Mt. Adams Cougar Creek Burn: The Future (Dec. 11 2015)

[drm]

Friday 11 Dec 2015 - 7:00pm
White Salmon, WA, 98672
Columbia High School Library
1455 NW Bruin Country Rd.
A free public program hosted by the Friends of Mt. Adams with panel discussion and audience participation.

Panel members:
Steve Andringa (Administrative Forester, YakamaNation)Mark Nuetzmann (Wildlife Biologist, YakamaNation)
Mose’ Jones-Yellin (District Ranger,Mt.Adams RangerDistrict, USFS)
Jessica Hudec (Fire Ecologist, Giffor Pinchot National Forest, USFS)
Ken McNamee (Manager, Southeast Region Alpine District, WA Dept.of Natural Resources)
Albert Durkee(Forester, SoutheastRegion,WA Dept.ofNaturalResources)
Jay McLaughlin (Executive Director, Mt. Adams Resource Stewards)
Darryl Lloyd (FOMA Conservation Chair),“A Geographic Overview of the Cougar Creek Burn”
Jurgen Hess (FOMA boardmember),Moderator.

Discussion items will include: resource losses/costs to the land managing agencies; impact on the communities; present and planned restoration projects; future restoration needed; managing future
fires.



The Cougar Creek Fire on Aug. 11, 2015. Photo by Darryl Lloyd from the south edge of the Glenwood Valley

[drm]

The event occurred last night. Despite a chilly upper 30s rain, the high school library was nearly full, over a hundred people probably. Many were people directly affected, like ranchers and residents of the Glenwood area. The largest chunk of speaking time was given to the two representatives from the Yakama Nation, since over 80% of the land burned is theirs. Smaller amounts of time went to Forest Service and DNR (WA state) reps and one NGO rep. A lot of the discussion centered on salvage logging. All are planning to do some, though the review process for the FS is the slowest/longest. They discussed what research and plans they have for ensuring that salvage plans do not damage the land even more. Some of the Glenwood locals were calling for quick planting of grasses to control erosion as trees take a long time to regrow. The really heavy rain episodes we've had this fall have caused a lot of erosion and you can see the mud and logs in the rivers that flow from the burned area: especially the Klickitat River and into the Columbia. But grass planting on that scale is not cheap and there is a lot of burned ground in the NW competing for funds. Trout Lake had some flooding recently and the creeks that flow to Glenwood had similar problems. The Cougar Creek Fire was by far the largest fire that Mt Adams area has suffered since settlers arrived - almost 3 times the area of #2, which occurred in the late 1800s.

Maps were displayed showing which areas suffered high, moderate, and low intensity burns. Moderate burn predominated but both high and moderate intensity are considered to be "stand replacement". The rancher who has a grazing permit nearby on state and private land (though the cows sometimes get into FS and YN lands) lost 6 cattle to the fire, which is a lot less than many feared but still a big financial hit for him. He and his crews spent days riding amongst the flames gathering their grazing cows. Not sure when they will be allowed back up there.

The Yakama rep said that the entire recreation area on the reservation, including Bird Creek Meadows, will probably be closed throughout 2016. Although the meadows themselves were not burned, most the roads and access trails to get there were and falling snags is a real threat. While the area has not bee inspected real recently, it is likely that the rains have already cause a lot of slides that block roads and trails. They expect day trips to open the following year. But as to camping there, the question is will people be interested in camping at a burned out lake. The campground at Bird Lake was almost entirely burned though the one at Bench Lake was not. The road up there goes mostly through burn now.

The only FS lands still closed are between the FS/YN boundary and the Aiken Lava Bed. This is not a particularly popular hiking area but it is a very popular snowmobiling area. The 150 road which is never open to cars but is a popular way for snowmobiles to access that area is open. This area has burned three times in the last 7 years!

The FS Fire Ecologist said during the presentation that although recent fires have been close together in time, that most of this land was due for fires in the ecological sense. After the presentations and question and answer session I asked her about the only part of the mountain that has not burned recently, the north side mainly. She said that while any part can burn in the right conditions, the north side is not as prone as the rest. It is wetter, it has a different makeup of trees, and there is far less beetle kill.

