FIREWISE PERIMETER PROJECT- Dustin Mutch, our Landowner Assistance Forester, reports that 13 landowners participated in the Phase 3 Shaded Fuel Break Perimeter Project, and 44.48 acres were completed, at no cost to the residents, FREE! Thank you to all who participated and made themselves and their neighbors safer. Also, while Dustin doesn't have an update on when we can do a Phase 4, it is a possibility. More information to come on that. 
NEW FIREWISE VOLUNTEER FORM- If you look on the website you will see that there is a new version of The Firewise Volunteer Worksheet, available under the Firewise and Data Entry Forms sections. We encourage everyone to use this form to report vegetation removed, hours worked, and money spent making your property more Firewise. Your firewise committee submits this information to Firewise USA once a year in November, so get your forms submitted by October 31st to be included for this year, and then continue to submit forms to be counted next year. None of your personal information is sent in, just a community total of vegetation removed, hours worked, and money spent. There are a lot of new activities that count toward firewising, and examples are listed on the form. We hope to soon have a link on the form which will direct you to the many activities that can be counted. All this activity makes us all safer, and also makes us eligible for grants, like our $4,000 micro-grant, and projects like our free DNR perimeter projects. 
ASSESSMENTS-One more new thing on The Volunteer Worksheet is assessments. Please report assessments done on your property by our DNR representatives. Our Firewise Action Plan for 2026 calls for assessments to be done on 30% of ponderosa properties. Charlie Landsman, our DNR Community Resilience Coordinator, does the Defensible Space Assessments, and these also help make us eligible for grants. Again, none of your personal information is shared. Per Charlie, these are one on one site visits of your property to identify hazards and mitigation actions to reduce the risk of loss from wildfire. These visits are free and only educational., providing you as the homeowner a list of prioritized risk reduction actions..A site visit usually takes an hour and begins by identifying any ember ignition risks to the home itself. About 75% of homes lost to wildfire ignite from embers, which can travel for miles. Fire does not need to be in the community to cause structure loss. The first part of the visit will address ember ignition risks by looking at the exterior of the home at construction materials, building methods, and current conditions to identify steps that can be taken to reduce ember ignition risks. The second part of the visit will address defensible space and hazardous fuels around the home The space out to 100ft from the home is where wildfire directly impacts the survivability of the structure, and the assessor will identify trees, shrubs, grasses, plantings, or man made fuels present that could be mitigated to reduce the likelihood of a direct ignition. The purpose of this program is to educate residents to take steps themselves to reduce risk, or to connect them with existing financial assistance programs  to make your community safer for both residents, and firefighters. There are many reports, including in the local paper, of Gorge area residents whose houses survived after they took Firewise actions on their property. We plan to set a date in October for a Big Day of Assessments. If we have enough sign-ups Charlie will be helped by an expert from The Conservation District, and/or a trained firefighter. You can call Tobiah and Adar at 509-773-6249, and get on their list if you are interested. We have several people, including me, on the list already. If you can't make that day, we can arrange assessments at other times when Charlie is available. Sign-up! Be smarter, and safer!  Also, when Dustin does an assessment of your forest for cost share or perimeter project, these assessments can also be listed on your Volunteer Worksheet. 

Hi everyone, effective August 3rd we are in fire protection level 3, partial shutdown which bans the use of power saws. For more information on Washington DNR Industrial Fire Precaution Levels click here for details.
 
Thanks 
 
Pete Burlock, President

 

The Firewise Work Party at Archer's followed by the Education Event at Israel's on 
April 25th, to participate in Wildfire Community Preparedness Month, was a great success! Fourteen community members attended, and a great job was done by all.  Thank you! Our Landowner Assistance Forester, Dustin Mutch came to the education portion to update us on the Perimeter Project, and answer questions on all things Firewise. The contractors for the current phase of the project will start work on May 4th. Thank you Dustin! We are all safer because of this event and everyone's hard work.
Remember to get your chipping piles ready and have your chipping forms in by the May 15th cut off, so that work can be done with our grant funds.

Last night at our meeting we discussed a potential leash law for those taking their dogs for a walk. We decided that, although using a leash isn’t clearly stated, controlling your dog is already addressed in the CCRs. Article V, section 5 (d) requires pet owners to keep their dogs under their control and not allowed to stray onto common areas or onto other properties (without permission from the property owner). We determined that the dog owner can decide whether they need to use a leash or not to keep their dog under control. 

Just a reminder that the park has an outreach committee. The committee is there for anyone needing assistance with a ride or help around the house. Anyone that has fallen on hard times, disabled, elderly or just needs help please reach out to us. You can contact the board of directors on our website to request assistance or if anyone wants to volunteer to be on the committee please contact us.

Good Firewise News! Dustin Mutch, our DNR forester says that our phase 3 perimeter project will be going out for bids in mid February. Good things will happen in 2026! And you can be part of it. What can you do now to get ready for fire season? Now that the weather is freezing, it is a good time to limb up and remove tree branches and small trees. You can also cut down and remove dead trees, and thin thick stands of trees, especially from around your structures, and next to the road. You can also take simple, scientifically proven steps to reduce the risk of your home and property becoming fuel for a wildfire. Research shows that keeping high intensity fire 100 feet from a home can prevent the fire from igniting the home directly. Clear ignitable material such as needles and leaves from roof, gutters, porches and decks. Relocate items kept under decks or porches, and swap out vegetation in these areas for rock or gravel. Remove ignitable features within 30 feet of all structures including firewood piles, portable propane tanks, and dry and dead vegetation. Contact your neighbors and create a plan to address shared wildfire safety concerns together. You may  also be interested in two articles about the success of wildfire prevention efforts in the Burdoin Fire: The Power of Preparedness: Home hardening and defensible space saves home from Burdoin Fire 7/29/2025 Columbia Gorge News; and Burdoin Fire: DNR's resilience programs helped Columbia Gorge homes survive wildfire threat 10/3/2025 The Columbian. Make us all safer. Be Firewise!