As a result of Senate Bill 09-001, CSFS revised
the minimum standards and guidelines that counties
need to follow when developing Community Wildfire
Protection Plans. Chaffee County and Lake
County umbrella plans are grandfathered in so we
will not have to go back and make changes. However,
when a new community wants to have a CWPP they
will need to follow the new guidelines. To
have the Chaffee County and Lake County CWPP umbrella
plans meet the new standards an implementation
plan would need to be included (this would only
need to happen if we updated the county wide plan). The
Alpine - St. Elmo CWPP meets the new guidelines. In
the future for any new CWPP it would be good if
they followed the same outline as the Alpine
- St. Elmo CWPP.
One of the new standards is a map of the CWPP
area. CSFS is now tracking CWPP’s
geospatially, as a result,the Salida district forester
will create a map showing where CWPP’s are
located on the district. To
help meet the new mapping standard if a community
wants they could use this same map for their CWPP.
June 29, 2009 — The final
signature was added today to the Chaffee County
Community Wildfire Protection Plan. The plan
as adopted is posted as a 2.43
mb pdf file and also as a Google
Docs version which will allow for on-line
collaboration in keeping the plan updated.
June 5, 2009 — Clint
Cordova of C Bar C Land Restoration demonstrated
the Fecon grinder/tree shredder for CCFPD wildfire
mitigation officer Mark Thomas and Capt. Kent
Maxwell at the Smyth Ranch near Browns Canyon.
Chaffee County CWPP update
June 25, 2009
by Damon Lange, district forester
Signature Page: Chief Jim Wingert
is stopping by the CSFS office with the signature
page to get my signature. I will scan the signature
page and send it to Kent Maxwell so it can be in
the CWPP and the draft version on the wildfireplan.org
website can be changed to final. I will also
send the CWPP to the CSFS state office so it will
be posted on the CSFS web site.
Trail West Subdivision:
Meeting planned for Saturday July 11th at the Sangre
De Cristo Electric meeting room on hwy 24 in Buena
Vista. There business meeting starts at 9:00
a.m. and the CWPP discussion will be at 10:00 a.m.
and run for around 20 -30 minutes. After
the meeting a field trip to the subdivision to
walk around and look at their issues. All
are welcome to attend.
Pinyon
Hills Subdivision: A
meeting was held in Salida on June 10th to give
an overview of what the CWPP process was about
and how it could benefit the community. A
request was made at the meeting for the homeowners
to schedule a future meeting for CWPP discussions. I
am waiting to hear from the subdivision so I can
schedule a meeting.
Alpine
and Saint Elmo: I
talked with Melanie Roth on the phone yesterday
and we have tentatively scheduled a meeting for
July 1st to meet with a small group of interested
homeowners in the communities. When
I hear back from Melanie on a firm time and location
I will let you know.
Maysville: This
morning I received an e-mail from Mary Brown. She
requested a visit from me to visit the homeowners
in the community and work on a grant for funding. I
am currently working with her on finding a time
and date to meet. My plan is to meet with
interested landowners to come up with a scope of
work and a cost estimate to use the remaining BLM
money that Chaffee County Fire has.
Mount
Harvard Estates: Bob
Box has sent me the completed CWPP plan for Mount
Harvard with signatures from Bob Box MHE Wildfire
Mitigation Working Group and William Knox President
of the Property Association. I will work
with Kent Maxwell to make sure he has a copy of
this document for the County CWPP and web page.
Game
Trail Subdivision: John
Bower is the landowner on the southern boundary
of Game Trail. Kathryn Hardgrave our Assistant
District Forester is working with Mr. Bower to
put in an 18 acre fuel break to that would help
protect Game Trail.
Town of Poncha
Spring: July
6th at 6:30 p.m. at the town hall there is a CWPP
meeting for the community members of the Town of
Poncha. All are welcome to attend. The
Town of Poncha did receive grant funding to do
fuel mitigation work on their park area north of
town and put in a fuel break in the same area. They
will be using a contractor, Town of Poncha employees
and the Buena Vista Corrections inmate labor to
complete the project.
The Chaffee County Commissioners signed the Chaffee
County Community Wildfire Protection Plan on May
5, 2009. Read the
article
from the Mountain Mail newspaper.
May 30, 2009 — Instructor Charlie Blake
(center) gives feedback to students during an S-212 Wildland
Fire Chain Saws class field exercise on private land
west of County Road 327 near Buena Vista. Charlie
volunteers as assistant chief for the Chaffee County
Fire Protection District and also teaches for Colorado
Firecamp. Mistletoe infestation continues as a forest
health issue affecting the wildland-urban interface.
April 2, 2009 — The second public meeting
for the Chaffee County Community Wildfire Protection
Plan was held at the Steam Plant annex
in Salida. More
than 25 citizens attended the first meeting
in Buena Vista on March 5th, where the draft plan was
discussed. The Chaffee County CWPP as adopted by the
Chaffee County Commissioners on May 5th is adopted
plan (3.14 mb PDF file).
The highlight of the presentation was the county
wildfire hazard maps prepared by Elise
Bowne of the U.S. Forest Service with help
from John Markalunas and Paul Janzen.
“When you take a position toward a field of
fact or fantasy, you do something strangely like the choosing
of a vantage point from which you view a valley….Point
of view and perspective determine the special arrangement and
design of the entire panorama. Any valley may be seen from
a thousand outlooks. Always the same valley, it presents
itself in a thousand manners according to the outlook.”
– Walter B. Pitkin, as quoted by
H.T. Gisborne in “Review of problems and accomplishments
in fire control and fire research.” Fire Control Notes, vol.
6, no. 2, April, 1942
