ORS 477.503 Reduction of wildfire risk

As used in this section, “wildland-urban interface” has the meaning given that term in ORS 477.015.

The State Forestry Department shall design and implement a program to reduce wildfire risk through the restoration of landscape resiliency and the reduction of hazardous fuel on public or private forestlands and rangelands and in communities near homes and critical infrastructure.

The department shall ensure that the program is consistent with the objectives described in this section and biennially select, administer and evaluate projects consistent with the objectives described in this subsection.

When developing program and project selection criteria, the department shall, to the extent practicable, consult and cooperate with state and federal agencies, counties, cities and other units of local government, federally recognized Indian tribes in this state, public and private forestland and rangeland owners, forest and rangeland collaboratives and other relevant community organizations and ensure consistency with the priorities described in subsection (4) of this section.

The department shall develop a 20-year strategic plan, as described in the Shared Stewardship Agreement signed on August 13, 2019, that prioritizes restoration actions and geographies for wildfire risk reduction. The plan must be able to be used to direct federal, state and private investments in a tangible way.

In selecting and administering projects, the department shall:

In collaboration with the Oregon State University Extension Service and other entities, identify strategic landscapes that are ready for treatment, giving priority to projects within the landscapes that are:

On lands in the four eNVC classes with greatest risk or on lands with a relatively high probability of transmitting wildfire into communities as identified with data from the Pacific Northwest Quantitative Wildfire Risk Assessment;

Inclusive of federal lands with treatment projects currently approved under the National Environmental Policy Act (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.);

Focusing on treatments protective of human life, property surrounding the wildland-urban interface, critical infrastructure, watershed health and forest or rangeland habitat restoration; and

Part of a collaborative partnership with agreements across diverse forestland or rangeland stakeholders that use an expansive, landscape-scale approach to address underlying causes of poor wildfire resilience and elevated risk of wildfire or that establish innovative approaches to addressing the underlying causes that could be implemented on a larger scale.

To the extent practicable, identify and support projects that are designed to:

Evaluate varying types of fuel treatment methods;

Leverage the collective power of public-private partnerships and federal and state funding, including leverage of the coordination of funding to support collaborative initiatives that address the underlying causes of elevated forestland and rangeland wildfire risk across ownerships; and

Optimize the receipt of federal government investments that equal or exceed department investments.

Design the projects to involve existing forest-based and range-based contracting entities.

Design the projects to complement programs and projects of the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board or other state agencies as needed.

Design the projects to involve the Oregon Conservation Corps Program established by ORS 660.425, to the maximum extent possible, for community protection projects located in the wildland-urban interface, subject to funding available in the Oregon Conservation Corps Fund established by ORS 660.435.

Affirmatively seek, and enhance opportunities for, collaboration from stakeholders holding a wide variety of perspectives regarding forest and rangeland management and opportunities for significant involvement by communities in proximity to project sites.

Engage in monitoring of the projects to produce useful information on which to base recommendations to the Legislative Assembly.

A project under this section may not include commercial thinning on:

Inventoried roadless areas;

Riparian reserves identified in the Northwest Forest Plan or in federal Bureau of Land Management resource management plans;

Late successional reserves, except to the extent consistent with the 2011 United States Fish and Wildlife Service Revised Recovery Plan for the Northern Spotted Owl (Strix occidentalis caurina);

Areas protected under the federal Wild and Scenic Rivers Act (P.L. 90-542), national recreation areas, national monuments or areas protected under ORS 390.805 to 390.925;

Designated critical habitat for species listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (P.L. 93-205) or by the State Fish and Wildlife Commission under ORS 496.172, unless commercial thinning is already allowed under an existing environmental review or recognized habitat recovery plan; or

Federally designated areas of critical environmental concern or federally designated wilderness study areas.

The department shall give public notice, and allow reasonable opportunity for public input, when identifying and selecting landscapes under this section.