Wildfire Fuel Reduction Project Edit page

Wyndemere 2023 Deschutes River Canyon Wildfire Fuel Reduction Project

Fall 2023

Early in 2023 the State of Oregon published a statewide Wildfire Hazard Map. It caused an uproar and has been withdrawn for refinement, but it revealed an underappreciated characteristic of Wyndemere Assoc. land holdings. Properties that lie along the Deschutes River in the gorge below NW Northcliff were classified as at ‘extreme risk’. 

Wyndemere Assoc. owns the land along the eastern bank of the river (see map above). Hard to see and even harder to access, this portion of our land holdings has been largely out of sight and out of mind for years. Provoked by the State’s classification, a review of the area with the Fire Inspector from Bend Fire and Rescue revealed the urgent need to reduce wildfire fuel and vegetation in the gorge. The area will be very difficult to access and to clear of fuel. Removal of project debris is infeasible and will require supervised pile burning. The Board commissioned a quote for work to address the risk of wildfire in the common property from Timber Stand Improvements LLC (TSI), the company that has undertaken similar work in the gorge for neighboring HOAs.  Their estimate of costs for fuel reduction and the establishment of a wild fire resistant landscape is $27,750 (as of Oct 19, 2023). 

Accordingly, the Board of Directors will refer a special assessment to a vote of Wyndemere Association owners, pursuant to ORS 94.647, in respect of this work to reduce the wildfire hazard in the Deschutes River canyon.

The proposed special assessment to meet this cost will be borne equally by every owner of a Wyndemere lot and is projected to be $299 per lot. The Board proposes to  levy the assessment in two installments. The first installment, for Tree Thinning and Pile Building will be levied in Q1 2024 and will be $245 per lot.  The second installment for Pile Burning will be levied in Q4 2024 and will be $54 per lot.

Wyndemere Assoc. was awarded $5,000 from the Deschutes County Fall Wildfire Fuel Reduction program for this project. Actual project costs may vary from TSI’s good faith estimate and the Board will hold back these monies as a contingency fund.  At the conclusion of the project, any residual monies will be returned to Wyndemere Association owners as a credit against HOA fees.

The cost for the privately owned lots in the canyon, estimated by TSI to be $29,250, will be met by the property owners – which will be significantly lower in a combined project rather than in separate projects by each property owner.

More documents and information about the project are available here

If you have questions, please contact Gavin Leslie (201-370-4904).

 

Canyon Wildfire project.   Update February 2024

The Firewise Committee has been moving ahead with the canyon wildfire project.

First, the Firewise Committee is now Kevin Hopper, Kathy Baker-Katz and Mike Tripp. Mike has been a prominent member of several Central Oregon advisory committees on water management and is familiar with the many and overlapping jurisdictions that govern conservation and maintenance of the Central Oregon river system. This reach of the Deschutes River falls into the State’s designation of ‘Wild and Scenic’ and is subject to protective legislation, overseen by Oregon Parks & Recreation (OP&R). Mike volunteered to liaise with OP&R and is navigating the regulations that protect the riparian areas and habitat in the canyon.

At this point, our interaction with OP&R looks positive and we do not anticipate any objections from this organization to the plan to reduce wildfire fuels in the canyon. This is not the case with the City of Bend. Despite assurances from Bend Fire and Rescue (BF&R) that our plan to burn the debris from our project would be approved, the City has firmly denied permission. Bend Parks & Recreation (BP&R), also planning a project to reduce wildfire risk on their adjoining property in the canyon, our Firewise Committee and BF&R have each tried to obtain a ‘hardship exemption’ from the City ‘burn ban’ ordinance for work to dispose of project debris but without success.

The Deschutes River canyon is a particularly sensitive matter for the City. The stretch of the Deschutes River in the canyon has been declared both an ‘Area of Special Interest’ and made a ’Water Overlay Zone’. Both of these designations carry specific restrictions on vegetation management activities. In addition, both the City and BF&R have received a significant number of objections to our plan and that of BP&R as word of these projects has reached homeowners that abut the canyon. Loss of views along the canyon and the dangers of smoke are the principal concerns noted.

