First Stage Public Involvement
There were two stages of public involvement "community" meetings. The first stage was conducted before any analysis had begun, the objective being to get public input before any decisions had been made about the analysis content.
The approach to public involvement incorporated an “Interest Based Planning” concept, which framed the questions to the public: “What and where are your interests that would be threatened by a wildfire”, “How would you rate those interests for importance in determining the priorities for reduction of the wildfire threat?" and "What should be done to reduce or mitigate the wildfire threat to your interests?"
The resulting information was included in development of the computer models which analyzed all data and generated the locations and priorities of areas needing treatment. The goal of the Interest Based Planning approach was to involve as many people and interests (or points of view) in the county as possible in the development of the CWPP.
To raise the level of awareness of the CWPP and the desire for public involvement, articles were published in various local newspapers and an interactive booth was set up at the August, 2004 County Fair. Brochures and posters were printed and placed in public areas around the county.
Dates were set up for public meetings to be held simultaneously around the county on October 6, 2004 and, using a Gila National Forest mailing list as well as County property ownership data, direct mailings were sent to all residents of Catron County, as well as to special interest groups, tribal governors and federal and state legislators, inviting them to these meetings. Additional invitations were offered for special meetings for any group which so desired, and any individual who wished to comment but could not attend a meeting was provided with phone, email and mail addresses so they could submit their opinions in that way.
A script was written to ensure that all presentations would be the same. Those who attended were asked to provide examples of what their interests were in the land area of Catron County. These were written down on a large paper for all to see.
Participants were then given a limited number of dots and asked to vote for the interests which they felt were most important by placing dots next to each interest.
Participants were then asked what they felt should be done about protecting these interests, and were provided time to contribute any other comments they felt relevant.
The data from these meetings was condensed down to seven prioritized concern categories as shown in the following table.
Public Interest Meetings Summary
Concern Category listed by Priority |
Concern Category |
Priority |
Homes/structures |
1 |
Economy |
2 |
Public Safety |
3 |
Infrastructure |
4 |
Watershed |
5 |
Wildlife Habitat |
6 |
Recreation |
7 |
Table # 1 |
The concern categories and their priorities as shown above were used to aid in the design of the analysis models and weighting constants used to determine and map the treatment priorities.
Analysis: Design of analysis and determination of data needed
The Analysis Team designed the analysis/model using the first stage public input, professional expertise and national guidance "Preparing a Community Wildfire Protection Plan", a handbook sponsored by Communities Committee, National Association of Counties, National Association of State Foresters, Society of American Foresters and the Western Governors' Association.
Four basic components were chosen for the analysis; fire threat, values at risk, risk of occurrence and treatment priority. The first three components and their factors determined the initial treatment priority at the County and HUC 6 levels of analysis as well as the final treatment priority at the WUI level of analysis.
The assignment of values for the above components are explained in detail in Appendix Volume 2 – Data (page 29)
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