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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels July 17, 2004 Grant will boost wildfire evacuation readiness in Ashland By Vickie Aldous Ashland Daily Tidings Jackson County has awarded Ashland $10,000 to prepare a wildfire evacuation plan. Ashland Fire & Rescue has identified escape routes for residents who live on the city's forested hillsides in the urban-wildlands interface. Now it's a matter of making sure residents know those routes, according to Chris Chambers, forest work grant coordinator for the fire department. "We'll be doing outreach to landowners to let them know where the escape routes are located and what to do during a wildfire," he said. "Some of the money will be used to put up signs marking the routes." Because the Jackson County Title III funds are not available until Oct. 1, the fire department likely will begin its outreach efforts next spring, according to Chambers. Fire department staff members also hope to post escape route maps on the city's Web site at ashland.or.us, he said. The county also approved $40,000 to fund the majority of Chambers' position. Among his other duties, Chambers seeks and administers hundreds of thousands of dollars in National Fire Plan grants that have helped interface residents clean up their property and safeguard their homes from wildfire. The county turned down a $30,000 grant request from the city that would have been used to help develop a community alternative to the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest's proposal to thin 8,150 acres in the Ashland Watershed. The Ashland Forest Lands Commission is leading a coalition of city representatives, members of environmental groups and local residents in crafting the alternative, which emphasizes diverse thinning treatments tailored to fit the widely varying conditions in the watershed. The county funding would have been used to gather data to create the diverse treatment prescriptions. The county committee that reviewed the grant proposals from local communities and groups was more interested in funding actual on-the-ground projects than data-collection efforts, according to Chambers. Meanwhile, Ashland Forestry Consultant Marty Main is continuing to work with a team of knowledgeable community and forest land commission volunteers to analyze existing Forest Service data that could be helpful in developing the alternative. The team will determine whether additional data collection from the field is needed. Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest Supervisor Scott Conroy has given the community until Oct. 1 to develop the community alternative, which will be considered along with the Forest Service proposal as the federal agency develops a final treatment plan. DailyTidings.com Home Page Valley&State | Backpage | O&E | Sports | Archives | Weather | Classifieds Columnists | Faith&Beliefs | Obituaries | Revels | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2004 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Click Here Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams