine.

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Desired Future Condition

The purpose of this section is to provide information and boilerplate language that will help to describe the improvements and changes that need to be made to the existing condition in order to achieve the desired future condition. It also provides the basis for the development of policy statements that support the desired future condition.

Range of Alternatives

•  Our forest ecosystem is healthy, biologically diverse, resilient to change, and dynamic. Fire is a natural component; it should not – it cannot – be excluded. A healthy ecosystem would be composed of a mosaic of different plants and/or plant communities of different ages. Disturbance – logging, grazing, wildfire, prescribed fire, fuels management, etc. – is necessary to create and maintain these conditions.

•  Healthy plants in a mosaic landscape will tend to burn with less intensity and burn fewer acres, resulting in lower suppression cost. Under these conditions, fire would not necessarily be a destructive force but one which facilitates healthy, productive vegetation and recycles nutrients.

•  It has taken about a hundred years to create our present condition; it will require many decades of dedicated work to make a significant change. Priorities must be established, with those at greatest risk being addressed first. The wildland-urban interface poses the greatest risk to life and property, and should be addressed first. Landscape treatment and management are needed to create a healthy, diverse, productive ecosystem in which fire plays a natural role without posing a significant threat to our society.

Boilerplate Language

None given at this time.

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Policy and Position Statements

The purpose of this section is to provide boilerplate policy statement language that will support the desired future conditions. A range of possible conditions is provided here.

Boilerplate Language

•  Our native ecosystems are dynamic, natural systems that provide water, forage and habitat for wildlife, livestock and humans; they help clean the air and offer places for recreation and solitude. They also contain timber, energy and mineral resources, and are the headwaters of our food supply. It is our policy that wildlands be restored and maintained in proper functioning condition, recognizing that fire is a major component of the ecosystem that must be allowed to perform its function, commensurate with public safety, within the framework of the multiple-use sustained-yield principle.

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Goals, Objectives, and/or Action Items

The purpose of this section is to provide boilerplate examples of the types of improvements or changes that typically would be needed to reach the desired future condition. “Goal” is the desired condition. “Objectives” are improvements or changes that need to be made to reach the goal. “Action Items” are specific actions that can be taken in order to achieve the objective.

•  Goal: Restore and maintain a dynamic ecosystem through proper management, including fire in its proper place and time.

•  Objective: Implement protective and restorative actions specified in forest management plans and resource management plans.

•  Objective: Protect life and property in the wildland-urban interface by reducing the hazards in and around the wildland-urban interface.

•  Action Item: State and local agencies will participate in identification of geographically-based or criteria-based areas where restorative actions are needed on private, state and federal lands.

•  Action Item: The counties will require minimum development standards for new wildland-urban interface subdivisions. Communities and their agency partners will continue to utilize the National Fire Plan to work with existing wildland-urban interface developments to reduce hazards in and around subdivisions. They will involve appropriate federal land management agencies to reduce the risk on adjacent federal land. (Minimum standards are being developed with the counties input in compliance with House Bill 146. Minimum development standards should be available by March 2005).

•  Action Item (Goals): Counties will work with private landowners to develop fire management areas to meet the landowners' management objectives. Where possible, they will coordinate with adjacent federal land management agencies to maximize benefits to the ecosystem and help minimize suppression costs.

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Monitoring Methods and Mechanisms

The purpose of this section is to provide suggested techniques and methods for monitoring progress towards the desired condition.

Properly functioning conditions exist when soil and water are conserved, and plants and animals can grow, reproduce, and respond favorably to periodic disturbance. Ecosystems are in proper functioning condition when they are dynamic and resilient to disturbances to structure, composition and process in their biological or physical components. Careful demonstration of technical and professional skills can do much to dispel perceived conflicts.

In order to measure progress toward the stated goals, federal land managers will periodically report acres of treatment by treatment type. The reports will be reviewed by the counties, which can provide feedback to the federal agencies regarding programmatic changes necessary, within the context of resource management plans and forest management plans.

Progress on the wildland interface issues can be judged by the development of county wildland-urban interface codes adopted and enforced. Progress can also be measured by the number of completed community fire plans and mitigation projects, by type and acres. Ultimately, the best measure of progress in the wildland-urban interface is the number of subdivisions which have reduced fire risk and can withstand impacts of fire with minimum property damage and without loss of life.

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Sources and Resources to Assist

This section is intended to be a reference guide to help locate any sources of assistance.

•  Questions regarding this document should be directed to the State Forester's Office, Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands , (801) 538-5555 .

•  As joint representatives of the county and the state, district fire wardens may be used to obtain concurrence of private landowners regarding fire management issues.

•  The Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands provides technical assistance to private landowners regarding land and fire management. The counties served by the division's area offices can be found at http://www.ffsl.utah.gov/ areaoffices.htm

•  The International Urban-Wildland Interface Code, as part of the International Fire Code, is recognized as a national standard for wildland-urban interface development. Copies of this code may be obtained at cost at www.ecodes.biz

•  Explanation of the community fire planning process and a template for the community fire plan can be found at www.ffsl.utah.go v/ communityfirepln.htm

•  The National Fire Plan website may be found at www.fireplan.gov

•  Firewise, a national educational program for reducing hazards in the wildland-urban interface, has an abundance of information on their website, www.firewise.org

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