Ponderosa Park is a recognized Firewise Community. Every year in November, information is submitted to National Firewise to assure that we continue to qualify as a recognized Firewise Community. Information is submitted about work parties, meetings, projects, chipping, and education. But volunteer hours are also needed and submitted for people who work on their own property, making their acres safer for themselves and their community. We encourage everyone to start doing this now, and continue whenever you do Firewise activities on your property. Any hours that you enter now through mid-November of 2026, will count toward the year's qualification as a Firewise Community. Many people work on their land, but don't report their hours. It is easy to do it. On this website just look for  Firewise Volunteer hours under Firewise or data entry forms. Fill out the form and submit it. You can accumulate your hours and submit them, or do it every time you do Firewise activities. The Firewise Committee will be looking at redesigning the form at the next meeting so that even more activities that Firewise recognizes will be included on the form. Winter is a good time to do Firewise activities like removing dead trees, thinning trees, limbing up trees, and burning slash, or requesting chipping for piles set butt ends out at the road. Remove flammable materials from underneath decks and porches, and between deck board joints. Make or review your emergency action and evacuation plan. Make sure your driveway has 15" of vertical clearance for emergency vehicles. Fires occur in winter too! And don't wait til the summer fire season is upon us. Start Firewising now! And good news! Our phase three shaded fuel break project is proceeding. Dustin Mutch, our DNR Forester, has approximately 50 acres included in the project, and a contractor will be arranged in the near future! Thank you to all that participate!

 

Klickitat PUD is finalizing plans to construct improvements to the Red Cedar water mains.  The existing system has been plagued with frequent leaks over the last 20 years and needs to be replaced.  The existing water main is adjacent to Juniper Dr. south of W. Ponderosa, then veers westerly cross country to the inactive Red Cedar Well and then continuing cross country to the existing Red Cedar water customers.  We plan to construct the new water mains along the roadways, including Juniper, Red Cedar, and W. Ponderosa. The water meters will be located at the edges of the roads. New service lines will be constructed as needed.

In addition to using Ponderosa Park Water System cash reserves, this project is funded by a Landfill Gas Infrastructure grant and a loan/grant package from the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund. Washington State Dept. of Health is currently finalizing a cultural review and notification.  When we receive the final cultural report, we will then publish the environmental impact statement for public comment.

Assuming that any comments are easily resolvable, we will then begin the process of bidding the construction work.  This work is expected to be start in Q4 of 2025 and should be completed by late Q2 of 2026.

Please report speeders to ponderosatraffic@gmail.com or use the incident report of the website.  Include a description of the car, license plate, date and time to help the sheriff's dept. identify the person.

 

Reporting information is used only by the board to address the situation. The gmail address is handled by the Traffic and Safety committee head.  Incident reports are sent to ALL board members by the webmaster.

 

Please do not use the ponderosa-park.com news section for reporting any complaints or incidents.