The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current, December 28, 2019, WEEKEND EDITION, Image 7

The daily Astorian., December 28, 2019, WEEKEND EDITION, Page 7, Image 7

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Newspaper Page TextA7 THE ASTORIAN • SATURDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2019 Wildland growth challenges local ofﬁ cials By BRAD CARLSON Capital Press $3.5 billion Dorothy Finaldi watched as aircraft swooped across the landscape, dropping load after load of ﬁ re retardant near a new housing development north of Boise, Idaho. “It was deﬁ nitely a wait-and-see what would happen with the hillside because of cheatgrass,” said Finaldi, a Central Foothills Neigh- borhood Association board member. “Our home was not imme- diately at risk,” Finaldi said of the wildﬁ re that swept through the hillsides a cou- Dorothy ple of years ago, “but if we Finaldi had not had the wildland ﬁ re crews, it could have been much worse.” Development near fast-growing cities such as Boise not only takes agricultural land out of production, it can create a problem for the new residents, who want to live in open areas and forests but ﬁ nd themselves exposed to a heightened threat of wildﬁ res. This year alone in California, insurance companies estimate wildﬁ res caused more than $25 billion in damage — mainly to homes built on or near ag and forest land. In other swaths of the West a growing number of housing developments border wildﬁ re-prone forests and grassland. In those areas, home- owners, ﬁ reﬁ ghters and insurance companies are seeking ways to keep wildﬁ res at bay. Fastest-growing use “Wildland-urban interface is the fast- est-growing land-use type in the U.S., and as it grows, more people mean more ﬁ re starts and more potential for loss of property and life,” said Jared Jablonski, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s Boise District ﬁ re infor- mation ofﬁ cer. The loss of farm and ranch land can be at least partially attributed to burgeoning hous- ing construction. Between 1997 and 2017, the number of crop acres fell 13.7% in Ore- gon, 9.7% in Washington, 8.7% in Idaho and 13.2% in California. Nationwide, the average shrinkage was 10.9%. During the same 20 years, the number of pasture acres shrank by 11.25% in Oregon, 17.4% in Washington, 7.6% in Idaho and 22.5% in California. As farms and ranches have been gob- bled up for homes they have exposed the new developments to the potential for wild- ﬁ res. The 2019 Verisk Wildﬁ re Risk Analysis found nearly 4.5 million Western U.S. homes, including more than 2 million in California, are at high or extreme risk of wildﬁ re damage. “There is ﬁ nally beginning to be kind of a culture shock and culture change that gov- ernment cannot resolve all of the issues with wildland ﬁ re itself,” said Bob Roper, a retired Ventura County, California, ﬁ re chief and for- mer Nevada state forester. “... This needs the public’s help and ultimately we need to learn to live with wildﬁ re.” Roper, who is involved in the International Association of Fire Chiefs and Western Fire Chiefs Association, said the National Cohe- sive Wildland Fire Management Strategy calls for restoring land to healthy conditions, build- ing “ﬁ re-adapted” communities designed to withstand a wildﬁ re if no trucks are available and having a robust response system. “As population growth increases in some of these areas, that means there should be cor- responding increases in the number of vehi- cles and resources you have available, and that has not always been the case,” he said. “Pub- lic ofﬁ cials realize we can’t always be there for everybody. We are trying to get the public to acknowledge that and become part of the solution.” Area of concern Jason Boal, community planning manager with Ada County, Idaho, Development Ser- vices in the Boise area, has worked in county planning in the state for about a decade, includ- ing stints in northern and eastern regions. “Everywhere I have been, the wildland-ur- ban interface has been a topic of conversation and an area of concern for jurisdictions,” he said. Development creeping into farmland, $3.14 billion: Up 7.7% from 2017; Up 443% from 1988 Federal costs to ﬁght wildﬁres * 3 (Billions of dollars) 2.5 U.S. Forest Service costs DOI agencies costs 2 (Department of Interior agencies include Bureau of Indian Aﬀairs, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) 1.5 1.7 1 0.58 0.5 0.21 0 1988 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 