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. The communities included in the Community Wildfire Risk/Hazard Assessment project are among those named in the 2001 Federal Register list of communities at high risk of wildfire 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 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.

The specific goals of the Nevada Community Risk/Hazard Assessment Project are to:

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 communities with high and extreme community hazard ratings.
Describe proposed risk and hazard mitigation projects in sufficient detail to aid communities in applying for future implementation funds.
Distribute assessment results and proposed mitigation project descriptions to each County in an easily updateable format. That format should also be useful for presentation at public meetings and other public education activities.

The community risk/hazard assessments were conducted systematically for each community. 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 may be hazardous in the event of a wildfire. Interviews with local fire agency and emergency response personnel were completed to assess the availability and capability of suppression resources and identify opportunities for increased community preparedness. Descriptions of the existing fuel hazard and potential fire behavior are discussed for each community. Photo points and fuel hazard maps are presented for each community where the community hazard rating is high or extreme.

The results of each community assessment are formatted to facilitate ease of reference and reproduction for individual communities. Each community is mapped and ignition risk, fire hazards, and recommended mitigation projects are described for each community. The recommendations are summarized in table form and presented on a map, if the proposed mitigation project can be graphically represented. These tools will aid local, state, and federal agencies in strategic planning, raising public awareness, and seeking funding to implement risk and hazard reduction projects. Mitigating the risks and hazards identified by these assessments is not only crucial to meeting long term goals of the National Fire Plan, but also to the short and long-term viability of Nevada communities, natural resources, infrastructures, and watersheds.

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

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)
Great Basin National Park (GBNP)
White Pine County Officials
Fire Chiefs and firefighters statewide

1.2 Communities Assessed

Fifteen White Pine County communities in proximity to federal lands were identified in the Federal Register as being at risk of wildfire. These fifteen communities are addressed in this assessment, including:

Baker
Lund
Blue Diamond (Ward Mountain)
McGill
Cherry Creek
Pleasant Valley
Cold Creek
Preston
Ely
Ruth
Goshute
Shoshone
Lackawanna
Strawberry
Great Basin National Park

Blue Diamond (Ward Mountain), Ely, Ruth, and McGill were assessed previously by RCI (2003). The four communities were not re-assessed as part of the present effort. However, field teams visited each community to observe previously recommended fuels reduction treatments that had been implemented. Other changes pertinent to the wildfire hazard/risk assessment were also noted. The four previously assessed communities are reviewed and summarized in the community sections of this report. Those summaries include any new observations and recommendations made as a result of visits by field teams in August 2004.

Shoshone and Strawberry are rural ranch communities. Ranches typically have agricultural fields that provide a buffer zone between homes and wildland fuels. As a result, these communities face a greater risk of economic loss from damage to agricultural commodities (e.g. livestock, crops, equipment, and improvements such as fencing) than to residential structures. General recommendations for rural ranch communities have been developed to address hazards that are unique to private lands in remote areas.

The Great Basin National Park was included on the Federal Register list; however, all buildings are National Park Service structures or historic structures. The park was assessed as a rural recreation community that faces risks of economic or ecological loss from damage to park resources and structures. General recommendations for Great Basin National Park were developed to address hazards that are unique to the developed areas within the park.

There may be additional rural areas or small subdivisions in White Pine County that were not included on the Federal Register list, and thus not included in the scope of this project. Conditions in and around some of these communities may warrant future individual hazard/risk assessment. However, many of the recommendations developed for similar communities in this report may apply to these additional areas.