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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 4, 2017)
20 Wednesday, October 4, 2017 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon FIRE REHAB: Extensive work slated to rehab forest Continued from page 1 some experienced low or moderate-intensity fire; and some portions of the fire area didn’t burn at all. The BAER Team on the Milli Fire was comprised of Forest Service employees with a range of resource spe- cialties who work together to assess time-critical reha- bilitation or recovery activi- ties to be completed within a fire area. According to the Forest Service, overall objectives for BAER Teams include: • Determine whether i m minent pos t-wildfire threats to human life and safety, property, and critical natural or cultural resources on National Forest System lands exist and take imme- diate actions, as appropriate, to manage the unacceptable risks. • If emergency condi- tions are identified, mitigate significant threats to health, safety, human life, property and values-at-risk. • Prescribe emergency response actions to stabi- lize and prevent unaccept- able degradation to natural and cultural resources, to minimize threats to life or property resulting from the effects of a fire, or to repair/ replace/construct physical improvements necessary to prevent degradation of land or resources. • Implement emergency response actions to help sta- bilize soil; control water, sed- iment and debris movement DRONES: Tech offers tool for vineyard management Continued from page 13 Garms were surveying a field where the grapevines had been infected with red blotch disease, a viral infec- tion that hampers fruit pro- duction. Wing said the flight was the fourth in a series of five monthly flyovers at the field where he and Garms were using an infrared cam- era to look for the disease. Wing said that they are testing whether the infra- red camera can detect the disease earlier, because the cameras can see shades of red on the grapevine leaves that the human eye cannot see. Wing said he and his team will need to confirm the pres- ence of the red blotch virus with genetic testing and have and potentially reduce threats to the BAER values identi- fied above when an analysis shows that planned actions are likely to reduce risks sub- stantially within the first year following containment of the fire. • Monitor the implemen- tation and effectiveness of emergency treatments that were applied on National Forest System lands. The BAER Team for the Milli Fire used field surveys and science-based models to evaluate and assess the burned area. The BAER Team’s focus was on mini- mizing potential post-fire effects to life, property, and critical natural or cul- tural resources. The team completed its final report for the Deschutes National Forest on September 21, and made the following recommendations: • Invasive weed detection and treatment along several Forest Service roads and Highway 242 that were of high to moderate burn sever- ity. It is expected that the detection will occur across 205 acres and will require 20 acres of treatment within those 205 acres. • Storm-proofing of roads in areas with high and mod- erate burn severity. This will include cleaning culverts and installing additional water bars to handle short-term sediment and debris flows. This activity will occur on 3.4 miles of road. • Installing drainage fea- tures on roads downslope or within the high and moder- ate burn severity areas. This work will occur on 2.2 miles of road. • Trailhead hazard tree months of data analysis to do, but early signs are that the method is promising. “Hopefully, this would allow (vineyard owners) to know there is a problem ear- lier,” he said. “Potentially, this could be a really valu- able tool.” Wing added that there aren’t any treatments for red blotch disease except containment, so an early detection method could help vineyard owners keep healthy plants from getting infected. Garms, a doctoral stu- dent, said he thinks someday there likely will be compa- nies that travel around hir- ing out drone surveying services for vineyard own- ers. He said he’s thought of doing that kind of work himself when he finishes his studies. “In the future, this could be as common as having your soil tested,” Garms said. mitigation will continue to mitigate hazard trees adja- cent to trailheads as addi- tional tree mortality is expected from the fire in the next few months. Areas of particular concern are Scott Pass and Lava Camp Lake trailheads. • Trail stabilization that includes installing drain- age, waterbars and removing snags as necessary. Primary areas of concern are the Pacific Crest, North Matthieu Lake, Millican Crater, Scott Pass, Green Lakes, Trout Creek Tie and Black Crater trails. • Install trail and road haz- ard signs to inform the public about the dangers associated with recreating within the burn area. • Temporarily closing access roads with boul- ders accessing four camp- sites within Lava Camp Lake Campground (seven sites to remain open) and the Black Crater trailhead access. These areas will be reevaluated and may be reopened when hazards are no longer a threat to public safety. The total request for funds for Milli Fire rehabilitation and recovery work based on the BAER Team’s recom- mendation was $131,212. In addition to the work PHOTO BY CEILI CORNELIUS Some areas of the Milli Fire burned at high intensity. that will be completed under the BAER Team assessment, suppression crews and con- tractors are continuing repair of suppression lines associ- ated with the Milli Fire to mitigate adverse effects to resources resulting from fire suppression activities. This includes: • Rehabilitation and recovery of constructed sup- pression lines including dozer lines (11.4 miles), hand lines (1.3 miles), safety zones and helispots. • Repair to roads and trails used as suppression lines. Roads (50.9 miles) and trails (0.75 miles) may need to be graded/reconstructed or have drainage repaired. Danger trees are being mitigated this fall along approximately 18.1 miles of open roads including 6.9 miles of Highway 242. In areas where felled dan- ger trees are not necessary to meet resource goals and would create an unsafe accu- mulation of fuels or would be a roadside hazard, trees have been decked and will be sold commercially or as personal use firewood. Over the next year the Sisters Ranger District will assess the need to complete additional resource protec- tion or repair roads, trails, or other infrastructure in the Milli Fire area that can- not be addressed through BAER or suppression repair authorities. The District is also beginning to assess the need to conduct salvage log- ging projects along roads or areas affected by the fire.
