Trout Lake Community Wildfire Protection Plan
Welcome to the Trout Lake Community Wildfire Protection Plan (TLCWPP) web site! Since 2004, the TLCWPP has been a proactive force in the Trout Lake community, promoting wildfire awareness and planning fuels reduction projects to safeguard homes, property, livestock and natural resources.
Past TLCWPP efforts have succeeded in ranking our project first place regionally for 2006 National Fire Plan grant awards. In addition, the project has already received Title III grant support from Klickitat County, and Western States funds from the WA DNR. Utilizing grassroots efforts, GIS data plus software, and hundreds of hours of combined wildfire expertise on the TLCWPP team, our project is on target to meet established firewise goals.
2007 Project Goals
- Complete twelve miles of shaded fuel break along established logging road corridors to the south and west of Trout Lake near Guler Mountain.
- Install permanent informational kiosk adjacent to the Trout Lake Volunteer Fire Hall.
- Secure funding grant to continue TLCWPP efforts in the future.
- Two presentations to the community providing wildfire information; one geared toward community members and the other toward students at the Trout Lake School.
- Coach the Trout Lake Volunteer Firefighters to be ambassadors to the community concerning TLCWPP information and goals.
- Identify future priorities for fuel treatment projects within the Trout Lake community.
- Development of Community Sub-Areas.
One of the most effective ways people can protect themselves is just to be aware of the dangers of wildfire ignition, wildfire events, and how their very homes might be protected in case of an emergency situation. By taking precautionary measures, such as installing a sprinkler system on the roof or removing hazardous fuel ladders from the property, people can improve the chances that a wildfire might not effect a structure, and also make it easier for firefighters to respond to their property. A measure of effectiveness beyond this is to link preventative plans of individual households with those of their neighbors. When multiple households in a neighborhood develop similar preventative plans and implement them as a team, the effectiveness of each plan is greatly increased by reducing wildfire hazards from outside individual properties.
The Yellow Brick Road Community Sub-Area was the first to come online, largely due to the motivation of the community members who live there. The TLCWPP facilitated the development of the Sub-Area, and provided a forum for the community members to come together and discuss the hazards in their neighborhood as well as providing technical support. By cooperating with the Yellow Brick Road Sub-Area and utilizing contacts of the TLCWPP, our team was able to secure grant funding to help the Sub-Area implement their Action Plan and also develop other Sub-Areas within the community. Involvement of community members is essential to the success of each Sub-Area, as residents know best their areas of town, have property and resources at stake, and short of assistance from the TLCWPP, will be implementing their Action Plans.
The TLCWPP team will be continuing to offer Property Assessments to community members. The purpose of these assessments is to make expert recommendations for landowners' to implement in order to reduce the susceptibility of property and structures against wildfire. To schedule an appointment, call the TL Volunteer Fire Hall.
Click here to view the complete Trout Lake Community Wildfire Protection Plan
PDF Download, Very Large File, 111 Pages, Please Be Patient.
Protecting your home and property from wildfire can be accomplished through some simple landscape planning and maintenance, especially in the area immediately around you home. Excellent sources of wildfire prevention information are available through the following links:
While some of this information was compiled in places far from Trout Lake, the techniques and methods they describe can be applied anywhere in the world. Wildfire does not adhere to political or property boundaries, nor should preventative information. By cooperating with our community members, firefighting organizations, and the rural landscape, we stand the greatest chance of averting a wildfire disaster.
There exist federal financial assistance programs for fuels-reduction projects that landowners may qualilfy for. The Forest Land Enchancement Program (FLEP) is geared toward assisting landowners in forest management projects. For more information, click on the following US Forest Service link:
Dates for the community presentations will be announced in the summer.
From all of us at the Trout Lake Community Wildfire Protection Plan, may you stay healthy, happy, safe, easily defensible and non-flammable this year!
TLCWPP 2007 Team -- Joseph Leissle, Carter Davis, Joseph Esteves,
TLCWPP Steering Committee -- Steve Koening, TL Fire Chief; Jim Wells, Program Director, Northwest Service Academy; Greg Paige, U.S. Forest Service Wildfire Prevention Specialist
TLCWPP Contact Information
Phone: (509) 395-2454
