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Title:	Claunch-Pinto CWPP, NM
Type:	Community planning and CWPP's
Jurisdiction:	Multi-level
State:	New Mexico
Program Description:	Background The Claunch-Pinto Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CPCWPP) is a collaborative plan that seeks to incorporate the many values and opinions of the citizens who have made this area their home. The plan can be viewed on the web at http://www.swcacwpps.com/. The CWPP was done for the Claunch-Pinto Soil and Water Conservation District (District) which covers 1,291,779 acres of central New Mexico, encompassing portions of Torrance, Socorro, Lincoln, and Valencia counties. The District promotes the use of conservation practices and resource management, and they provide comprehensive services and support to help protect land, resources, and communities from catastrophic wildland fire. Private and state land compose 88% of the District, with the Cibola National Forest making up the remaining 12%. This region supports a variety of ecosystems and land uses and includes both rural and urban communities. The topography ranges from mountainous mixed conifer of the Manzano and Gallinas mountains, rolling pi�on-juniper foothills surrounding the towns of Mountainair and Corona to open mesa grassland and ranchland of the lowlands. During the planning process, the District experienced two large and severe wildfires, the Ojo Peak fire in November 2007 and the Trigo fire in April 2008. In total, 62 homes were lost as a result of these fires. The fires highlighted the risk to communities throughout the District and strengthened community support for wildfire mitigation. Following the fires, the public became increasingly engaged in the CWPP planning process through surveys and attendance at CWPP and fire information meetings. Highlights of the Claunch-Pinto CWPP The CPCWPP provides background information about the project area, a discussion of community values at risk, community base maps, a geographic information system risk assessment that utilizes fire behavior modeling using FlamMap (Figure 1), and individual community assessments. In addition, the plan outlines recommendations for identifying treatment areas to reduce fuels, reducing structural ignitability, promoting education and awareness about wildland fires, and developing monitoring and assessment strategies. This CWPP had overwhelming community and Core Team involvement. Over 50 people were included in the CWPP Core Team and average attendance at Core Team meetings was close to 25 people. At some public meetings, over 50 residents attended and provided detailed feedback (Figure 2). Greater education and outreach was also addressed in detail throughout the plan, including recommendations for Firewise workshops and distribution of literature, better promotion of the New Mexico Backyard Tree Farm program, and a monthly fire awareness column in the local newspaper. Reducing Structural Ignitability The Ojo Peak and Trigo fires demonstrated to homeowners the importance of wildfire mitigation. Public outreach revealed an overwhelming support for treatments on private lands. Small-scale fuels treatments and actions to reduce structural ignitability became a central focus of the plan. The section of the Plan dedicated to reducing structural ignitability includes Firewise defensible space guidelines and many other elements. The plan recommended updating building codes and adopting the International Code Council Wildland Urban Interface Code. A list of action items for homeowners was included breaking down tasks by cost. Some low cost actions include: regularly check fire extinguishers, move flammable materials away from the house, and screen vents with 1/4� non-combustible screening. Moderate cost actions include: box in eaves, attic ventilation and crawl spaces with non-combustible material, and clear vegetation along driveways and access roads to for safe evacuation routes. Some high cost actions include: install a roof irrigation system and an independent emergency water supply, replace flammable building materials such as roofs and siding with non-flammable components, and replace windows with double pane or tempered glass. Examples of mitigation measures that saved homes from combustion during the Trigo fire were included to help homeowners in their own efforts (Figure 3 and Figure 4). Improving Fire Response Capabilities The District is served solely by volunteer fire departments, which have been experiencing long-term decline in recruitment. In order to improve fire response capabilities, the plan identified areas of weakness and made recommendations for capacity building. The Core Team identified the need to increase training and reimbursement for volunteer fire fighters, improve rural addressing and enhance District maps, as well as establish better lines of communication between the agencies and public during a wildland fire event. The recent fires provided the Core Team a means to test fire fighting capabilities, and weaknesses were identified and documented in the plan. Following the Ojo Peak fire, evacuation planning was identified as the greatest weakness in the District. As a result, the Office of Emergency Management improved evacuation protocols and was subsequently praised for their evacuation procedures during the Trigo fire. These new protocol are included in the plan. The CPCWPP is well supported throughout the District, and the Core Team members plan to form an Implementation Task Force in order to put into action some of the recommendations the plan outlines. These communities, having been hit by two large wildfires, are now fully engaged in wildfire mitigation, and therefore the CPCWPP comes at an opportune time to reduce the susceptibility to fire in the future. Contact Information For more information, please contact: Victoria Williams SWCA Environmental Consultants Phone: 505/254-1115 EMAIL: [email protected], or Dierdre Tarr Claunch-Pinto Soil and Water Conservation District Phone: 505/847-2243 EMAIL: [email protected]
Images:	1. Figure 1. CPCWPP Composite Risk/Hazard Assessment. 2. Figure 2. CPCWPP public meeting. Source: SWCA Environmental Consultants. 3. Figure 3. Closed-in soffits that protected a home from embers during the Trigo Fire, April 2008. Source: SWCA Environmental Consultants. 4. Figure 4. Defensible space that protected the Manzano Mountain Retreat from combustion during the Trigo Fire, April 2008. Source: Dierdre Tarr.