The upshot of this is that we now need to change our project somewhat. BP&R has formulated a different approach. Instead of ‘cut and burn’ their approach will be ‘cut and scatter’ but with any large debris removed from the canyon where feasible. This approach will leave debris in the canyon but will eliminate ladder fuels and will keep any wildfire low to the ground. Trimming up any tree branch lower than 6’ – 7’ will inhibit the spread of fire to the canopy, significantly limiting updraft and the spread of embers. Certainly not as effective as burning or removing all debris but an approach successfully taken in other sensitive areas where debris removal is not practical.

We are presently evaluating this ’cut and scatter’ methodology.  This would not be a major change to planned work on Wyndemere’s common property and, of course, removes the need to fund pile burning at some later date.

However, this new approach would have more significant implications for homeowners on NW Northcliff. The new approach would cut and remove debris from the canyon rim of each Northcliff property and down the canyon wall where there is the greatest risk of a fire climbing it. Trees at the foot of the canyon wall would be trimmed up and all larger pieces of debris would be removed where practicable. Remaining debris would be moved away from the canyon wall and scattered closer to the river where the ground is flatter and enjoys higher, year-round humidity.  This plan would leave a band of untouched vegetation somewhere on the canyon wall as the volume of debris from clearing the entire wall is simply too great for the scattering approach but will contain any wildfire in the canyon, keep it at ground level and significantly lessen the risk of a runaway wildfire. It is less satisfactory than the original plan but carrying out all debris from a comprehensive effort will raise costs significantly and may not even be feasible given the damage that would be inflicted on the area from hauling truckloads of debris across and up the steep slopes of the canyon.

Timber Stand Improvements, LLC, the Firewise Committee and members of the Board plan to meet with Northcliff owners in early March to discuss this altered approach to wildfire risk mitigation in the canyon. If you would like to attend the meeting, please let Mile High Management know of your intention to attend as soon as possible in order to help in the selection of a suitable venue. 

Canyon Wildfire project.   Update October 2024.

The Firewise Committee has evaluated the ’cut and scatter’ methodology that was proposed by Bend Parks & Recreation (BP&R) as an alternative to the original plan.  Homeowners on Northcliff also gave feedback.  The overall conclusion was that this approach was far inferior to the original plan to collect cut and cleared vegetation into piles for burning in the winter of 2025/2026.  Accordingly, the committee continued to press Bend Council for a 'hardship' amendment to the Ordinance that prohibits open fires within Bend city limits.

After supportive recommendations from the Deschutes County Fire Marshal and Bend Fire & Rescue (BF&R), Bend City mayor Melanie Kebler asked the City Administration to bring forward an amendment for Council to consider at the October 19th, 2024 Council meeting. Although the details of the amendment and the process to follow to gain an exception to the 'burn ban' will only be available after the next Council meeting, this is the major hurdle that we need to cross for the Wyndemere project to proceed. UPDATE: At the Oct 16th Council meeting Bend Fire & Rescue submitted a proposal to add a 'hardship amendment' to the ban on open fires within city limits. Mayor Kebler and Council unanimously supported the proposal and the amended ordinance will be on the Nov 6th meeting for its second reading with enactment following on Dec 6th. 

Next steps.

1) The committee and Northcliff homeowners will now submit the 'Notification of Intent' for our project to Oregon Parks & Recreation (OP&R) for the project in the Deschutes River canyon. This is required under Oregon Law for waterways designated as 'scenic'. As noted in the previous updates, we have been in touch with OP&R previously and do not anticipate any issues with approval.
2) As soon as we have details of the Bend City process for the grant of an exception to the burn ban, the committee will inform Northcliff homeowners and take the appropriate steps to gain project approval.

Timeline.

At this point, it is likely that the work to cut and clear the canyon of wildfire fuels will take place in Spring 2025 and the resulting debris piles will be burnt in winter 2025/26 by State licensed contractors under the supervision of BF&R. 

Canyon Wildfire project.   Update December 2024.

Oregon Parks and Recreation visited the canyon to review our proposed project with members of the Firewise Committee, our chosen contractor and a member of the Board. Our project has now been formally approved by the State of Oregon (see Project Files for the approval notice: NOI 2A-303-24_UPDATED_Approval_Wyndemere HOA.pdf).

