National Association of Conservation Districts

National Association of Conservation Districts

NACD's mission is to serve conservation districts by providing national leadership and a unified voice for natural resource conservation.

Forestry Notes

January 2008
Volume XVII, Issue 2

 | PDF version | Archive of Previous Issues |

  1. Putting the Pieces Together: Changing Roles connects partners to solve Wildland Urban-Interface issues
  2. District Work Recognized by 'Two Chiefs'
  3. Midwest Leaders Talk Climate
  4. USFS Chief Announces Open Space Strategy
  5. NACD Mourns the Loss of its President, Olin Sims
  6. Coming Together through CWPP
  7. Senate Passes Farm and Energy Bills

1. Putting the Pieces Together
Changing Roles connects partners to solve Wildland Urban-Interface issues

Natural resource agencies are being called upon more and more to provide solutions to increasingly complex challenges at the wildland-urban interface (WUI). Communities are growing rapidly, landowners’ management goals often conflict, residents may not understand the benefits of resource management and the resulting risks to environmental quality and human quality of life are becoming more apparent.

To help meet these needs, the Southern Group of State Foresters led a partnership with the U.S. Forest Service, Southern Center for Wildland-Urban Interface Research and Information (SCWUIRI), the University of Florida, School of Forest Resources and Conservation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to develop this WUI professional development program called Changing Roles.

When Texas State Forester James Hull opened a recent Changing Roles training session, he commented that he liked being in a room with so many resource professionals that “get it — who understand the need to move up to the next level of resource management and shift away from just working with whomever walks in the door, achieving random acts of conservation to landscape and watershed approaches.”

Changing Roles materials are flexible and can be adapted to meet the needs of any organization that works with interface landowners. Materials are provided in PowerPoint presentations, exercises, case studies, fact sheets and a video. They can be found at http://www.interfacesouth.org/products/training/changing_roles.html.

The core of the training material is presented in four modules:

Module 1: Wildland-Urban Interface Issues and Connections
Introduces key wildland-urban interface issues and how they are interconnected. Explains why natural resource agencies should focus on interface issues.
 
Module 2: Managing Interface Forests
Provides tools and knowledge for effectively managing fragmented forests in the WUI. Includes practicing silviculture at the interface; small-scale harvesting systems; managing for wildlife, fire and visual and recreational amenities; enterprise opportunities for landowners; and forest cooperatives.
 
Module 3: Land-Use Planning and Policy
Explains land-use decision-making tools, the role of natural resource professionals in the decision-making and land-use planning process and how natural resource professionals can get involved.
 
Module 4: Communicating with Interface Residents and Leaders
Discusses key tips for effective communication with WUI residents and community leaders, beginning with the need to understand the audience, strategies for effectively sharing information and planning programs and working to resolve conflict and support changes in behavior.

Perhaps the best example of the effectiveness of the Changing Roles workshop is what is being done by the Texas Forest Service, where Associate Director Tom Boggus points out, “We have been able to use the flexibility of the modules to provide training that ranges from one-day workshops for consulting foresters to the recent three-day workshop for state and federal agencies.”

The Texas Forest Service, working with some of their state and federal partners, hosted a three day workshop Nov. 27-29 in New Braunfels, Texas, titled “Changing Roles in Natural Resources: Opportunities in New Audiences and Partnerships.”

Attended by more than 60 natural resource professionals from USDA-NRCS, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Texas Cooperative Extension Service and the Texas Forest Service, the session also provided for increased interaction between agencies and a better understanding of agency roles and responsibilities. The workshop utilized group exercises, case studies and presentations from landowners and special service providers. 

Changing Roles workshops have now been held for all 13 of the southern state forestry agencies. Conservation districts may wish to contact them for future workshop opportunities. Other conservation districts across the country, may wish to review the wealth of materials that are available the Interface South – The Centers for Urban and Interface Forestry website http://www.interfacesouth.org/index.html and consider adapting them with local examples and issues. 

Ed Macie, U.S. Forest Service, S&PF, Southern Region, says that they are “going to increase staff support for Changing Roles early in 2008.” Said Macie, “Over the next three years, the plans are to increase the number of modules that are available and include material to help managers address issues at the landscape scale.” New modules may include energy conservation, green infrastructure and developing landscape plans.
For more information on Changing Roles Texas, send a message to Angie Soldinger at asoldinger@tfs.tamu.edu.


2. District Work Recognized by 'Two Chiefs'
Five outstanding conservation partnerships recently received Two Chiefs Awards for successful conservation and forest stewardship collaboration among federal, state, and local partners.

The awards were presented by Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Chief Arlen Lancaster and U.S. Forest Service (USFS) Chief Gail Kimbell at the November Joint Partnership Meeting.

