The Healthy Forests Initiative was announced by the White House in 2002 to implement the core components of the National Fire Plan Collaborative Approach for Reducing Wildland Fire Risks to Communities and the Environment 10-year Comprehensive Strategy. The Plan calls for more active forest and rangeland management to reduce the threat of wildland fire in the wildland-urban interface, the area where homes and wildland meet.

This report was prepared specifically for the 44 communities in Elko County that were identified in the Federal Register as communities located at the wildland-urban interface within the vicinity of Federal lands that are at high risk from wildfire (66 FR 160). The Elko County communities are listed in Table 1-1.

The Nevada Fire Safe Council contracted Resource Concepts, Inc. (RCI) to assemble a project team of experts in the fields of fire behavior and suppression, natural resource ecology, and geographic information systems (GIS) to complete the assessment for each Elko County community listed in the Federal Register. The RCI Project Team spent several days inventorying conditions in Elko County and completing the primary data collection and verification portion of the risk assessment. Field visits were conducted in August 2004.

This report describes in detail the data and information collected, analyzed, and considered during the assessment of each community, and is current as of August 2004. The general results are summarized in Table 1-1. Five primary factors that affect potential fire hazards were assessed to arrive at the community hazard assessment score: community design, construction materials, defensible space, availability of fire suppression resources, and physical conditions such as the vegetative fuel load and topography. Information on fire suppression capabilities and responsibilities for Elko County communities was obtained from local Fire Chiefs and state and federal Fire Management Officers. The Fire Specialists on the RCI Project Team assigned an ignition risk rating of low, moderate, or high to each community. The rating was based upon historical ignition patterns, the opinions of local, state, and federal fire agency personnel, field visits to each community, and professional judgment based on experience with wildland fire ignitions in Nevada.

Table 1-1. Community Risk and Hazard Assessment Results

Community	Interface Condition	Interface Fuel Hazard Condition	Ignition Risk Rating	Community Hazard Rating
Extreme Hazard Communities
Jarbidge	Intermix	Low-Extreme	Moderate-High	Extreme
Jiggs/Smith Creek	Intermix	Moderate-Extreme	High	Extreme
Ruby Valley Indian Allotments	Rural	Low-High	High	Extreme
High Hazard Communities
Adobe Heights	Intermix	Low-Moderate	Moderate-High	High
Adobe Ranchos	Intermix	Moderate	Moderate-High	High
Contact	Intermix	Moderate-High	High	High
Deeth/Starr Valley	Intermix	Low-Extreme	High	High
Lamoille	Intermix	Low-Extreme	High	High
Lee/South Fork Indian Reservation	Intermix	Low-Extreme	Moderate	High
Lucky Nugget I & II	Intermix	Moderate	High	High
Midas	Classic	High	High	High
Mountain City	Classic	Low-High	High	High
Osino	Intermix	Low-Moderate	High	High
Ruby Lake Estates	Intermix	Low-Extreme	High	High
Ten Mile	Intermix	Moderate-High	High	High
Tuscarora	Intermix	Low-High	High	High
Moderate Hazard Communities
Carlin	Classic	Moderate-High	High	Moderate
Currie	Intermix	Low-Moderate	High	Moderate
Elburz	Classic	Moderate	Moderate	Moderate
Elko	Classic and Intermix	Moderate-High	Moderate	Moderate
Gold Creek	Intermix	Low-High	Low-Moderate	Moderate
Hidden Valley/Coal Mine	Intermix	Moderate	Moderate	Moderate
Humboldt Ranchettes	Intermix	Moderate	Moderate	Moderate
North Fork	Classic	Moderate	High	Moderate
Oasis	Classic	Moderate	Moderate-High	Moderate
Owyhee	Intermix	Moderate-High	Moderate	Moderate
Pilot Valley	Intermix	Low-Moderate	High	Moderate
Ruby Lake National Wildlife Refuge & Hatchery	Intermix	Moderate-High	High	Moderate
Ryndon	Intermix	Moderate	Moderate-High	Moderate
Spring Creek	Intermix	Low-High	High	Moderate
Wild Horse Estates	Intermix	Low-Moderate	High	Moderate
Low Hazard Communities
Jackpot	Intermix	Moderate	Moderate	Low
Montello	Intermix	Low-Moderate	Low-Moderate	Low
Wells	Classic	Low-Moderate	High	Low
West Wendover	Classic	Low	Low	Low
Rural Ranch Communities
Charleston	Rural	Low-High	High	N/A1
Clover Valley	Rural	Moderate-High	Moderate	N/A1
Goose Creek	Rural	Low-High	High	N/A1
Independence Valley	Rural	Moderate	High	N/A1
Maggie Summit Road	Rural	Low-High	High	N/A1
Odger’s Ranch	Rural	Moderate	High	N/A1
O’Neil Basin	Rural	Low-High	High	N/A1
Ruby Valley	Rural	Moderate-High	High	N/A1
Previously Assessed Communities
Shanty Town	Intermix	Moderate-High	High	N/A2
1The Community Hazard Assessment procedures are not applicable to rural ranch communities. 2The results for communities previously assessed by other procedures are not comparable to the procedures used for this assessment.

