Reno Commission delays applying for $1.3 million for wildfire mitigation

Reno County officials learned this week the county potentially has access to more than $1.3 million in federal and state dollars to help mitigate wildfire dangers in the county if it provides a 25% funding match.

Reno County Emergency Management Director Adam Weishaar and Hutchinson Fire Chief Steven Beer presented preliminary ideas to the County Commission Tuesday on what the funding could potentially do to reduce risk.

Weishaar asked the board to indicate if it was interested in pursuing the funding before he spent more time completing the 75-page application.

Commissioners, however, complained about a lack of plan detail, and at least one commissioner objected to using public dollars to mitigate the danger on private land.

Commission Chairman Daniel Friesen suggested the commissioners “accumulate questions” to have Weishaar answer and have him get back to the board next month with a “one-page summary (of) where the work would focus.”

The potential funding amount resulted from Weishaar submitting a “letter of intent” to the Kansas Division of Emergency Management for a wildfire mitigation assistance grant in May.

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Due to the Cottonwood Complex Fire, which destroyed 36 homes, hundreds of vehicles and outbuildings and killed one resident earlier this year, the county potentially qualifies for $786,522, Weishaar said.

It would require a 25% local match, equal to $262,184.

If the county uses all that funding, it could also apply for another $483,666, requiring a 10% match due to earlier destructive fires.

In all, the county’s match would be slightly more than $323,500.

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Public benefit vs private incentives

If the funding were used primarily for clearing cedar trees and other brush, the total would clear just under 1,400 acres for $1,200 per acre, Weishaar estimated.

“We don’t have enough funding for the entire county or all the risk, so we’d focus on the highest population, high-risk areas,” Weishaar said, suggesting concentration in The Highlands, “across to Buhler and south to Haven.”

He noted response to the fire in The Highlands and Blue Spruce additions in 2017 cost more than $2 million, while the Cottonwood Complex Fire topped $500,000 for fire suppression.

“I, as a landowner, am more than willing to pay that 25% if I get another 75% to cover costs,” said Commissioner Ron Hirst. “I don’t think this is the county’s responsibility. I think it’s the individual parcel owner’s responsibility. I can’t see the general fund coming up with some $300,000 when I think it’s on individual homeowners.”

“The incentive is there,” he said. “It’s up to the individual to put up that 25% rather than taxpayer money. That’s my feeling on it. I really think if they care about their property and get a chance for $3 for every dollar they spend, and if they value their home and value their property and want to increase capacity for their ranch land for an increase in animal unit grazing, it’s a good deal and people should want to do this.”

Commissioner Ron Sellers said he liked Hirst’s idea that landowners take responsibility but questioned whether the county would have to provide the match up front and then seek reimbursement as projects proceeded.

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Spotty land clearing ineffective

Weishaar said it would be a challenge to get landowners to apply for assistance and for his department to develop an application process. He also noted it would not benefit mitigation efforts “if we pick and choose different parcels based on whether they want to participate or not.”

“We need to get large swaths of the county where essentially there would be a large break where this area is taken care of,” he said.

Beer said he agreed with Weishaar that it would be “very difficult” to get landowners to participate.

He noted some landowners want the cedars as cover for wildlife, so they can lease their land for thousands of dollars to out-of-state hunters.

“It’s real money,” Beer said. “They love them cedar trees. It brings in a lot of money, and they’re not willing to give that up.”

He suggested identifying the highest risk areas with histories of past fires, creating a clear corridor as a fire buffer, and working with homeowners to help them defend their properties by creating buffers around their homes.

Chipper weekends?

Some areas have found success, he said, offering a “chipper weekend,” where the county helps landowners clear and chip trees.

“People buy a 3- or 10-acre property and don’t have the equipment to maintain that property in this capacity,” Beer said. “They don’t have tractors; they don’t have saws to do that kind of stuff."

"I’ve been doing a lot of research, and they do this as part of a community effort, especially in Colorado and Wyoming, even in Oklahoma and Nebraska," he said. "They do a weekend-type thing and let homeowners cut down debris and haul it to the edge of the property on a chipper weekend. It removes tons and tons of burning fuel around some property. If we can get everyone to maintain 100 feet or 200 feet, that would be great.”

Beer noted he’s part of a statewide wildfire mitigation task force, and he learned from the Kansas Forestry Service at a meeting last week that “this area is identified as one of the worst in the state of Kansas for wildfire danger.”

Friesen said he supported applying for the money, but only if the county has a plan for using it.

Starting somewhere

“If it’s just a drop in the bucket, I don’t want to do that,” Friesen said. “It seems like a total waste. Tell us how to get the most bang for the buck… It doesn’t feel like clearing 1% of the land will do us any good.”

“If I can have that 1% as a major fire break running down 30th, I’ll take it,” Beer said. “Give me a fighting chance and my men and women a fighting chance.”

If he can get homeowners to understand, Beer said, that cedars near their homes make them indefensible, but homes with metal roofs and surrounded by oaks and elms can survive a fire like the Cottonwood Complex, “I’ll take it.”

“We have to start somewhere,” Weishaar said. “It may not seem like a lot, but it’s a lot more than what we had. Thirteen-hundred acres is a lot more than in 2022.”