Conservation districts were partners in three of the five winning projects:

The Two Chiefs’ Partnership Awards, first awarded last year, recognize outstanding partnerships in forest conservation work among conservation districts, state foresters, the U.S. Forest Service, and NRCS.

The award presentation can be viewed at: http://www.visualwebcaster.com/event.asp?id=44277.


3. Midwest Leaders Talk Climate
The governors of nine Midwestern states, along with the premier of Manitoba, recently signed the Midwestern Regional Greenhouse Gas Reduction Accord. 

The agreement, signed at the Midwestern Governors Association (MGA) Energy Security and Climate Change Summit held in Milwaukee, Wis., will serve as a regional strategy to achieve energy security and reduce greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming.

The Accord will:

“This is a momentous day in Milwaukee, Wisconsin,” said Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle, chair of the MGA. “Leaders from across the Midwest are charting a new energy direction for our citizens, our nation and our world, creating high-paying jobs for our citizens and building a cleaner and safer world for generations to come. Our strong manufacturing base and rich agricultural industries, along with the wealth of resources in our vast northern forests and our world-leading research universities, position the Midwest to become the Saudi Arabia of renewable energy.”

Within the next year, Governors and other participating jurisdictional leaders will establish targets for greenhouse gas emission reductions and complete development of a proposed cap-and-trade system.

Midwestern states are leading the nation in the development of renewable energy and energy efficiency programs. The Midwest boasts world-class renewable energy resources that support rapidly growing wind energy, corn ethanol and biodiesel industries, and has the potential for robust cellulosic biomass and solar industries. 

For more information, including complete agreements, list of signatories, biographies of leaders and background on the MGA, go to http://www.wisgov.state.wi.us/journal_media_detail.asp?locid=19&prid=3023.


4. USFS Chief Announces Open Space Strategy
U.S. Forest Service Chief Abigail Kimbell recently announced the release of the agency’s Open Space Conservation Strategy.

The strategy is the product of extensive public comment and collaboration, with over 22,000 comments received—nearly all in support of it. Open space benefits include clean air and water, climate change mitigation, outdoor recreation opportunities, wildlife habitat, scenic beauty and improved human health.

Those interested can download the Open Space Conservation Strategy, view interactive loss of open space examples, read Forests on the Edge publications and find resources at
http://www.fs.fed.us/openspace.


5. NACD Mourns the Loss of its President, Olin Sims
NACD President Olin Sims died Friday, Dec. 7, 2007, from injuries suffered in a ranching accident. In addition to being our leader and friend, he was also a long-time landowner and champion of conservation.

Born and raised in Wyoming, Olin worked the land all of his life. He and his family operated the Sims Cattle Company in the Rock Creek Valley. The Sims were honored with several awards for their stewardship efforts on the family ranch. Olin was inducted into the Wyoming Agricultural Hall of Fame in 2006, the youngest person ever to receive that recognition.

In addition to ranching, Olin was also a skilled mechanic and welder and a carpenter. But he loved working most in the family-owned sawmill, from skidding logs off the mountain to banding boards to sell to his neighbors. The mill was truly Olin’s “therapy work.”

Olin’s involvement with conservation districts goes back 20 years. He first became involved with districts at the local level in 1986 when he began serving as the Medicine Bow Conservation District Rural Supervisor. He continued to move up the ranks until being elected president in 2007.

Olin truly loved the land. He was passionate about conservation and committed to the work of conservation districts. He was a family man who was proud of his Wyoming roots. Olin will be deeply missed by the NACD family.

More information about Olin is available on a tribute page on NACD’s website. To contribute memories, stories or thoughts about Olin, go to http://www.nacdnet.org/olin/tribute.phtml.


6. Coming Together through CWPP
One New Mexico village has maximized grant dollars and organized a unique partnership to address fire concerns

Fires in 2000 and 2002 served as a wakeup call for the Village of Ruidoso in New Mexico. Since then the community has turned to the Greater Ruidoso Area Wildland Urban Interface Working Group to manage a set of ordinances aimed at protecting residents from the threats of future fires. To date that group has helped to treat more than 6,000 acres in the area.

Rick DeIaco has served as the Village’s director of forestry since 2000. “That was the year of the big fire season,” he said, “and basically after that we just hit the ground running. Within a few months we had a cooperative inter-agency group put together to see what we could do to protect the community.”

Initially, the Village sought out the Smokey Bear Ranger District and New Mexico State Forestry Division. That group then identified the Mescalero Reservation, Lincoln County, Bureau of Land Management, Ruidoso Downs and the State Lands Office as other potential key players in the partnership.

