Field Notes from Jan. 28-29, 2015 FireScape Mendocino Workshop #5

FireScape Mendocino Workshop 5 - January 28 and 29, 2015

Strategies and Results Chains

Please join us for our fifth in a series of workshops for FireScape Mendocino to be held in Elk Creek Wednesday, January 28th and Thursday, January 29th, 2015 from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. daily. The meeting is at the Elk Creek Grange Hall, 150 Church Street, Elk Creek, CA

FireScape is a voluntary collaborative effort to shape the future of our fire-prone landscape in and near the Mendocino National Forest. Working together, we will emphasize shared learning, problem solving and action on the ground. Taking the next step in this collaborative effort, our goals will be:

Refine the draft strategies from the last workshop

• Test our strategies with results chains to see if they will really get

   us where we want to go

• Start work in subgroups to tackle strategies

• Continue to build shared learning among participants

During this two-day event, participants will work in both small and large groups, indoors and outdoors. Guided by the best practices of the North America Fire Learning Network, our collaboration is designed to enable people with diverse perspectives to find zones of agreement where we can achieve tangible results in our communities and the surrounding landscape. For more information, check out our blog at:

 http://mendocinofirescape.blogspot.com/

Some other examples from around the country can be found at www.conservationgateway.org

Lunch will be provided both days.

There will be a short (weather-dependent) field trip on Wednesday and participants should be prepared for changing weather conditions in the field. The trip will be accessible, not leaving roads or trails.

In order to make sure we have food and materials for everyone, we ask that you register by

Wednesday January 21st. To register, or for more information, please contact Lauren Johnson

at 530-934-1153 or by email at laurenjohnson@fs.fed.us

Thank you and we look forward to your participation in this collaborative effort.

Public Workshop for FireScape Mendocino - Sept. 3/4 in Willits

Please join us for our fourth in a series of Workshops for FireScape Mendocino to be held at the Community Hall in Willits, CA on Wednesday, September 3 and Thursday, September 4, 2014.

FireScape Mendocino is a voluntary collaborative effort to shape the future of our fire-prone landscape in and near the Mendocino National Forest. Working together, we will emphasize shared learning, problem solving and action on the ground. Taking the next step in this collaborative effort, our goals will be:

• Share homework and updates since the last workshop.

• Use the situation diagram from Workshop 3 to decide which strategies the group will pursue, in order to boost the health and viability of the group’s shared values.

• Work through interactive exercises about the landscape, including case studies and maps from the local landscape.

• Introduce the next step – developing the activity plan that will guide work on the ground.

• Continue to build shared learning among participants in FireScape Mendocino.

During this two-day event, participants will work in both small and large groups with a variety of collaborators. Guided by the best practices of the North America Fire Learning Network, FireScape Mendocino is designed to enable people with diverse perspectives to find zones of agreement where we can achieve tangible results in our communities and the surrounding landscapes.

We need people...

... With local community perspectives

... Who enjoy outdoor recreation (camping, hunting, hiking, OHV, etc.)

... With perspectives on living with wildfires

... Who manage land - whether it’s a ranch, timberlands or their backyard

... With thoughts about community and landscape planning

... With enthusiasm and an interest in the future of our local landscapes

All meetings are open to the public and everyone is welcome to participate. Space may be limited, so if you are part of a large family or organization, please consider sending a few folks to speak for the larger group.

Location & Dates:

Wednesday, September 3 & Thursday, September 4

Willits Community Hall

111 East Commercial Street

Willits, CA 95490

Pre-registration is required by Wednesday, August 27th by close of business. To register, or for more information, please contact:

Marilyn Perham at 530-897-6370, ext. 200

Email mperham@tnc.org

Paskenta FireScape Tour and Workshop Report

Field Review of Private Land Fuel Reduction Project

To date, FireScape Mendocino has hosted three two-day Workshops with a half day field trip, both of which were facilitated by the Fire Learning Network (FLN). The third Workshop was held Tuesday, June 10th and Wednesday, June 11th at the Community Hall in Paskenta, CA. Thirty people from 15 organizations participated (see list below).  

Guided by the Open Standards for the Practice of Conservation, the attendees focused on developing a Situation Diagram based on the group’s shared values and targets.  The meeting also included a field trip to review various forest health related fuel reduction treatments on both private and federal forest land. Rick Mowery, Fire Ecologist for the Mendocino National Forest, discussed fire regimes and management treatments with workshop participants at stops along the private and federal land interface and at an historic meadow on the Forest. Local land owner and fuel reduction expert, Bill Burroughs, presented the group with a case study about the use of goat grazing for fuel removal.  Mechanical treatments were also included in his presentation.

