Firewise - Southwest Colorado Council
Monthly Meeting Outcomes
May 16, 2006

 

 

Attending: Dave Cluff, Dan Noonan, Dan Ochocki, Bob Koenig, Jack Cannon, Harry Bruell, Marsha Porter-Norton, Ben Cordova, Jigger Staby, Pam Wilson, Laurie Robison.

I. Updates:

1. Waste Disposal Issue

The Mitigation Committee sent a letter to the county regarding the Bayfield Convenience Center not opening for slash disposal. As a result of that letter, the county announced in a May 4 news release that the Bayfield Convenience Center would open June 3 for its free seasonal yard waste program. Nobody remembers seeing this information in the Durango Herald, however, so Harry will contact the county and ask them to send out the news release again and he will write a letter to the editor thanking the county for opening the Convenience Center.

2. Red Zone

The Red Zone project has been funded through an Energy Impact grant. Work will soon begin in La Plata County in coordination with the local fire districts and the Southwest Conservation Corps.

Red Zone coordinator is Bill Ball, OCS, ball_b@fortlewis.edu, 385-0398.

Montezuma Co. coordinator is James Dietrich, jdietrich@co.montezuma.co.us, 565-7402.

3. Fire Month

Wildfire Prevention and Education month has ended. The newspaper insert was distributed widely. There were many activities including a number of radio interviews and editorials in the Durango Herald. Fire Council had a table set up at Home Depot with hand outs, the DFRA mobile command center, and Smokey Bear. Attendance was only fair and Benny suggested we try the Home and Ranch Show next year instead. Shenandoah subdivision gave out packets to new homeowners focusing on being good stewards; fire district personnel did lot assessments last year. DFRA had a well received open house at the fire station in Rafter J. Forest Lakes had a gathering to discuss upcoming fuels mitigation work on nearby federal land and Forest Lakes mitigation concerns.

4. Officer Organization

Nicole Smith, who has been Co-Chair, Secretary, and Treasurer all wrapped into one, will be leaving for the Front Range in August. She will be working towards her doctorate at CU Boulder. She will be missed! Laurie Robison agreed to be Secretary, Susan Bryson has agreed to be Treasurer. All present voted affirmative. That leaves a vacancy for a Co-Chair. If anyone is interested contact Harry, harry@sccorps.org, 259-8607 ext.4#, or we’ll pick someone at the next Council meeting.

Bob Koenig felt it was important to create a new committee to support the Ambassador program. All voted in favor and voted for Bob to be the Ambassador Committee chair. Now we need a Mitigation Committee chair to fill in behind Bob. If you are interested, please contact Harry.

5. Role of Fire Council during wildfires

There was a discussion on the role of the Council if we have wildfires. It was expressed that we need a spokesperson for the Council. People felt it was important to determine the role of Ambassadors more clearly in the event of a wildfire near their subdivision. Pam said Philip Walters did a great job as Ambassador for Elk Stream subdivision during the Trail East fire last year and was a big help to her. It was decided that the Ambassador Committee would set a special “in service” meeting in June for interested Ambassadors to discuss the issue and try to more clearly define roles.

6. Fire Council Funding

There was a discussion on how to fund the Council. Marsha Porter-Norton had proposed at the March meeting that the Council have a membership program similar to a Chamber of Commerce model, charging a minimal fee for HOAs and a larger fee for agencies, businesses, etc. People felt it was important to find sustainable funding for the Council, rather than going from grant to grant, or hoping agencies would have some funding available. The membership idea needs further research and discussion. Marsha will check with similar groups that have faced the same funding problems and see how they faced the money problem.

There was discussion on talking with the county about having a county funded Fire Council committee. That would help the funding problem, but Fire Council was created as a region-wide council. It would also make the Council beholding to the County and eliminate the original “grassroots” idea behind the initial creation of the Council.

7. Mitigation Committee

The committee agreed to provide Ambassadors with mitigation ideas, such as how to choose a company to do chipping.

8. Education Committee

Laurie and Pam will check with Nicole to find out what is happening with the idea of a van tour for county commissioners. This was to include federal lands adjacent to subdivisions; Marsha suggested including some private land to show the difference between good and bad. The committee members felt there was a need to ask Ambassadors what speakers they might find interesting and useful – a topic for the June Ambassador meeting. It was suggested we try and get the new State Forester to speak sometime.

9. Ambassador Committee

The committee will work towards the June “in-service” to clarify the roles of Ambassadors. It seemed particularly important to clarify what Ambassadors “aren’t.” Tentative date for the Ambassador meeting is June 20.