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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (April 3, 2019)
Wednesday, April 3, 2019 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon LAND USE: Building codes and other tools can help mitigation Continued from page 3 than 40,000 structures lost to wildfire in the last decade, fire managers believe more communities should con- sider adopting regulations, plans, and codes that reduce wildfire risk in the WUI. In applying land-use plan- ning tools to reduce wildfire risk, communities can safely live with wildfire on the landscape. Land-use planning involves better management of the built environment, such as subdivision design, infrastructure layout, home construction, and landscaping treatments, to reduce wild- fire risks from the unbuilt or natural environment. These tools of land-use planning are diverse and often work in tandem with other develop- ment objectives, such as zon- ing overlays, development ordinances, land preservation and watershed management plans, and building codes. Strategies such as fuel breaks, landscape treatments, development and design standards, building codes, subdivision regulations and other planning tools are suc- cessfully applied to improve a community9s resiliency to wildfire. Planners and fire manag- ers have the knowledge and tools to reduce risk posed by homes in wildfire-prone areas, and that can mean the difference between home sur- vival and loss. These tactics include: " Require wildfire-resis- tant building materials and design features. " Prohibit the storage of flammable materials (like firewood and propane tanks) in areas around homes. " Use slope setbacks to distance homes from hills where fires move quickly. " Reduce or regulate new home development in the areas of highest risk. " Develop approved plant lists and require homeown- ers to maintain vegetation around the home. " Maintain parks and open space around a community to reduce fuel. The costs of such strate- gies are often minor, and cer- tainly they pale in compari- son to the costs communities suffer when they experience a wildfire disaster. With thou- sands of U.S. communities at risk, wildfire mitigations for communities are an immedi- ately available 4 but under- used 4 solution. Oregon is making prog- ress. Earlier this year, Oregon amended its State Building Code to allow local jurisdic- tions the option of requiring wildfire-resistant construc- tion in high hazard areas. The code, derived from interna- tional standards and using the best available science, allows cities and counties to decide whether and where to imple- ment wildfire building regu- lations. Deschutes County and the City of Sisters now have the opportunity to adopt this code. In addition, find- ings from a recent third-party study (CPAW) on how land- use codes and policies are in line with current wildfire mitigation standards, have provided recommendations on changes the City of Sisters can adopt. These can help guide future growth in a way that allows the protection of our community in areas where wildfires are accepted as nat- urally occurring events that we cannot always control. We are wise to allow com- munities to require wildfire- resistant construction, as Washington and California have already done. To be most effective, mitigation must be mandatory at the community scale in areas of high wildfire hazard. Since implementation takes time, the sooner Deschutes County and the City of Sisters adopt these codes and recommen- dations, the better. Too often, we believe the unthinkable will not happen to our community, but such willful blindness does us all a disservice. When flammable homes are built in wildfire- prone areas without appro- priate mitigation efforts, tax- payers end up shouldering the burden, economies are disrupted, and individuals suffer. Doug Green is Fire Safety Manager for the Sisters -Camp Sherman Fire District. YOU ODAY FOR T L L A C R IN O Sisters Country birds By Douglas Beall Correspondent Arriving at ponds and lakes near you are the color- rich northern shovelors (spat- ula clypeata), a dabbling duck who will often form a group circle and agitate the water to bring seeds and aquatic plants to the surface for a quick meal. Males have a dark green head, orange legs, yellow eyes and a chestnut breast. Females are a mottled light brown with orange- brown bill and legs, and dark eyes. The northern shovelors are often called <spoonys= because of the shape of their bills, which have 110 lamellae (fine projections) on the sides, for straining food from water. They produce one brood a year of 8-12 pale-greenish eggs laid in a nest built by the female using vegetation and lined with downy feathers. In 22-25 days the ducklings break through their egg shells and are fully feathered and ready to jump in the water. The oldest northern shovelor recorded was a male, 16 years 7 months, in Nevada. Ducks are referred to as a <flush,= <paddling,= <team,= <brace,= or <raft= of ducks. To see more images visit http:// abirdsingsbecauseithasasong. com/recent-journeys. The color-rich northern shovelor. PHOTO BY DOUGLAS BEALL The e Best est Fence e ce You’ll Never See. ® • Manage via Smart Phone • GentleSteps™ Training with our Professional Trainer • Award-Winning Technology • Best Warranty in Industry • America’s Safest Dog Fence • 100% Made in the U.S.A. Year-round FIREWOOD SALES — Kindling — — — SISTERS FOREST PRODUCTS SAVE $100 NOW 541-771-2330 541-410-4509 phantompetfence.com/save-now/ SistersForestProducts.com LOOKING FOR A NEW DENTIST? 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