KittitasCountyCWPP_September2022_Amendment_Only (2)

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Upper Swauk Landscape Evaluation Summary (2020) | Page 6 Definitions (continued) Wildfire response benefit: Any tactical advantage gained for wildfire response activities from actions on the landscape, including identifying and consoli- dating existing anchor points and control lines and reducing potential fire behavior. Wildfire response benefit is not restricted to any specific fire manage- ment strategy; it is centered on conditions that im- prove fire operations safety and efficacy during suppression, prescribed fire, or managed wildfire. Potential Control Lines (PCLs): Boundaries of Po- tential Operational Delineations (PODs) relevant to fire control operations (e.g. roads, ridgetops, and water bodies). Potential Operational Delineations (PODs) for wildland fire: Landscape containers whose bound- aries are potential control lines (PCLs). PODs are useful for planning strategic response to unplanned ignitions, strategic fuel planning, and prioritizing fuel treatments within PODs. Commercially managed lands: Commercially managed forestlands include: DNR Trustlands, tribal forests, industrial forests, non-industrial pri- vate forests, and US Forest Service forests where timber is a primary management objective. Figure 10. Wildfire response benefit (WRB) integrates multiple fire risk and forest health components. It includes four fire risk metrics representing highly valued resources – risk to homes, infrastructure, drinking water, commercially managed lands – as well as crown fire potential and wildfire transmission to homes (Fig. 8). Combined, these account for 75% of the wildfire re- sponse benefit. Landscape treatment priority (Fig. 9) accounts for the remaining 25%. Also shown are PODs: units bounded by PCLs (open black lines). One use of the WRB metric is to prioritize Potential Control Lines (PCLs) for fire operations (Fig. 11). Wildfire Response Benefit Prioritization Dual benefits for forest health and wildfire response It is necessary to conduct treatments to both improve for- est health and reduce fire risk to communities as well as provide conditions where firefighters can safely and effi- ciently conduct fire operations (e.g. suppression, pre- scribed burning, and managed wildfire). The wildfire response benefit metric (WRB; Fig. 10) identifies and pri- oritizes locations where values at risk that are more likely to be the focus of fire operations (homes, infrastructure, sources of drinking water, and commercially managed lands) coincide with areas likely to transmit wildfire to homes and generate severe fire behavior. Because there are positive feedbacks between healthy, resilient forests and safe, effective fire operations, the WRB metric also integrates the landscape treatment priority map (Fig. 9). Where WRB is highest, actions may be needed to create and maintain conditions that provide a tactical advantage for fire operations. These actions will vary with the local context and can include landscape-level forest health and fuel treatments, treatments along escape routes, resident and community fire mitigation activities (e.g. defensible space, home hardening), and improving signage and road conditions. The WRB metric provides a high-level prioriti- zation, and additional work at the local level will be re- quired to identify appropriate actions and assess their feasibility. WRB is useful for prioritizing Potential Control Lines (PCLs) for fire operations (Fig. 11). PCLs are a part of Potential Operational Delineations (PODs); see page 7. In the Upper Swauk planning area, wildfire response ben- efit is very high in and around private land parcels near Liberty and along Highway 97 (Fig. 2), corresponding to areas with numerous homes and critical infrastructure. WRB is also moderate in the northwest and southwest portions of the planning area due to relatively high wild- fire transmission to homes (Fig. 8) and landscape treat- ment priority (Fig. 9).