We have contacted Bend city with details of our project and with a request to meet and determine whether the state approval will suffice for city purposes. The precise mapping of vegetation that is required in the city process for work in a water overlay zone (WOZ) or area of special interest (ASI) will be onerous and difficult and is intended to police property developers and commercial logging operations, not wildfire fuel reduction by a small community such as Wyndemere. We hope to gain the city's agreement to waive this requirement given the state approval for our project.

Canyon Wildfire project.   Update January 2025.

At the request of the Wyndemere Board, the City Manager, Eric King, instructed that all city fees associated with our project be waived, These fees are normally imposed by the Planning Dept. which overseas all work in WOZ and ASI zones. As of Jan 16, 2025, we are still awaiting approval from the Planning Dept for our project. The challenge for this department is that our planned work is unique. The processes and procedures for applications to the Planning Dept are all designed for real estate development or commercial logging on tax lots within city limits. Overlapping WOZ and ASI regulations also complicate the process. There is no precedent for an application to undertake a wildfire fuel reduction in a WOZ and ASI and this is posing internal questions on which standard parts of applications apply and which may be relaxed. The Board anticipates a request for more information from the planning department and that we may need to involve the city manager again.

Canyon Wildfire project.   Update February 3, 2025.

We appealed, again, to the city manager for a review of the Planning Dept's rigid interpretation of the regulations covering a Water Overlay Zone (WOZ) and the requirements for proof of property ownership and tax lot boundaries have been relaxed as a result. But, the requirement to submit a detailed map of the 9 acres within the project showing all tress that will be removed will still be required. This is a non-trivial survey and we will need to examine our options to comply. A frustrating interaction with City Hall given that wildfire is an existential threat to Bend and in the light of January wildfires in LA that destroyed an area three times the size of Bend in under 36 hours.

Canyon Wildfire project.   Update February 13, 2025.

After further, and constructive, discussions with the City manager, Eric King, responsibility for our wildfire project has been transferred from the Planning Dept. to the Bend Fire Marshal. This is a positive step as Bend Fire & Rescue worked closely with us in assessing the canyon for wildfire risk and then actively promoted the amendment to city code that introduced a  hardship amendment to the city ban on open fires - enabling us to dispose of project debris by burning it in supervised burn piles. In addition, the city has indicated that the WOZ requirement to identify trees to be be removed can be met by way of aerial photography. We have issued a RFP to several drone survey companies and are evaluating their responses.

Canyon Wildfire project.   Update May 15, 2025.

After further discussions with city leadership, the requirements originally attached to city planning approval for our wildfire project (1: Marking hundreds of trees that will be removed. 2: Obtaining a grading permit) have now been withdrawn. A new opinion has been issued (May 8, 2025) and, unless an appeal is raised against this opinion, our approval will become final May 20, 2025. The moisture content of vegetation in the canyon remains safe for project work to begin as soon as the approval becomes final.

Canyon Wildfire project.   Update June 5th, 2025.

Success! Down to the wire but the project took place the last week of May and into the first week of June, 2025. Thanks are due to the Firewise Committee: Kevin Hopper: Kathy Baker-Katz and Mike Tripp, the patient homeowners on Northcliff and also to Nate Goodwin, principal Timber Stand Improvement, our contractor, who leapt into action as soon as our permit was issued and before conditions in the canyon prevented the use of power equipment. Thanks are also due to City Manager, Eric King, and his planning Department for their pragmatic interpretation of the ordinances that apply to the Deschutes River canyon. We could not have succeeded in reducing the fuel load in the depths of the canyon without their help.

The cutting and clearing phase of the project is now complete. The land is far more wildfire resistant and there are now views clear to the Deschutes river. There are 200+ burn piles (each roughly 6' cubed) in the canyon that will remain untouched for at least 2 years before being lit in the winter months and under strict supervision by State certified fire fighting organizations. The costs for this second phase of the project will require a second special assessment for our association in due course but the costs cannot be predicted at this time as the laws and ordinances that will apply to pile burning in the future are undergoing State, County and City review and we can expect to see significant changes in regulation.

A long and tortuous process but well worth while. Wildfire is our greatest threat, today, and the canyon was classified in the highest category of risk. We can now turn our attention to the remaining areas of common property to ensure we keep the risks of catastrophic at bay.