Bureau of Land Management 2018 An airtanker drops retardant to help stop the spread of the Eyrie Fire in southern Idaho in 2015. *Suppression only; includes all private, state and federal lands. Source: National Interagency Fire Center Alan Kenaga/Capital Press rangeland and other open areas has been a longtime growth pattern in much of Idaho, including Ada County, Boal said. County, community and business leaders have been working on a coordinated growth strategy that would keep new housing construction next to or near existing development, for example. Ada County requires subdivisions in its wildland-overlay district to have a compre- hensive wildland ﬁ re plan, control vegetation and maintain road access and turnouts for ﬁ re vehicles. Fire agencies also weigh in on pro- posed developments. “We are seeing the conversation spread about wildland-urban interface and how we deal with it beyond just ﬁ re,” Boal said. Flood, landslide and mudslide risk also come into play. Oregon In c entral Oregon, fast-growing Deschutes County has for years seen development close to forests and grassland used for grazing. “With the rapid growth that we have in the Northwest, in Oregon and in Deschutes County, we are seeing more and more growth in the wildland-urban interface,” said Zecha- riah Heck, associate planner for the county. Deschutes County has numerous zones for the wildland-urban areas, including a forest-use zone that is fairly restrictive and requires conditional-use approval before a home is built. Wildﬁ re challenges John Bailey, a professor in the Oregon State University College of Forestry, said Bend and some other communities in the West have made strides. For planned development projects, “the secret is, right at the beginning, admitting it’s going to be challenged by wildﬁ re on a num- ber of different fronts,” he said. Such challenges include “a wind-driven ﬁ re coming towards it, but also all of the ember rain that is going to be cast into it. Many com- munities are getting there, and the insurance industry is getting there,” Bailey said. Getting home insurance in ﬁ re-prone areas can be a problem. A 2018 California Department of Insur- ance report found that authorizing new insur- ers and boosting outreach created more cover- age options. However, it “did not solve the overarch- ing problem of lack of available and afford- able coverage in the traditional homeowners’ insurance market” in wildland-urban areas. Potential solutions include aligning stan- dards of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and the Insurance Institute for Building and Home Safety, and having insurers agree to provide coverage to home- owners who meet these requirements. Insurance premiums are 25% to 50% higher for home policies in high ﬁ re-risk areas. into the foothills,” Buck said. “Anytime we get a wildﬁ re event in the Boise Front (range), we know homes are going to be impacted.” More personnel and equipment are needed once people and structures are threatened, he said. Travel distance, terrain and ﬁ re-fuel type also can pressure resources. BLM’s Jablonski said that in wildland-ur- ban ﬁ res, incident commanders’ ordered pri- orities are life, property and resources. This increases the chance that the ﬁ re’s footprint will expand. He said the wildland-urban interface refers to a combination of homes, ﬂ ammable veg- etation and open space; it’s not necessarily a foothill or forested environment. Grasslands south and east of Boise, for example, may be included. Finaldi and her husband, Jim Traub, bought their home in the Boise Foothills a decade ago. Would they do it again? “I really don’t know,” Finaldi said. “I would certainly be more aware, and assess the overall pros and cons a little differently than perhaps the ﬁ rst time.” But they love their home, on which they installed ﬁ re-resistant cement-board siding in 2015. “It’s deﬁ nitely a privilege to live in this area,” Finaldi said. “But you have to be aware and you have to be diligent, for sure. And if you need to go, you pack up and go. You don’t hang out.” “When you get into these old neighbor- hoods, you are mitigating for a lot of things that often were inappropriately planted and allowed to grow untended,” she said. “So you are doing a lot of catch-up and mitigation.” In the foothills north of Eagle, a suburb of Boise, about 500 homes have been built, 60 are under construction and thousands more are proposed in Avimor, a planned commu- nity. The National Fire