Leavenworth Neighborhoods Fire Education and Fuels Reduction

Through a grant from the FWS, five Leavenworth, Washington neighborhood homeowner associations are working together to reduce the threat of wildland fire to near their homes and property. This area of Washington state has been identified as an area at very high risk of wildfire. Working with Chelan County Fire District # 3 and the Chelan County Conservation District these homeowners are using the grant funds to conduct fire risk assessments of homes within five subdivisions South of Leavenworth in the Icicle Valley. In addition, an assessment and fuels reduction demonstration will be done at Red Tail Canyon Farm as part of an education program for the lower Chumstick Valley. All of these areas were placed at risk by the wildfires of 1994 and 2000. Additionally, the project will provide funding to individual homeowners to remove hazardous fuels within the wildland urban interface. This project is a collaborative effort by the FWS, USDA – Forest Service – Wenatchee/Okanagon National Forests, Chelan County Fire District # 3, Chelan County Conservation District and the Leavenworth Neighborhood Grant Writing Committee.

Leavenworth National Fish Hatchery

Shortly after the President announced his Healthy Forests Initiative, the staff here developed a streamlined NEPA process to plan and conduct fuels reduction on 40 acres of dense forest. This treatment will help reduce the risk to the community of Leavenworth, which has been threatened by two large wildfires in the past decade.

At first, some local residents were skeptical of the project, concerned that the staff intended to clear-cut the land. But when they found out the project involved thinning out the tangled thickets of trees and brush to create a more natural and healthier forest, they not only supported the project, but requested more work. FWS grants to local homeowners resulted in additional thinning of more than 3,000 additional acres of private land.