National Fire Plan Success Story
Sportsman's Park Fuels Reduction
Barlow Ranger District, Mt. Hood National Forest, Oregon
National Fire Plan / Healthy Forests - Fuels Reduction
2008
The Sportsman's Park fuels reduction project, designed to reduce the risk of fire to adjacent private property, is a 1,591-acre project adjacent to the community of Sportsman's Park. The park is a federally designated community-at-risk, approximately 15 air miles south of Dufur, Oregon, in Wasco County. The project is within the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) for Sportsman's Park and is covered under the Wasco County Community Wildfire Protection Plan.
This fuels project will reduce hazardous fuels with a combination of mechanical treatments on 905 acres and underburning on the remaining acres. Existing fuels will be reduced to a level that will not support a stand-replacement wildfire that is often detrimental to today's forests. The mechanical treatment methods consist of tree thinning from below including the sale of vegetative material, grapple piling, hand thinning, pruning by hand, and brush removal. Work on the project started in 2007 and is ongoing. Stewardship contracting is being used to accomplish the mechanical work. This has an additional benefit of providing jobs within the local community.
Fuels reduction work on the private land is occurring simultaneously, was accomplished through a National Fire Plan grant for hazardous fuels reduction, and is being administered by the Oregon Department of Forestry.
This project was planned using the Healthy Forests Initiative for hazardous fuels reduction, which allows up to 1,000 acres of mechanical activities with no new permanent roads or infrastructure. The Forest Service participated in collaboration meetings to identify issues and concerns of the local population. The meetings were held locally and were well attended. Discussion between those attending the community meetings resulted in the design of the proposed action that reflected the concerns identified.
For more information about the project, contact Mike Hernandez, mhernandez@fs.fed.us, (541) 467-2291.