Klamath-Lake Forest Health Partnership (KLFHP)

Chiloquin Landowners Learn Ways to Reduce Fire Danger

CHILOQUIN, Ore.—About 30 Rainbow Park Subdivision landowners attended a public meeting Tuesday afternoon in Chiloquin to learn how they can work with the Klamath-Lake Forest Health Partnership to reduce wildland fire danger, assist effective fire response, and improve forest health and wildlife habitat on private land surrounding Chiloquin.

The Klamath-Lake Forest Health Partnership (KLFHP) held the meeting to kick-off its Chiloquin Community Forest and Fire Project, which includes about 32,000 acres owned by about 3,200 landowners. Both the Chiloquin and Klamath County Community Wildfire Protection Plans identify the Chiloquin Community Forest and Fire Project area as high-risk for wildland fires.
  

The KLFHP has been actively addressing forest health issues in Klamath and Lake Counties since 1995. It is a non-profit organization comprised of private forest landowners, forestry consultants, conservation groups, local fire districts, and state and federal agencies.

More information on the Chiloquin Community Forest and Fire Project, and ways landowners can reduce fire danger, while connecting with specialists and each other can be viewed at the KLFHP website at www.klfhp.org. 

On Tuesday, members of the KLFHP with forest health and fire suppression expertise gave presentations on why the Rainbow Park Subdivision and seven other subdivisions near Chiloquin are in danger from wildland fires and what landowners can do to reduce risks, while improving forest health.
 

The KLFHP plans to contact Chiloquin Community Forest and Fire Project landowners, then educate them about fire resistance and forest health. It then hopes to coordinate projects on private land simultaneously, or shortly after the Fremont-Winema National Forest completes forest health treatments.

            

The Chiloquin Community Forest and Fire Project area is adjacent to the 97,500-acre Lobert Restoration Project on the national forest and is an opportunity to complete cross-boundary treatments on public and private land

KLFHP objectives include developing a landowner list, creating a fire response map, prioritizing treatment areas, and assisting landowners interested in fire prevention and forest health treatments. KLFHP members plan to begin contacting more Chiloquin-area landowners this summer through telephone calls, direct mail, email, social media and workshops.

“The key to making this effort a success is for you to outreach to your neighbors,” OSU Extension Forest Agent Daniel Leavell, Ph.D., told the landowners. “It would be great if you could contact five of your neighbors and they in turn could contact five more.  A collective success over this large landscape depends on the participation of all the individuals who live here.”

Other Chiloquin Community Forest and Fire Project workshops will be held this summer for the Woodland Park, Train Mountain, and Oregon Shores 1 and 2 Subdivisions. Another workshop will focus on the Nine Mile Community, located about seven miles east of Chiloquin.

Contacts:

OSU Ext. Forest Agent for Klamath & Lake Counties Daniel Leavell, 541-883-7131

Fremont-Winema N.F. Partnership Coordinator Roland Giller, 541-274-1667

           

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