Catron County Community Wildfire Protection Plan
MONITORING AND EVALUATION

• Home page
• CWPP Title Page
• Table of Contents
• Declaration of Agreement and Concurrence
• Preface & Introduction
• Planning Process
• Community Profile
• Planning for the Future
• Monitoring & Evaluation
• Appendix 1 - data
• Appendix 2 - maps
• Downloads

The objectives of this Plan have been to:

1. Develop a landscape level (County-wide) assessment
2. Identify high risk areas
3. Establish treatment priorities
4. Suggest mitigation (treatment) actions
5. Provide for the coordinated development of local CWPPs

These objectives have been met through the development of this Plan. Whether or not the ultimate goal of the protection of community and wildland values in Catron County from wildfire will be achieved is dependent upon the implementation of the findings and recommendations of this plan. Monitoring and evaluation of actions taken will assure achievement of that goal.

Who Will Monitor and Evaluate

 Two established collaborative groups have procedures in place which may be modified slightly to accomplish at least part of the monitoring and evaluation of the objectives of this Plan. The Catron County Commission and other partners to this plan may choose to implement additional moderation and evaluation procedures. Several educational institutions have indicated an interest in monitoring of aspects of this Plan.

In accordance with §102.g.5. of HFRA, the CWPP communities will participate in multiparty monitoring to assess progress toward meeting CWPP objectives.

One of the established collaborative groups, the 20 Communities group meets about every 2 months to coordinate County issues of concern to all the Federal, State and County agencies, fire departments and the public. The group has been very successfully coordinating implementation and evaluation of projects to date.

The other group is the Southwest Regional Command Team . The Regional Command Team (RCT) provides a collaborative forum between local, state, federal and private entities in seven counties to develop and implement a strategic framework to:

• Restore natural fire cycles to watersheds
• Support the development of economically viable uses of biomass
• Reduce risk of catastrophic wildfires by promoting awareness and accelerating work.

The RCT has a process in place for tracking fire and fuels management accomplishments that would require only minor adjustment for the needed evaluation and monitoring for not just Catron County but the whole SW corner of New Mexico including all ownerships. More information on the RCT and its work may be reviewed at the www.emnrd.state.nm.us/forestry/RCT/RCTIndex.cfm web site. The SW RCT accomplishment report for 2004 on this site is particularly relevant. A copy of the 2004 Restoration Accomplishments report may be downloaded from NM State Forestry.

What will be evaluated

Monitoring can be a detailed tracking of individual accomplishments, a periodic reassessment of the change in conditions from the original conditions, or some combination of the two. Complex specific accomplishment monitoring designs are seldom if ever implemented because the funding and time never seems to be available. On the other hand, no tracking of specific accomplishments is not a good choice either.

The collaborators in this plan have chosen a combination of the two above basic methods that is believed to be simple, inexpensive and doable. As stated above annual accomplishment reports completed by the Regional Command Team will report the specific accomplishments that support the objectives and goals of this plan.

Periodic assessments of the current condition as compared to the baseline conditions identified in this plan will be made at 3-5 year intervals. The exact intervals will depend on the amount of accomplishment and availability of time, funding and people.

The analysis of the current conditions as completed in this Plan will provide the baseline for evaluation and monitoring.

Table # details the monitoring and evaluation points for each of the objectives resulting from this Plan.

Funding For Monitoring And Evaluation

Funding of the annual reviews is presently being absorbed in-house by the various agencies involved. Funding sources for the periodic reviews at 5-10 years would be impossible to predict with any guarantee of accuracy. As to the amount of funding needed for a periodic reassessment, the amount of work required should not be near as much as it was for this plan nor take nearly as long. Process and perimeters to analyze are well laid out in this plan and will not need to be re-invented. The cost is estimated to be $40,000 to $50,000. Data availabilities, computer capabilities, methods of analysis, politics, laws, resource management priorities, etc. may and probably will change. An effort to make a more accurate estimate than that given would be a waste of time.

Photo Credit Gale Moore, Glenwood Gazette