Protection Association designates it a “Firewise” community, mean- ing residents must meet landscape and defen- sible-space standards. “People feel some comfort knowing some- body is thinking of that,” Avimor Managing Partner Dan Richter said. “Very rarely do we get signiﬁ cant push-back.” Southwest Idaho Resource Conserva- tion and Development last year issued Avi- mor a grant of more than $40,000 to aid in planting forage kochia on its perimeter. Scott Buck, deputy chief of the Eagle Fire Protec- tion District, said it will be a year or more before the winter-germinating plant’s impacts are known. But the idea is to help protect the perimeter or keep a ﬁ re that starts within Avi- mor from spreading. “We are looking at different areas of the foothills for a similar project,” he said. “And we are always looking for partners,” including landowners providing access. As more people move to the area, “ag ground is leaving and more people are pushing WHY TRAVEL? WE HAVE ONE OF THE MOST SUCCESSFUL AND PREDICTABLE SYSTEMS AVAILABLE! Klemp Family Dentistry offers Implants • CT scan • Same day dentures Guided implant placement Before implants All on 4 implant denture X-rays After implants and veneers More concerns In Idaho, plans to develop or expand large communities in the former farm and ranch land near Boise have drawn fresh local concerns. Finaldi, the homeowner, said some of the newer developments have been designed with more ﬁ re-aware features. SEVENDAY FORECAST FOR ASTORIA TODAY SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY KLEMP FAMILY DENTISTRY 1006 West Marine Drive, Astoria (503) 468-0116 www.klempfamilydentistry.com THURSDAY FRIDAY REGIONAL FORECAST Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows. Seattle 48 42 49 38 48 40 50 42 Rain tapering Mainly cloudy A little p.m. rain off Rain 50 43 51 41 Periods of rain Chance of rain 49 37 Cloudy, rain possible Aberdeen Olympia 46/43 46/43 Wenatchee Tacoma Moses Lake 46/40 ALMANAC UNDER THE SKY TODAY'S TIDES Astoria through Thursday Tonight’s Sky: Jupiter at solar conjunction (10:29 a.m. PST). Astoria / Port Docks Temperatures High/low ................................ 46/30 Normal high/low .................. 48/37 Record high .................. 64 in 1980 Record low .................... 19 in 1924 Precipitation Thursday ................................. 0.07” Month to date ........................ 9.13” Normal month to date ......... 8.34” Year to date .......................... 50.08” Normal year to date ........... 65.71” Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2019 Time High (ft.) Time Low (ft.) 2:57 a.m. 1:59 p.m. 7.8 8:27 a.m. 3.3 8.9 9:10 p.m. -0.4 Cape Disappointment 2:37 a.m. 1:37 p.m. Source: Jim Todd, OMSI Hammond SUN AND MOON Sunrise today .................. 7:58 a.m. Sunset tonight ............... 4:36 p.m. Moonrise today ........... 10:02 a.m. Moonset today .............. 7:15 p.m. First Full Last New 2:49 a.m. 1:51 p.m. Warrenton 2:52 a.m. 1:54 p.m. Knappa 3:34 a.m. 2:36 p.m. Depoe Bay Jan 2 Jan 10 Jan 17 Jan 24 7.5 7:33 a.m. 3.4 8.7 8:16 p.m. -0.7 7.9 7:57 a.m. 3.5 9.1 8:36 p.m. -0.6 8.2 8:11 a.m. 3.4 9.3 8:54 p.m. -0.3 8.1 9:28 a.m. 2.9 9.1 10:11 p.m. -0.3 1:51 a.m. 7.9 7:04 a.m. 3.8 12:50 p.m. 9.3 7:49 p.m. -0.7 City Atlanta Boston Chicago Dallas Denver Honolulu Houston Los Angeles Miami New York City Phoenix San Francisco Wash., DC Sun. Hi/Lo/W 65/60/pc 49/35/s 52/50/sh 65/42/r 28/12/sn 82/72/pc 76/59/c 61/42/s 81/74/c 50/39/s 55/36/s 55/46/s 58/43/s 70/54/c 43/37/pc 62/31/sh 54/33/pc 31/11/pc 84/72/pc 68/39/r 61/49/pc 81/73/sh 48/45/r 55/41/s 57/46/r 53/52/sh Weather (W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy, c-cloudy, sh-showers, t-thunderstorms, r-rain, sf-snow fl urries, sn-snow, i-ice. 39/33 Hermiston The Dalles 39/31 Enterprise Pendleton 36/29 38/32 40/32 La Grande 37/30 46/41 NATIONAL CITIES Today Hi/Lo/W 35/29 Kennewick Walla Walla 35/29 Lewiston 37/30 45/41 Salem Pullman 36/28 Longview 48/42 Portland 46/41 33/28 Yakima 35/30 45/40 Astoria Spokane 33/27 Corvallis 46/39 Albany 46/42 John Day Eugene Bend 48/41 42/32 40/33 Ontario 37/25 Caldwell Burns 34/22 37/26 Medford 46/34 Klamath Falls 41/23 City Baker City Brookings Ilwaco Newberg Newport Today Hi/Lo/W 35/22/pc 51/42/pc 48/45/r 44/41/c 49/43/c Sun. Hi/Lo/W 36/25/c 50/41/r 48/40/r 47/33/r 50/39/r City North Bend Roseburg Seaside Springfi eld Vancouver Today Hi/Lo/W 51/45/c 48/40/c 49/44/r 50/41/c 45/41/pc Sun. Hi/Lo/W 50/40/r 48/38/r 49/37/r 48/35/r 47/34/r