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Wildland/Urban
Interface Specialist
In February
2003, Shelley Nolde was hired by the Santa
Fe Fire Department as the Wildland/Urban
Interface Specialist. Nolde's job has three main components
including 1) liaison with the USFS on the SFMWP; 2) working
with the community on fuels reduction; and 3) bringing the
city fire department into the wildland arena.
 While
not directly related to the SFMWP, Nolde has been working
to increase awareness about fire danger throughout Santa
Fe. The California fires in 2003 and the high mortality
rate of pinon pines in the area have created a window of
opportunity to educate the public. The Santa
Fe Pinon Initiative Steering Group is a stakeholder
group made up of state, county and city public officials
working to provide the public with information about the
changing pinon landscape and the fire hazard it poses. Because
of the large number of dead trees, the city of Santa Fe
is chipping the debris and storing the woody material for
use in highway stabilization projects. In December 2003
Nolde held her first community briefing and about 150 people
attended. Printed media also has been an effective way to
reach the public, since Santa Fe residents are highly educated
and well read. In April 2004 Nolde wrote a newspaper insert
about living with drought. Nolde also prepares home assessments
and has completed between 30-40 since August 2003. In 2004
Santa Fe received two National Fire Plan grants. One was
a hazardous fuels reduction grant for $156,000 that allows
the Santa Fe Fire Department to survey, model and plan fuel
reduction projects on city land near the southwest Watershed
boundary. The Fire Department also received an $180,000
State Fire Assistance grant that will be used for public
outreach and fuels reduction on public and private property
and host chipper days in neighborhoods.
SFWA
Monthly Hikes
Beginning
in the summer of 2003 the Santa
Fe Watershed Association resumed hikes into the watershed
to showcase and monitor the on-going work. From 1998 through
the summer of 2002 the SFWA and the City worked together
to hold hikes
through the SF Watershed to promote the thinning project,
but they ceased after the SFMWP EIS was completed. SFWA
resumed the hikes in 2003 with great success. They are scheduled
for the second Saturday of each month. Don Peterson, the
contractor, and Dave Isackson, the Contracting Officer representative
and Assistant Fire Management Officer, participate in the
monthly hikes and talk about the project details. Anywhere
from 12-30 people usually join the hike. In November 2003,
representatives from a number of the environmental groups
that were initially opposed to the SFMWP attended the hike.
Members from the Santa Fe Forest Watch commented that they
were pleased with the progress.
A
More Engaged Community
According
to the USFS, the community is more engaged in the sense that
they are more aware of fuels reduction activity in the watershed
and the need for both thinning and burning. This is a result
of USFS outreach efforts, Shelley Nolde's work, as well as
SFWA Executive Director Paige Grant's efforts in leading tours
throughout the watershed. People have a heightened interest
towards fire danger because of the national attention of recent
high profile wildfires. According to Grant, the public seems
to better understand the issues. The interest in the watershed
hikes "suggests that a lot of people with a low-level
interest in the project like to get out at least once to see
for themselves what's going on". |
