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High-risk Applegate target of fire plan By PAUL FATTIG It wasn't the 6,100-acre Quartz Fire running through the Little Applegate River drainage during August that sparked the idea for the Applegate Fire Plan. But the fire, which burned three remote dwellings, did reaffirm the need to develop such a plan to reduce the potential for catastrophic infernos, said Applegate Valley resident Jack Shipley. "It was really the exclamation point," said Shipley, a founding member of the Applegate Partnership, a group dedicated to improving ecological and economic health in the Applegate Valley. "The Applegate is a high-risk hazard," he said. "We need to have long-term strategies - at least 25 to 50 years - in place to reduce that hazard." For nearly a year, a broad coalition, including the partnership and other private groups along with federal and state agencies and fire districts, has been quietly working to put together a plan aimed at reducing catastrophic fires in the Applegate Valley. The effort has resulted in a $120,000 grant from the National Fire Plan to help achieve the goals expected to be in place by June 1. In the plan, the valley will be broken down into half a dozen strategic areas. A series of meetings will be held in late November or early December to gather public input. "Mother Nature doesn't care if the land is managed by the BLM or Forest Service, whether it's private or industrial," said Rich Drehobl, field manager for the BLM's Ashland Resource Area. "Because we have such an interspersed ownership, there is a need for a well coordinated priority fire suppression strategy," he added. A century of total fire exclusion has created unhealthy forests that are ripe for catastrophic fires, he said. Without human intervention, wildfires ordinarily would burn through a section of the drainage every 15 years or so, typically removing brush and other vegetation while leaving the bigger trees largely unscathed, he said. In recent years, the BLM has been treating 2,000 to 3,000 acres annually to reduce fire hazards. However, some of the projects have been opposed by residents who cited environmental concerns. A fire plan for the entire drainage may help avoid conflict, Drehobl said. "This will identify areas of highest concern so we can coordinate our efforts," he said. "We all have high-risk areas. This way we can work together." Like Shipley, Drehobl sees the Quartz Fire as a symbol of what needs to be avoided. "The Quartz Fire is exactly what we're trying to avoid," he said. "We can do this, or we will continue putting $10 million-plus into 6,000 acres year after year." The fire cost an excess $11 million to snuff out. "This plan is different in that we've never had one with this many ownerships involved," he said. "It'll help us work together." Jim Wolf, fire prevention planner for the Oregon Department of Forestry in Jackson and Josephine counties, agreed. "This is the first that I'm aware of involving rural fire districts, state and federal agencies and other groups," Wolf said. "This is a real collaborative effort." The goal of the department, which protects BLM, state, county and private forestlands, is to get neighboring ownerships to work closely together, he said. "The Rogue Valley in general, including the Applegate, is the highest fire-risk area west of the Cascades," Wolf said, citing the Mediterranean climate coupled with thick vegetation that becomes dry as a bread stick by summer's end. "The Applegate is particularly vulnerable," he added. "You have people living in mid-elevation zones where we typically have our worst wildfires." Breaking down the plan into six subregions will enable the participants in various communities to identify site-specific concerns, he said. "Community-based planning is the most effective," he said. "It gets neighbors talking to one another." Reach reporter Paul Fattig at 776-4496 or e-mail him at [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.