Taking Aim
The Goals of the Applegate Fire Plan

How the Plan Came into Being

The Applegate Fire Plan began as an idea in the spring of 2001, when folks from the Applegate Partnership, the US Forest Service, and the Bureau of Land Management were discussing the high fire danger throughout the Applegate Valley and what might be done about it. It was a question without an easy answer. The checkerboard patterns of land ownership in our valley that make land management difficult equally make fire issues a challenge. Nevertheless, we became excited about the possibility of answering this challenge. With millions of federal dollars being made available for localized fire planning, this group decided to submit for funds to write one cohesive fire plan for the entire Applegate watershed. A National Fire Plan grant for this project, which would be developed under the auspices of the Applegate Partnership, was awarded in September, 2001.

This Applegate Fire Plan is not meant to be a typical "management" plan; in fact many members of our project team suggested that we either not use the word "plan" or, if we did, to spell it with a small "p." This plan, then, is about strategies, not specifics. How could we get site-specific about what to do on any one particular piece of land when we have over twenty partners and a very active community involved in the planning process, nine fire suppression agencies working in the Applegate, land management and ownership almost equally divided between the Forest Service, BLM, and the private sector, numerous land management plans already in existence, and over 12,000 people living in the valley?

We did find that we could agree upon concepts, strategies, and goals, and that's what this Applegate Fire Plan is all about. It provides an overall view of the watershed and its relationship with fire, historically and presently, and it suggests ways we can improve that relationship, personally and as a community. It also provides direction to local agency land managers and identifies high risk areas, items of value to the community, and enthusiastic and concerned landowners who wish to work with their state or federal neighbors in developing fuel reduction strategies. It gives us a plan for emergency procedures, useful in fire, flood, or other emergency. The Applegate Communities' Collaborative Fire Protection Strategy, often shortened to the Applegate Fire Plan, addresses the main components of wildfire: fire protection and suppression, fuel hazard reduction, and emergency communications. Neighbors cooperating with neighbors is its foundation.

The Goals of the Applegate Fire Plan

1. To improve community awareness of our stewardship of the land and foster a respect for ecosystems and the processes that maintain them

2. To develop a wide array of strategies for fuel reduction and fire suppression that Applegate residents can accept as sensible precautions against catastrophic fire and that the agencies that manage lands in the Applegate can incorporate into their cur- rent management practices

3. To develop a system of emergency communications for Applegate neighborhoods.

4. To restore fire-adaptive species in the ecosystems, thereby encouraging more fire-resilient forests