Opinions needed on draft Community Wildfire Plan…

Democracy can only happen when citizens are informed and responsive. In this case, democracy is referring to a community plan about wildfire and what measures can be taken to prevent it.Here’s more from Brendan Cowan:

A plane flies over a forested area in an effort to prevent wildfires…

The County needs your input on the draft Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) which will be released for viewing from June 20th to 5pm (last time to post a comment) on July 6th at public libraries on San Juan, Orcas, Lopez, and online here. This plan is being organized and compiled by the CWPP Steering Committee, which includes representatives from local fire districts, the Washington Department of Natural Resources, the Bureau of Land Management, private land managers, various San Juan County departments, and many others. The draft plan is aimed for all county members and is intended to:

• Reduce wildfire risk for San Juan County residents, landowners, businesses, communities, local governments, and state and federal agencies;
• Identify high fire risk areas and develop strategies to reduce risk;
• Improve awareness of wildland fire issues locally;
• Provide opportunities for discussions among community members and agencies regarding priorities for fire protection and natural resource management;
• Maintain appropriate wildfire response capabilities; and
• Improve access to funding to achieve wildfire mitigation goals.

The draft CWPP also recommends actions to be taken by fire districts, property owner, local government, and others, but does not impose regulations on private properties.

Comments can be submitted to the attention of Brad Tucker, Northwest Management, Inc., PO Box 9748, Moscow, Idaho 83843 or tucker@nmi2.com.  For more information on the Community Wildfire Protection Plan project, contact Kevin O’Brien, CWPP Planning Committee Chair at 376-2331.