“We started to convene monthly meetings and we’ve done so now for the past seven years,” said DeIaco. The group then prioritized its projects based on wind direction, which comes from the southwest. “If that sounds like how you put together a Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP), fast forward a couple years later when Congress passed Healthy Forests Restoration Act. We (put our plan) together in a few months by just changing a few words in the language and we had a CWPP.”

But before it officially had a CWPP in place, the Village had dealt with its fair share of fire.

The 2000 Cree Fire burned more than 8,000 acres of land but did not affect any structures in the Village; two years later Ruidoso experienced the Kokopelli Fire. “It was only 1,000 acres but we lost 29 homes,” said DeIaco. “That was the impetus for the Village Council to take unilateral action for creating a community forest management plan.”

Ruidoso initiated a set of ordinances to protect residents in the municipality. Those ordinances emphasize the same goals that CWPP does. The three categories include: fire hazard reduction, forest health and aesthetics for natural landscape opportunities. Ruidoso also adopted California’s wildland urban interface code.

Based on greatest threat of fire, the group prioritized the projects in the municipality into a number of subdivisions of roughly 900 people each. Those landowners are mailed letters and given 14 months to comply with the ordinances. After completion, DeIaco’s group inspects the property and certifies it for five years.

Said DeIaco, “One of the more common questions I get from homeowners is, ‘How close to my house can I have a tree?’ When Firewise concepts first came out it was recommended to clear everything 30 feet away from the house. In this town, if you go 30 feet you’re in your neighbor’s living room. So for here it’s about reducing ladder fuels, pruning limbs and keeping things away from rooftops.”

According to DeIaco, approximately 10,000 green tons are extracted from the area annually. The material is then efficiently utilized. “We recycle 100 percent,” said DeIaco. “That’s key to all of this.”

The Village has a fleet of trucks that offer curbside pickup. From there, the trucks take it to a local contractor, who turns it into composting mulch. The Village pays a disposal fee and, as part of the agreement, the contractor returns some of the end product to the community. Mulch was recently dropped off at a school site where volunteers spread it over an athletic field. Material from the municipality’s 800 acres of public land is also taken by private industry for a variety of uses, including animal bedding and wooden crafts. “You wouldn’t believe how many little wooden bears get made around here,” said DeIaco. “It’s become a cottage industry.”

A utility fee of $8.80 per lot per month helps to offset the infrastructure costs of the transportation and staff costs.

The Greater Ruidoso Area Wildland Urban Interface Working Group has been able to secure more than $2 million in grant funds from a number of offerings to aid in the work being done. It took money from a FEMA fuels reduction grant and has implemented a 70/30 cost-share grant for those residents in need of assistance to get the work done on their properties.

DeIaco is also involved in the South Central Mountain RC&D, which has played an integral role in the group’s success by acting as a finance agent on several of those grants.

Said DeIaco, “They’ve been a good partner at our collaborative meetings since the beginning.” South Central Mountain RC&D has also helped local entrepreneurs to establish forest health-related businesses.

The efforts of the Greater Ruidoso Area Wildland Urban Interface Working Group have also given a boost to the local economy. According to DeIaco, when the projects began there were only three local contractors for cutting and thinning projects. Now there are more than 25. “In terms of economic development on the front end, we’ve created more than 60 jobs,” said DeIaco, “and that’s probably being conservative.”

After fielding some early questions and concerns, DeIaco said that the fire management efforts have become widely accepted by Ruidoso residents.

“Our pitch is that we’re increasing property value by doing this thinning,” said DeIaco. “The shift in the way people think about forest health and the way they think about their natural environment has changed for the better. We’re tickled about that.”

“Ruidoso was fortunate to get all of the pieces together,” said DeIaco. “We’re still working at it, but we are getting work done.”

For more information on the work being done in Ruidoso, contact Rick Deiaco, director of forestry for the Village of Ruidoso, at (575) 257-5544, Ext. 222, or email him at rickdeiaco@ruidoso-nm.gov.


7. Senate Passes Farm and Energy Bills
The Senate passed its Farm Bill on December 14, and it now goes to a House-Senate conference committee chaired by Senator Harkin, that will write the final version. The House had passed its bill back in July. Senator Harkin stated, “that a conference report could be out by the end of January.”

The Senate has also passed an energy bill with a more limited biomass provision than had previously passed the House. It now limits the sources for woody biomass. This energy bill does, however, expand the use of biofuels from nine billion gallons next year to 36 billion gallons by 2022, 21 billion gallons of which must come from sources other than corn, such as switch grass and wood chips. The House is expected to pass this bill in the next few days and President Bush has said he would sign it.

Legislative report as of 12-15-2007.