Meeting Information

Agenda

Hotel and Registration Info

Support

Support for the Enlibra program is provided by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and by Region IX of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Background Information on Enlibra

Examples of Enlibra in Action

Policy Resolution Outlining Enlibra Principles

Frequently Asked Questions

Advisory Committee

Publications, Press Releases and Speeches

Meetings

Resource Guide

Environmental Summit
on the West II

Reducing Wildland Fire Risks to Communities and the Environment while Restoring Forest Ecosystem Health

Background
Millions of acres of forest ecosystems are in poor ecological health and at an unacceptable risk of wildfire, insects and disease. Their declining health is also reflected in a rising number of endangered and threatened species as well as the spread of noxious weed. The elimination of fire from many of these ecosystems as well as past management activities have been the major factors in the declining health, and have led to significant, uncharacteristic fuels build-up in the understory. Wildfire severity has increased dramatically as a result. Communities in and adjacent to these lands are increasingly at risk.

In the last five years, there have been a growing number of community-based, landscape efforts to use active management to restore the health of these forest ecosystems, to reduce risk to the community from fire, and to increase the potential economic use of forest by-products from the treatment. Communities, in partnership with their federal, state, and tribal partners, have also worked to restore species and reduce noxious weeds. Fuels reduction and prescribed fire have been used to improve the resource conditions and reduce overall stand density. This has often been done with relatively little site disturbance using low impact logging equipment and focusing limited resources on already logged and altered ecosystems needing attention. These efforts have inspired the thinking behind the National Fire Plan's 10-Year Comprehensive Strategy as well as efforts at species recovery.

The goals and questions for this track are:

• What is needed to build the local relationships and structures for diverse stakeholders to come together with state and federal partners to identify strategic priorities and get results on the ground in a collaborative fashion (e.g. funding, leadership, empowerment/authority, etc.)? How do we sustain these over time?
• What direction and flexibility is needed to help integrate programs and resources on the ground to meet the array of programmatic needs and requirements?
• What monitoring and accountability measures need to be coupled with greater flexibility to meet objectives?
• What is the mechanism for adaptive management based on effectiveness monitoring, lessons learned and new science?
• What else is needed from the policy arena, the scientific community, communities or others to use Enlibra to reduce risk of wildland fires to communities while restoring ecosystem health?

Hosts/Moderators: Governor John Kitzhaber, M.D., Oregon, and Sally Collins, Associate Chief, U.S. Forest Service

Case Studies
Initially, case studies and a panel of diverse practitioners and stakeholders will illustrate how collaborative groups have addressed ecosystem restoration and reduced fuel loads that contribute to severe wildfires in different locations and at different scales. They will describe the challenges and opportunities they have encountered, demonstrate how they have followed the principles of Enlibra, summarize what it took to succeed, and give any advice/troubleshoot from their experiences. The case studies are:

The Blue Mountain Demonstration Area, Northeastern Oregon

The demonstration area is a 2.6 million acre example of ecosystem restoration at the landscape level while simultaneously pursuing community health goals. Restoration efforts are being implemented across all ownerships -- federal, state, tribal and private ownership, increasingly with strategic planning and prioritization of activities. Networks of local partners through watershed councils, soil and water conservation districts, and a non-profit community group facilitate much of the work being done on private lands, and provide strategic linkages to collaborative activities on federal lands. There is a strong foundation of highly agreed-upon science for the region, which helps guide many of the funding and activity priorities. Funds are leveraged from state, tribal, local, private and federal sources to get the most benefit. Agency communication, coordination and program delivery has been examined and improved to get better results on the land. Learning and ongoing adaptation for improved results are encouraged at all levels.

Presenters: 

Diane Snyder, Executive Director, Wallowa Resources 
Bob Rainville, Blue Mountain Demonstration Area Coordinator, U.S. Forest Service 
Rick Brown, Senior Resource Specialist, Defenders of Wildlife

The Mill Project Forest Restoration/Economic Development Partnership, Gila National Forest, New Mexico
This effort involves a 1,400-acre forest ecosystem restoration demonstration site. It involves completing the NEPA process for the site, completing an environmental analysis, development of prescriptions and layout of the project by a diverse group of partners, performance of the restoration activities and removal of the by-products to a processing complex, and monitoring and evaluation of the effects of the restoration activities. A number of local industries will process the by-products of the restoration. This project has received funding support from the Collaborative Forest Restoration Program of the United States Forest Service.

Presenters:
· Todd Schulke, Southwest Center for Biological Diversity
· Gordon West, Gila WoodNet
· Doug Boykin, New Mexico State Forestry
· Gerald Engel, Gila National Forest District Ranger
· Walter Dunn, USDA Forest Service Southwestern Region

Additional Information
Wallowa Resources

Blue Mountain Demonstration Area

Restore and Maintain Healthy Forests and Rangelands in the West (a WGA initiative http://www.westgov.org/wga/initiatives/fire/)

National Fire Plan (http://www.fireplan.gov/)

Collaborative Forest Restoration Program -- description

The Collaborative Forest Restoration Program of the United States Forest Service -- (http://www.fs.fed.us/r3/spf/cfrp)

Thinning, Fire and Forest Restoration paper