1.0 Introduction

1.1 Project Background

A key element of the Healthy Forests Initiative announced by the White House in 2002 is the implementation of core components of the National Fire Plan Collaborative Approach for Reducing Wildland Fire Risks to Communities and the Environment 10-year Comprehensive Strategy. In the spring of 2002, federal agencies and western state governors adopted the plan in collaboration with county commissioners, state foresters, and tribal officials. The plan calls for more active forest and rangeland management to reduce the threat of wildfire in the wildland-urban interface.

The Healthy Forest Restoration Act (H.R. 1904) was signed into law in December 2003. The Act creates provisions for expanding activities outlined in the National Fire Plan. Also in 2003, the Nevada Fire Safe Council received National Fire Plan funding through the Bureau of Land Management to conduct a Community Risk/Hazard Assessment in at risk communities in Nevada. Communities to be assessed are included on a 2001 list in the Federal Register entitled “List of wildland-urban interface, at risk communities located within the vicinity of Federal lands” (66 FR 160). The list identifies Nevada communities adjacent to federal lands that are most vulnerable to wildfire threat.

Resource Concepts, Inc. (RCI), a Carson City-based consulting firm, was selected to conduct the Community Risk/Hazard Assessments. During 2004, the RCI Project Team visited over 250 communities in seventeen Nevada counties to assess both the risk of ignition and the potential fire behavior hazard. Procedures accepted by Nevada’s wildland fire agencies were employed to reach consistent and objective evaluations of each community. Specific goals of the Nevada Community Risk/Hazard Assessment Project include the following:

Assess wildfire hazards associated with each community on the Federal Register list of Communities at Risk in Nevada,
Identify firefighting resource needs (equipment and infrastructure),
Conduct fuel hazard mapping for high and extreme fuel hazard communities,
Describe proposed risk and hazard mitigation projects in sufficient detail to aid communities in applying for future implementation funds, and
Distribute assessment results and proposed mitigation project descriptions to each County in an easily updateable format. This format should also be useful for presentation at public meetings and other public education activities.

Community Risk/Hazard Assessments were conducted systematically. The RCI Project Team observed and recorded factors that significantly influence the risk of wildfire ignition along the wildland-urban interface, and inventoried features that can have an influence on hazardous conditions in the event of a wildfire. Local fire agency and emergency response personnel were interviewed to assess the availability of suppression resources and to identify opportunities for increased community preparedness. A description of the existing fuel hazard and fire behavior potential is presented for each community.

Individual community assessment results are formatted to facilitate ease of reference and reproduction. Assessments began with the preparation of a community map. Ignitions risks, fire hazards, and recommended mitigation projects are described for each community. Recommendations are summarized in a table and are depicted on a map (if the proposed project can be graphically represented). These tools will aid local, state, and federal agencies in strategic planning, raising public awareness, and securing funding to implement risk and hazard reduction projects. Mitigating risks and hazards identified during the community assessment process are not only crucial to meeting long term goals of the National Fire Plan, but also to ensuring the near and long-term viability of communities, natural resources, infrastructures, and watersheds in Esmeralda County.

Numerous agencies and individuals were involved in the planning and implementation of this effort. Special thanks and acknowledgement is given to:

Nevada Fire Safe Council (NFSC)
USDI Bureau of Land Management (BLM)
USDA Forest Service (USFS)
Nevada Division of Forestry (NDF)
University of Nevada Cooperative Extension (UNCE)
Nevada Association of Counties (NACO)
Esmeralda County Officials
Fire Chiefs and firefighters statewide

1.2 Communities Assessed

The Federal Register (66 FR 160) identified five communities within Esmeralda County that are potentially at risk of wildfire in the wildland-urban interface. The following communities are included in this assessment:

Dyer/Fish Lake Valley
Goldfield
Gold Point
Lida
Silver Peak

There may be additional rural areas or small subdivisions within Esmeralda County that weren’t included on the Federal Register list. Since they were not included on that list they are not included in the present assessment. Many of the recommendations presented in this report may apply to those other areas. However, specific conditions in and around some of those areas may warrant future risk/hazard assessments.