Firewise

The Kittitas County Conservation District (KCCD), first became involved in “firewise” activities nearly 10 years ago. They worked with the Board of County Commissioners, Kittitas County Fire Marshal, Kittitas County Fire Chiefs Association and the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to assist with the County Wildfire Protection Plan. They then began working with landowners and communities to assess properties and secure funding for projects.

The 2012 Taylor Bridge and Table Mountain Fires massively increased requests for assistance. Over the next 5 years, DNR provided more than $1 million in grants to KCCD for financial assistance to landowners for specific projects, to fund roving chipper crews (often staffed by local fire districts), and to assist communities with application to the Firewise USA program. These projects impacted hundreds of landowners and dozens of neighborhoods and communities. Most work occurred in the Upper County, although projects have been completed in Green Canyon, Secret Canyon and Manastash Canyon as well.

For several years, there’s been an effort to raise awareness about wildfire risk and steadily improve implementation of projects to effect change at a landscape level. At the same time, we’ve experienced fires in forestland and rangeland that threatened homes and caused evacuation notices to be issued. With each new fire, more people and resources are joining this effort. In May 2017, local, state and federal agencies, fire departments, non-profits, and community members were invited to the Swauk-Teanaway Grange. The meeting was well attended and included a discussion of wildfire risks (before, during and after), the need to improve communication, and how to work effectively across ownership boundaries. As a group, they decided to form the Kittitas Fire Adapted Communities Coalition (KFACC). Together they are working to coordinate on-the-ground projects, provide consistent outreach and technical assistance and further the goal of a resilient and fire adapted community. KFACC is on Facebook @KittitasFACC and may be reached at kittitasfacc@gmail.com.

List of Activities

RCPP Application Deadline set for November 2, 2018. Landowners, farmers and ranchers can sign up for financial assistance to improve irrigation systems, livestock grazing management, and fish habitat conditions. (click here for more information)

Virtual Wildfire Workshop for Landowners & Publicthrough two videos that explain our fire enviroment and instruct on how to build and maintain defensible space. Click here to watch!

KCCD's Annual Plan of Work for fiscal year 2019 (July 2018 to June 2019) is available here for review.

Voluntary Stewardship Program (VSP) - The final Kittitas County VSP Work Plan was approved by the Washington State Conservation Commission on April 27, 2018. The Work Plan is available here.

KCCD Local Funding- The 2017 Annual Report of Activities for the KCCD's local funding (system of rates & charges) is available for viewing here.

Board of Supervisors  - Meeting Agendas and Minutes are available here.