Existing Situation

Elko County has an extensive wildfire history. Almost 1.5 million acres were burned within the County between 1980 and 2004. The 2005 fire season has already added to this total and has impacted or imminently threatened six communities: Midas, Ten Mile, Tuscarora, Contact, Osino, Ryndon, Spring Creek, and Elburz. These conditions point to he need to update this report on an annual basis

The County is prone to dry lightning storms, the primary ignition risk in the county. Additional ignition risks include the railroad, utility lines, automobile fires, and other human causes that can occur at any time.

Fire protection throughout Elko County, with the exception of Carlin, Elko, West Wendover, Jackpot, and Wells, is provided by volunteer or combination career/volunteer fire departments as part of the Nevada Division of Forestry Elko County Fire Protection District. The Nevada Division of Forestry has an office in Elko and conservation camps in both Carlin and Wells that provide trained hand crews for wildfire suppression.

The Bureau of Land Management maintains four fire stations in Elko County in addition to the Elko Field Office: the Carlin Station, the Elko Helibase, the Midas Station, and the Wells Station. Each station has designated equipment and staff during the fire season. The US Forest Service has guard stations in Wells and Mountain City, with equipment and Type 2-Trained hand crews during the fire season. The US Fish and Wildlife Service, the Nevada Department of Wildlife, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the Sho-Pai Indian tribe provide additional resources for local areas. Mutual aid agreements between state, local, and federal fire agencies provide coverage for most of Elko County including the few communities with no local fire department. The cooperation between fire agencies in Elko County deserves special recognition for their efforts.

The majority of the communities in Elko County are small and many are isolated from primary access routes. Many of the access roads to small communities are unpaved but provide adequate room for access and maneuverability of fire equipment apparatus. Emergency response plans have been completed for Elko County and are updated on a regular basis. Cooperating fire agencies meet annually to discuss pre-attack plans for wildfire scenarios. Radio communication compatibility between state and federal agencies with local and volunteer fire departments needs to be assured.

Fourteen communities with high and extreme community hazard ratings were identified in Elko County. These typically have high fuel loading and steep topography that contribute to extreme and dangerous fire behavior. Many of these communities rely on volunteer fire departments for initial attack of wildfires, and many are in need of additional water storage for fire suppression.

Seventeen communities assessed in Elko County have a moderate overall community hazard rating in the wildland-urban interface, due primarily to limited fire protection in isolated areas, limited water storage for fire suppression resources, high frequency of wildfire history, and the need for improvement in defensible space. Four communities with low community hazard scores generally are surrounded by light density fuels or agricultural lands and have fire safe community design features such as access, construction materials, and defensible space.

The Volunteer Fire Departments members are a critical component of the wildfire suppression resources in Elko County. The State of Nevada, Elko County, and the Nevada Division of Forestry need to cooperatively develop and offer incentives to recruit and maintain volunteer firefighters. Volunteer Fire Departments must make an extended effort to ensure that members attend training and are qualified for wildland fire suppression. Nevada Division of Forestry and the cooperating agencies offer training annually in several communities. Additional training locations could increase the attendance of volunteers from remote communities.

Another wildfire risk factor is the large component of cheatgrass in Elko County. Cheatgrass growth is dependent on annual moisture and will produce increased fuel volumes and elevate fuel hazard conditions in years of higher than average precipitation. Once established, cheatgrass provides a continuous layer of fuel that is readily ignited and burns rapidly, especially under windy conditions.

Recommendations

Many of the recommendations in this report focus on efforts that can be easily initiated by homeowners to enhance the fire safe nature of their homes and communities. While many homeowners in Elko County have been aggressive in establishing and maintaining appropriate defensible space around their residences, more work is needed. Defensible space treatments are most effective when completed over large, continuous areas. Community-wide efforts will be much more effective in reducing wildfire threat than individual or incomplete treatments. Volunteer citizen groups, locally-based and organized to take responsibility and provide leadership for community-wide fuels reduction have proven to be an effective way to achieve widespread action. The Nevada Fire Safe Council is one option for community organization to assist with improving community safety at the local level. As a last resort, NRS 472.041 authorizes the Nevada State Forester Firewarden to implement fire hazard reduction practices on private land when structures are threatened from fuel accumulation and the property owners do not implement hazard reduction treatments.

