Catron County Community Wildfire Protection Plan
VOLUME 2

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• Table of Contents
• Relevant Authorities
• Planning
• Analysis
• Public Comment
• Recommendations
• Monitoring
• Acronyms
• Glossary
• References

This Plan has been guided by the following policies and authorities:

Federal

The Healthy Forests Restoration Act (HFRA) was signed by President Bush in December, 2003 to help further the HFI. The Healthy Forests Restoration Act:

• Strengthens public participation in developing high priority forest health projects;
• Reduces the complexity of environmental analysis allowing federal land agencies to use the best science available to actively manage land under their protection;
• Provides a more effective appeals process encouraging early public participation in project planning; and
• Issues clear guidance for court action against forest health projects.

The Healthy Forests Restoration Initiative (HFI) was launched in August, 2002 by President Bush with the intent to reduce the risks severe wildfires pose to people, communities, and the environment. By protecting forests, woodlands, shrublands, and grasslands from unnaturally intensive and destructive fires, HFI helps improve the condition of our public lands, increases firefighter safety, and conserves landscape attributes valued by society. HFI accomplishes its goals through administrative reforms and legislative action. (quoted from www.healthyforests.gov/initiative/introduction.html)

Western Governor’s 10-Year Comprehensive Wildfire Strategy. In August 2001 the Secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior joined the Western Governors’ Association, National Association of State Foresters, National Association of Counties, and the Intertribal Timber Council to endorse A Collaborative Approach for Reducing Wildland Fire Risks to Communities and the Environment: A 10-Year Comprehensive Strategy.

The four goals of the 10-Year Comprehensive Strategy are:

• Improve Fire Prevention and Suppression
• Reduce Hazardous Fuels
• Restore Fire -Adapted Ecosystems
• Promote Community Assistance

Its three guiding principles are:

• Priority setting that emphasizes the protection of communities and other high-priority watersheds at-risk.
• Collaboration among governments and broadly representative stakeholders
• Accountability through performance measures and monitoring for results.

The National Fire Plan (NFP) was developed in August 2000, and among other points, addresses:

• Hazardous fuels reduction to reduce the risks of catastrophic wildland fire to people, communities, and natural resources while restoring forest and rangeland ecosystems to closely match their historical structure, function, diversity, and dynamic, utilizing prescribed fire, mechanical thinning, herbicides, grazing, or combinations of these and other methods.
• Providing assistance to communities that have been or may be threatened by wildland fire.

The Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 (DMA 2000, Public Law 106-390) provides an opportunity for States, Tribes, and local governments to take a new approach to mitigation planning. Section 322 of this Act established a requirement for local mitigation plans and authorized up to 7% of Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) funds available to a State to be used for development of State, Tribal, and local mitigation plans. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) developed a series of mitigation planning "How-To" guides to assist States, Tribes, and communities with hazard mitigation planning.

Federal Wildland Fire Policy was endorsed in 1995 by the five principal federal fire/land management agencies, including the Forest Service (FS) under the Department of Agriculture and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), National Park Service (NPS), Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), and Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) under the Department of the Interior. Key points of the policy include:

• Protection of human life is the first priority in wildland fire management; property and natural/cultural resources jointly become the second priority.
• Wildland fire must be reintroduced into the ecosystem. This is accomplished across agency boundaries and is based upon the best available science.
• Where wildland fire cannot be safely reintroduced because of hazardous fuel build-ups, some form of pretreatment must be considered, particularly in wildland/urban interface areas.
• Every area with burnable vegetation will have an approved Fire Management Plan.
• All aspects of wildland fire management will be conducted with the involvement of all partners; programs, activities, and processes will be compatible.
• No one entity can resolve and manage all fire management interface issues; it must be a cooperative effort. Ultimately, however, the primary responsibility rests at the State and local levels.
• Structural fire protection in the wildland/urban interface is the responsibility of Tribal, State, and local governments.
• The Western Governors' Association will serve as a catalyst to involve State and local agencies and private stakeholders in achieving a cooperative approach to fire prevention and protection in the wildland/urban interface.
• Good data and statistics are needed to support fire management decisions. Agencies must jointly establish an accurate, compatible, and accessible database of fire- and ecosystem-related data.

State

The New Mexico Fire Planning Task Force (NMFPTF) was created by the 2003

New Mexico Legislature to identify wildland urban interface areas most

vulnerable to danger from forest fire in the State of New Mexico. Additionally, the

Task Force works with local governments in developing minimum standards for

building codes and ordinances that will reduce the threat of forest fires to those

communities.

The New Mexico Fire Plan was developed to reduce fire hazard and risk in New Mexico's wildland/urban interface through:

• Restoration and rehabilitation of forest, watershed and wildlife habitat through prescribed burns, thinning projects, fuel break construction, removal of invasive vegetation and slash reduction.
• Securing economic action grants through the Four Corners Sustainable Forests and providing WUI Grants for landowner fuel reduction.
• Providing grants for wildland fire equipment for southern New Mexico counties including Catron County.
• Conducting training for volunteer fire departments in fire organization and firefighting.
• Holding community awareness training such as Firewise workshops

20 Communities Initiative ( New Mexico Fire Plan) is a collaborative effort begun in 2000, working to flow thru grant monies to private landowners to complete mitigation projects, as well as assist with fire department grants and trainings. New Mexico identified 20 “communities” at risk, including Catron County.

County

A proclamation for Catron County Commission Intergovernmental Task Force for Expediting Hazardous Fuel Reduction and Wildfire Prevention Catron County Resolution 018-04 was established to develop intergovernmental coordination and planning for the express and sole purposes of expediting the identification and removal of hazardous fuel loads from the national forests, BLM and state lands that are at high risk for catastrophic wildfire and which thereby threaten human communities, properties, water supplies and deliveries and strategic and/or emergency sites and services. The Task Force was to identify and prioritize the relative high risks areas, create mitigation plans and implementation priorities, project schedules, time frames and requirements for expediting hazardous fuels reduction to include the 2004 fire season as well as multi-year planning and implementation. Additionally the Task Force was to coordinate and provide technical assistance for developing the mechanisms and infrastructure for the cost-effective methods for removing fuel loads from these public lands.

The Task Force completed its work, and on June 4, 2004 was dissolved by the Catron County Commission, after accepting the Task Force’s recommendations:

• With much of the County at critical wildfire risk, the County, in cooperation with local, state, federal, and local agencies, should develop of the County wildfire protection Plan, using Healthy Forest Restoration Act guidelines and other concerns for fuels reduction;
• The County invites participation in the “Core Group” to continue in the development of the Catron County Wildfire Protection Plan, started by the Task Force.
• The County incorporate the County Wildfire Protection Plan (including watershed plan) into the revision of the Catron County Comprehensive Land Use Plan; and
• The County invite participation in development of a wood products marketing infrastructure development working group to be implemented at the appropriate time, with Doug Boykin (N.M. State Forestry) as the coordinator.

Village of Reserve

Ordinance prohibiting the burning outdoors of trash, refuse or garbage within Village limits. (Ord. No. 2002-01)