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County forms task force to deal with aftermath of fires
The Elmore County Commissioners have formed a disaster task force to deal with the impacts of this summer's fires in Elmore County.
County extension agent Mir M Seyedbagheri was asked to develop the task force concepts and staff, and Dave Humpherys from the extension office will lead the group.
The task force will attempt to coordinate various county, state and federal efforts in Elmore County to determine the best way to mitigate the impacts of the fires, and to create action plans.
"The county is trying to do everything we can to help people affected by the fire," Commissioner Bud Corbus said.
Sen. Bert Brackett helped organize a meeting of local, state and federal political leaders or their staff representatives at the courthouse to begin the coordination process.
"The whole purpose was to bring the political powers down to the ground level," Corbus said. "It was encouraging to have that kind of political power show up in Elmore County and say 'we need to help'."
The county's task force will look at issues such as seeding and wildland rehabilitation, fencing, erosion control and lost animal endemnification programs (which exists but is not currently funded).
Ranchers, Corbus said, were particularly hard hit. "They were devastated by the fire. Even the ones that didn't lose many head directly, they may have to sell their herds because there's no feed for them right now, and may not be any grazing land for them next summer."
A number of residents also lost property in the fires, which already have burned a third of a million acres in Elmore County.
The county can help them out by cutting their tax burden.
County Assessor Ron Fisher noted that Idaho law allows property owners to make an application to the commissioners to delete some of their tax liability. Taxes can be pro-rated to eliminate some or all of the taxes owed after their property was destroyed or damaged in the fires, depending on the amount of damage.
Fisher already has sent a letter explaining the process to everyone believed to be affected. Applications can be picked up at the assessor's office or they can be sent by fax or letter upon request.
The task group also will be working closely with the Forest Service's Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) team.
Beginning last Thursday when it was activated, team has 14 days to do an on-the-ground evaluation of the fire damage and submit a report outlining mitigation procedures and recommending funding to repair the damage caused by the fires.
While many wildfires cause little damage to the land and pose few threats, some fires create situations that require special efforts to prevent further catastrophic damage after the fire, Forest Service officials noted.
Loss of vegetation exposes soil to erosion, runoff may increase and cause flash flooding, sediments may move downstream and damage houses or fill reservoirs and put wildlife, archaeological sites and water supplies at risk.
After a fire the first priority is emergency stabilization in order to prevent further damage to life, property, natural or cultural resources. The stabilization work begins before the fire is out and may continue for up to a year. The longer-term rehabilitation effort to repair damage caused by the fire begins after the fire is out and continues for several years. Rehabilitation focuses on the lands unlikely to recover naturally from wildland fire damage.
The BAER program addresses those situations with the goal of protecting life, property, water quality and deteriorated ecosystems from further damage after the fire is out.
The objective of BAER is "to determine the need for and to prescribe and implement emergency treatments to minimize threats to life or property or to stabilize and prevent unacceptable degradation to natural and cultural resources resulting from the effects of a fire" Forest Sevice officials said.
Emphasis on identifying and defining the "values at risk" is critical during the initial assessment. The risk assessments can range from simple to complex.
An organized interdisciplinary team of subject matter experts ranging from hydrologists and soil scientists to botanists, cultural resource specialists, engineers and others, as needed, use assessment tools such as hydrological modeling and soil burn severity mapping to assess potential flooding and vegetation recovery.
The Elk Complex Fire, for example, burned much hotter and destroyed far more vegetation and soil cover than last year's Trinity Ridge Fire did. Some areas of the ground were baked to the consistency of concrete.
In most cases, only a portion of the burned area is actually treated. Treatments will be focused on areas of the burn that would have the most direct impact to life, property and resources. The treatments must be installed as soon as possible, generally before the next damaging storm.
Time is critical if treatments are to be effective, the Forest Service said. Treatments approved in the BAER plan need to be completed within one year after the BAER plan is approved.
BAER is "first aid" -- immediate stabilization that often begins before a fire is fully contained. BAER does not seek to replace what is damaged by fire, but to reduce further damage due to the land being temporarily exposed in a unsatisfactory condition.
BAER can install water or erosion control devices, sow seeds or plant trees for erosion control or soil stability reasons, install erosion control measures at critical cultural sites, try to prevent permanent loss of threatened or endangered species habitat and plant grass to prevent spread of noxious weeds
It can't replace burned fences on private land or replace burned buildings, bridges and corrals, nor can it repair roads damaged by floods after fire or replace burned habitat.