After abandoning a statewide “wildfire risk map” first published in 2022 and going back to the drawing board, a new draft map has been released to the public for input. After a public comment period ends in August, a final decision is expected to be made on finalizing a map that was mandated by Senate Bill 762, a wildfire mitigation package passed in 2021 by the Oregon Legislature.
Now called the “Oregon Statewide Wildfire Hazard Map,” several changes have been made, including reducing five risk categories to three. We will get into that, but for landowners in this newspaper’s territory, the most significant point is that little will change.
“Only properties that are both high hazard and in the wildland-urban interface will be subject to defensible space or fire-hardening building codes. Properties that do not meet both criteria will not be affected by the regulations,” the Oregon Wildfire Risk Explorer reads.
In the greater Banks and Gales Creek region, there are many areas in the “moderate” classification, but none in high risk, so there will be no regulatory changes as a result of the map when it is finalized.
You can see the draft map online via the Oregon Wildfire Risk Explorer website.
Banks
All of the city of Banks is in the lowest risk category, low, while many areas closer to the Coast Range and out of the lowest valley floor are in the “moderate” classification.
Banks? Low. North Buxton? Moderate. Almost all of the Satellite neighborhood? Moderate.
The purpose of the map, according to the agencies drafting it, is threefold as follows.
- to educate Oregon residents about their property-level wildfire exposure;
- to assist in prioritizing fire adaptation and mitigation resources to locations with the greatest exposure; and
- to identify where defensible space and fire-hardening standards and codes will apply.
The Oregon Capital Chronicle also reported that “some grass and ranch lands will no longer be considered at high-risk depending on what they’re used for and on whether, and how often, they’re irrigated,” according to a July 10 story released in advance of the maps being made public. The same story outlines the history of the mapping effort.
According to the Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF), another shift this time around was an adjustment made to northwest Oregon forest fuels.
“Work on the wildfire hazard map hasn’t ceased over the last two years,” said Kyle Williams, Deputy Director of Fire Operations at ODF in a press release. “ODF and our partners at OSU have worked diligently to evaluate and address concerns about the accuracy of the map. These drafts are still based on the core principles of wildfire science but have been pored through to address expressed concerns. With one more round of public input, we will be well situated to finalize a hazard map that will contribute to advancing wildfire protection in Oregon as the Legislature intended.”
Comments on the map can be sent to [email protected]. Find more information on ODF’s wildfire hazard web page.
The public input period will be open through August 18.
“The maps are still drafts,” said Andy McEvoy, wildfire research scientist at Oregon State University. “The maps won’t become final until we receive input from counties on potential local anomalies, administrative rules are adopted by the Board of Forestry, and we evaluate input from the public.”
Chas Hundley is the editor of the Banks Post and sister news publications the Gales Creek Journal and the Salmonberry Magazine. He grew up in Gales Creek and has a cat.