FS Staff Explains Fire History near Private/Federal Land Interface

FireScape Mendocino is a collaboration designed to enable people with diverse perspectives to find zones of agreement where we can achieve tangible results in our communities and the surrounding landscape. The collaboration is facilitated by the Fire Learning Network, which is a cooperative program of the Forest Service, Department of the Interior agencies—Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service and National Park Service—and The Nature Conservancy.

2008 Shaded Fuel Break on Forest Service Land

The partnership has a twelve-year track record of helping to restore our nation’s forests and grasslands and to make communities safer from fire. All Workshops are open to anyone interested in participating.

*For more information on FireScape Mendocino, please contact Rick Mowery at 530-934-1175 or Don Amador at 925-625-6287

Paskenta Workshop participants; Tehama County Resource Conservation District,  CAL Fire, California State Parks OHM Recreation Division, California Wilderness Coalition, Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC), Coordinator of Resource Management Plan, Congress Representative of Doug LaMalfa, Crane Mills, Sierra Pacific, West Ecosystems Analysis, Tuleyome, Yolo Audubon Society, Blue Ribbon Coalition and the U.S. Forest Service; Mendocino National Forest.

Firescape Mendocino Community Meeting in Paskenta – June 10 and 11

Please join us as we take the next step in FireScape Mendocino with our third Workshop in Paskenta, CA.  The workshop will be held  at the Paskenta Community Hall, Tuesday , June 10 and Wednesday, June 11, 2014  9:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.

FireScape Mendocino is a voluntary collaborative effort to shape the future of our fire-prone landscape in and near the Mendocino National Forest. Working together, we will emphasize shared learning, problem solving and action on the ground.

On February 19 and 20, thirty-four stakeholders in the FireScape Mendocino landscape met in Upper Lake for the second planning workshop in a series using the Open Standards for the Practice of Conservation. At this workshop, participants:

• solidified the project’s geographic scope, vision statement and targets, based on the homework completed following the first workshop;

• identified the “key ecological attributes” of the targets, and assessed their current viability;

• used case study maps to explore where the targets occur on the landscape; and

• conducted a threats analysis for each target, including threat rankings. The next steps for the group, with regard to threats, will be to develop strategies and action plans. The core team is also considering its first fuel reduction project.

During the two-day event in Paskenta, participants will continue to build on the work from the previous workshops by taking a brief field trip on Tuesday  morning and work in both small and large groups with a variety of partners on Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday. Guided by the best practices of the North America Fire Learning Network, our collaboration is designed to enable people with diverse perspectives to find zones of agreement where we can achieve tangible results in our communities and the surrounding landscape.

Your participation is vital to this effort as we continue to build shared knowledge among stakeholders participating in FireScape Mendocino.  Please join us at the Paskenta workshop.

The workshop is free and open to the public, with lunch provided both days.  However, pre-registration is required before Tuesday, June 3.  To register, please contact Marilyn Perham at 530-897-6370 ext. 200 or email mperham@tnc.org.

For more information on FireScape Mendocino, please contact Rick Mowery at 530-934-1175 or Don Amador at 925-625-6287.

What is the Mendocino Firescape

FireScape is an abbreviation, which stands for Fire Integration in
Restoration Ecology using Science and a Collaborative Approach
with a Partnership Emphasis.

FireScape evolved from an idea in Arizona about 10 years ago to change
the way we look at land management, incorporating applying the best available
science and adaptive management principles on a landscape scale with the
involvement of partners and sharing resources while reducing the volume of
paperwork required to be stewards of the land.

There is more to FireScape than fire. It’s about all the resources – including people.
It is a collaborative approach to land management, reaching beyond human
established boundaries (i.e., property lines) to restore landscapes across natural
boundaries.

FireScape has been successfully applied on ranger districts in both Arizona
and California and has inspired similar efforts in other parts of the country.

FireScape Mendocino expands the vision to a forest scale – starting with
nearly 1 million acres of National Forest system lands, and expanding the analysis
across land owned by federal, state and local agencies, as
well as private landowners.

While the Mendocino National Forest is a key part of FireScape, this is actually
a seamless partnership – everyone comes to the table at the same level. Similar to how
every party needs a place and people to invite, the Mendocino National Forest is
opening the door and inviting partners and interested public to come to the table and
actively engage and participate in growing a strategy to manage the landscape.

The Mendocino National Forest has partnered with The Nature Conservancy’s
Fire Learning Network to start this collaborative effort. Even though FireScape
Mendocino is still in its infancy, but will be growing quickly in the coming months
with more opportunities to get involved!

We are looking forward to working together to develop resilient, fireadapted
forests and related communities across the landscape!  Get involved now.

Contact, Don Amador,  Core Team Co-Lead at:  damador@cwo.com
for more information about upcoming meetings and workshops.