During the last 150 years, dry eastside forest landscapes have undergone dramatic changes due to human activities

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has awarded a $580,800 Cooperative Agreement to the Columbia Land Trust under the National Fire Plan-Wildland Urban Interface Community Fire Assistance program (CFDA 15.674). The purpose of this 5-year grant is to address increased wildfire risk in dry eastside forest landscapes in Washington by reducing ladder fuels, promoting ponderosa pine forest structure, and improving snag recruitment on 264 acres of conservation lands owned and managed by the Columbia Land Trust. This work aims to protect critical wildlife habitat, working forests, Tribal lands, firefighters, and local communities from the threat of uncharacteristically high-severity wildfires. The funding will support on-the-ground forest management activities such as mechanical thinning and prescribed burning to restore ecological conditions and reduce wildfire risk in the wildland-urban interface.

Industrial logging practices and fire suppression have altered conditions away from mosaics of open old-growth forests to an overabundance of young dense forest stands across significant portions of the landscape. As a result, the potential for uncharacteristically high-severity wildfires has increased, putting critical wildlife habitat, working forests, tribal lands, fire fighters and local communities at risk. This project aims to address these threats by reducing ladder fuels and competition around mature trees, promote stand composition and structure toward ponderosa pine in larger size classes, and improve recruitment potential of snag resources in larger size classes. Treatments will occur on 264 acres of conservation lands owned and managed by columbia land trust and that occur within the jurisdictional boundary of yakama nation and LIE directly adjacent to the closed reservation boundary.