[sprengers4jc]

Thank you for this update, Dean. We have never been to Bird Creek Meadows. 2015 was our year to go but we didn't make it before the burn.

[drm]

For those who want more details, numbers, etc, here is our official summary of the event made from the recording (not my memory).

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The Cougar Creek Fire “was the most devastating wildland fire on Yakama Nation lands in recent history.”

For the whole 53,500-acre fire, about $25 million was spent in direct suppression costs. In addition the Yakama Nation spent $2 million for initial/extended costs and $1 million for emergency stabilization (replacing culverts, etc.). The cost to the Tribe for rehabilitation—mostly tree-planting—will be about $5 million. There will be other economic costs, such as salvage harvesting in depressed market conditions. Other values hard to quantify are water quality degradation, wildlife losses, etc.

The area of the burn on the Yakama Reservation was about 41,500 acres. Almost 19,000 acres, or 45%, was in General Forest (commercial timberlands). Over 50% of that was moderate to severe burn intensity, or stand-replacement.

Timber volume loss was about 800 million board feet of timber, or about 8% of the standing volume. Salvage is expected to yield 100 to 300 million board feet, generating somewhere between $20 to $40 million for the Yakama Nation. This is in the span of about 18 months.


For reforestation, about 4 million seedlings will be needed for 9,000 to 10,000 acres. Plantings will consist of a mix of ponderosa pine (35%), western larch (30%), Douglas fir (20%), western white pine (10%) and Engelmann spruce (5%). The lodgepole stands that burned will come back naturally.

The Yakama Tribal Council decided early on to salvage as much as possible to recover the timber value and support the local economy. The Tribe has a sawmill in White Sawn, WA.

Planned salvage timber sales cover about one-third of the total area burned on the reservation, or about 14,000 acres. Sales are in large units of 4,000 to 5,000 acres each. About 70-80% of each unit is expected to be salvage logged. Logging started this fall in the Bird Creek Unit.

Environmental assessment of some of the southern units has already been done. It will be expedited for the other units. Because of the Bureau of Indian Affairs involvement, the Tribe has to abide by the National Environmental Policy Act, Endangered Species Act and National Historic Preservation Act. Also the Yakama Nation Forest Management Plan, as well as Sustainable Forestry Initiative.

The fire burned over half of the 16,000-acre Yakama Nation Mount Adams Recreation Area, or about 8,800 acres. Around 6,400 acres (or 73%) burned at moderate and high severity. Steve thinks the Recreation Area will remain closed to the public through 2016. Work planned will be removal of hazardous snags along roads and in campgrounds, repair of the drinking water system, and replacement/repair of the cattle drift fence. Cattle are expected to graze on Yakama Nation lands next year.

For 2017 the Tribe hopes to open the area for day-use, at least for the trail systems. Campground recovery will begin with replacement of outhouses, picnic tables, fire pits, etc. For 2018 Steve hopes the Recreation Area will be open for camping again, but it may depend on how the public wants to use the area. People may not want to camp in heavily burned areas. Repairs will continue with an emphasis on public safety.

This plan is subject to change, but it’s a snapshot for the next few years.

Yakama Nation will continue with commercial and non-commercial treatments, including prescribed fire to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire. However, active management “is no guarantee.” Forest and fire management over the past 100+ years have produced stand conditions “pretty far out of whack.” Let fires re-burn dense lodgepole stands because “that’s what fires do.” Areas of the forest such as well-managed stands should be prioritized for management, to reduce the risk of stand-replacement fires.

We’re losing the pool of wildland firefighters with an aging workforce and increased educational and training requirements. “Each agency, whether it’s Forest Service, state, local counties or Yakama Nation need to step up and provide that cadre of firefighters.”

[miah66]

Interesting: "$25 million was spent in direct suppression costs" and then later: "Forest and fire management over the past 100+ years have produced stand conditions “pretty far out of whack.” ummm...yea.