The state, local, and federal cooperating fire agencies have been very active and aggressive in Elko County in implementing fuel reduction treatments in the wildland-urban interface. This cooperative effort has allowed for maximum efficiency of labor and funding to accomplish high priority treatments on the ground. Numerous projects are currently underway or are in the final planning stages. The results of this assessment have identified additional fuel reduction treatments and fuelbreak recommendations in Jarbidge, Jiggs/Smith Creek, Ruby Valley Indian Allotments, Ruby Lake NWR and Hatchery, Ruby Valley Lake Estates, Midas, Gold Creek, Jackpot, Montello, Osino, Owyhee, and Spring Creek. A summary of the fuel reduction treatments in each community is listed in Table 1-2. Continued coordination between public land managers and communities is crucial in reducing ignition risks and wildfire hazards to improve community fire safety.

The need to improve street and address signage was common to many communities. Signage improvements should be prioritized to enable firefighters to easily locate at-risk homes or specific areas of communities in low visibility conditions during a fire.

There is no way to completely eliminate the threat of wildfire in the wildland-urban interface. Close and continued coordination between citizens, local fire departments, Elko County, the Nevada Division of Forestry, the US Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs is crucial for successful implementation of necessary fuel reduction projects that improve fire safety in the wildland-urban interface communities throughout Elko County. Recommendations in this report are intended to:

• Encourage implementation of defensible space and larger fuel reduction projects, where needed, to reduce the hazards inherent in wildland-urban interface areas as a first priority.
• Increase public awareness of wildfire risks and hazards in communities, and what homeowners can do to reduce those risks and hazards.
• Promote community-wide involvement to effectively reduce the risk of wildfire ignitions in and near communities. To be most effective, fire safe practices need to be implemented on a community-wide basis. When neighbors work together, much more can be accomplished to make a community more fire safe.

Acknowledging the need for ongoing fuels management on public and private lands is vital for fire safe living in a wildfire-prone environment. The best possible assurance for long-term community safety from wildfire requires continued involvement and support of citizen-based organizations and a permanent commitment to the enforcement of fire safe ordinances at the local level. Mandatory fuels management includes regular monitoring and evaluation of fuel conditions and maintenance or implementation of additional fuel reduction treatments as development continues to encroach at the wildland-urban interface.

Any of the following agencies or organizations can be contacted for further information and assistance.

Nevada Fire Safe Council	firesafe@renonevada.net www.nvfsc.org
Nevada Division of Forestry	Fire Program Coordinator (775) 684-2500
Nevada Association of Counties	nvnaco@nvnaco.org
Bureau of Land Management Nevada State Office	Nevada BLM State Fire Management Officer khull@nv.blm.gov
Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest Supervisors Office	H-T Supervisors Office Fire Staff Officer

Table 1-2. Summary of Hazard Reduction Recommendations for Communities in Elko County

Community	Description	Estimated Treatment Area1	Cooperating Partners
			Private	County	BLM	USFS	NDF	NDOT	Other
High and Extreme Hazard Communities
Jarbidge	Shaded fuelbreak, 300’ x 1.5 mi	54 acres	X			X	X
Jiggs/Smith Creek	Fuelbreak, 50’ on each side of Smith Creek Road, 100’ x 6.2 mi	75 acres	X	X	X		X
Ruby Lake Estates	Greenstrip, 50’ on east side and 100’ on west side of Ruby Valley Road, 150’ x 1.5 mi	27 acres	X	X		X	X
Midas	Greenstrips, 300’ x 2.2 mi	80 acres	X				X
Osino	Greenstrips, 150’ x 10.3 mi	187 acres	X		X		X	X
Moderate Hazard Communities
Gold Creek	Fuelbreak, 200’ x 0.8 mi	21 acres	X				X
Owyhee	Fuelbreak, 100’ x 1.4 mi	17 acres							Tribe
Ruby Lake NWR and Hatchery	Fuelbreak, 200’ x 0.6 mi	16 acres							FWS
	Fuelbreak, 300’ x 0.4 mi	13 acres							NDOW
Spring Creek	Fuelbreak, 200’ x 4.4 mi	106 acres	X				X
Low Hazard Communities
Jackpot	Fire Access Road (firebreak) 15’ x 1.6 mi	3 acres	X		X		X
Montello	Fuelbreak, 50’ x 1.5 mi	9 acres	X		X		X
1 Roadside fuelbreak areas are measured from the edge of road. Treatment area estimates include both sides of the road.