US DOI Bureau of Indian Affairs Fire Management Plan

US DOI Bureau of Indian Affairs Fire Management Plan

Crow Agency October, 2010

During the established fire season, fires near Pryor are dispatched from the Pryor Station.

Either Pryor or Crow can regularly support a Type 3 extended attack organization. All

extended attack fires will be ordered through Crow Dispatch (CRA) to Billings Dispatch

Center, using ROSS. Resource orders from an incident commander to an agency

dispatcher will be placed up to BDC to fill resources. When orders are filled by BDC,

resources will be mobilized to the incident by BDC’s direction.

Agencies that report to the BIA Rocky Mountain Regional Office function within an

eastern Montana zone MACC group that was last active in 2006. In 2008, three Crow

Agency BIA personnel were assigned members of regional or national incident

management teams.

Crow has committed to engaging with current technological decision support tools and

protocols, which in 2009 include the Wildland Fire Decision Support System (WFDSS),

FARSITE (indicator of potential fire spread), and the Rapid Assessment of Values at

Risk (RAVAR) programs. The FMO and AFMO were trained and capable in 2009 to

process emerging incidents in WFDSS. 2009 fire reports were being entered in WFDSS

after the conclusion of the fire season, but the expectation is that fires will be processed

in WFDSS as they emerge in 2010.

Regulatory reporting requirements for Crow Agency are less than for some other

agencies. The Crow Tribe is notified of all fires, in 2009 usually through the Prevention

program. Coordination of large fire management concerns with the Tribe remains an

important objective. Smoke management concerns are coordinated with the Montana

Department of Environmental Quality air program in Helena at (406) 444-3490. The

primary potential impact is to communities of the Crow or Northern Cheyenne

Reservations. The BIA Regional Archeologist in Billings, Jo’Etta Buckhouse,

coordinates interactions with the state Historic Preservation Office.

Fire reporting requirements are through the Wildland Fire Management Information

(WEMJ) system. In 2009, fires larger than 100 acres, or with complicated potential, are

required to be reported daily by 1700 on an ICS-209 through FAMWEB. Large fires

where suppression is not the immediate objective receive less frequent 209’s.

Processes for immediately addressing effects of suppression operations are handled on

a case-by-case basis. Repairing fireline with waterbars or scarification, camp area

clean-up, fence repair and other issues are handled to a golden but unspecified standard.

4.1.3 Emergency Stabilization

The Department of the Interior Department Manual 620 DM 3 and Indian Affairs Manual

Part 90 provides for policy for managing emergency stabilization, rehabilitation, and

restoration on Bureau lands and Indian trust lands following wildland fire.

[42]

US DOI Bureau of Indian Affairs Fire Management Plan

Crow Agency October, 2010

Immediate actions to mitigate damage done by fire suppression procedures can be

designed and financed using fire suppression funding. It is a product of careful review

and planning by BIA and/or Tribal biologists and the responsible fire team. All efforts

will be directly linked to the suppression effort and documented in a formal rehabilitation

plan. Examples of actions qualifying for suppression funding during site rehabilitation

are: repair of existing fence destroyed during fireline construction, water diversion

construction of fireline, ripping and grass seeding of camp and/or helibase locations, or

repair to private property damaged during urban interface tactics (damaged roof from

installing sprinklers).

Key personnel involved with this effort are Agency and Tribal biologists, Resource

Advisor, Fire Management Officer, Director of Tribal Natural Resources, Planning

Section Chief, and Incident or Agency Information Officer. The responsible incident

management team will write the formal plan based on written contributions by each

technical specialist. The plan will identify what suppression action created the damage,

what short and long term results could be, what mitigations are planned, how and when it

will be completed, what the standards for completion are, how and who will provide

management oversight, and the schedules for each rehabilitation action.

4.2 Burned Area Rehabilitation

All fires on the Crow Reservation will be evaluated for emergency stabilization and long term

rehabilitation needs. Stabilization of suppression impacts is normally performed by the

suppression organization, and funded under the suppression account (fire code). Ifthe impacts

from the fire are severe enough, a Bumed Area Emergency Response (BAER) Plan will be

prepared. This BAER Plan is for emergency stabilization needs and covers the period one year

after control of the fire. Dependent on size of the Incident, the BAER Plan will either be

prepared by a local agency team, a Regional BAER Team, or a National Interagency BAER

Team. The Agency Superintendent can approve BAER Plans up to $250,000 in cost. The

Regional Director has approval authority up to $500,000. The Fire Director at the National

Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) in Boise, Idaho has approval authority above $500,000.

If longer term rehabilitation is needed, a Burned Area Rehabilitation (BAR) Plan will be

prepared. This Plan will cover rehabilitation needs up to three years after control of the fire.

While not as tightly constrained as the BAER Plan, the BAR Plan may continue projects begun

under BAER. Funding for the BAR program is allocated each year in a fixed account for the

Department of Interior Agencies, and subject to competition. The Interior BAER Coordinators

prioritize expenditure of this funding on a yearly basis, so project funding is not guaranteed.

If restoration projects still exist or are needed after the three year period expires. Then agencies

must find local funding to complete or continue the projects.

The process for requesting a Burned Area Emergency Rehabilitation Team (BAER) is a

coordinated exchange of information between the Incident Management Team (IMT) and the

Tribe and Agency. The Fire Management Officer or Tribal Department of Natural Resources

US DOI Bureau of Indian Affairs Fire Management Plan

Crow Agency October, 2010

will contact the Rocky Mountain Regional Office BAER Coordinator to request a BAER Team.

All rehabilitation plans and activities will be written and executed in concert with the Crow

Indian Reservation Forest Management Plan, and any other natural resources plan that provides

management direction for Tribal lands.

4.3. Management of Planned Fuels Treatments

From 2000-2009, the fuels program at Crow Agency has successfully prepared and carried out

treatment plans for hazardous fuels reduction and wildland-urban interface treatments.

Fuels treatment areas are prioritized by several factors: first by the alleviation of risk to human

health or safety, followed by restoration of ecological land management principles that increase

forest diversity and long-term health of desired plant and animal communities.

The following fire use / fuels management objectives will apply;

1. Use prescribed fire to treat 100 - 200 acres per year in Wildland Urban Interface areas to

reduce fuel accumulations around or near structures.

2. Use prescribed fire, fire use, mechanical treatment, and/or a wildland fire to treat 200 -

500 acres per year in the Wolf Mountains to control Hawthorn Crataegus spp., increase

natural regeneration, increase forage, and reduce fuel loadings.

3. Assist the range management staff in burning 100-500 acres of rangeland per year for

range improvement, and noxious weed control.

The fuels program started in 2000. The year 2001 saw WUI mechanical treatments and burns,

and extensive training for staff in the implementation of prescribed fire. In 2002, the Crow fuels

program implemented HFR projects in the Wolf Mountains and completed the program’s first

timber bum. The fuels program goal is to eventually complete 5000 acres each year, while

continually monitoring accomplishments for long-term fulfillment of treatment objectives.

As of 2009, accomplishments include creating 40 planning compartments Reservation-wide, so

that pre-formatted plans can be created for each compartment, and long-term planning can

predict the amount of treatments required to bring ecologically appropriate areas of each

compartment to Condition Class 2 or down to 1. Initially, compartments were created following

the timber sale program in the Wolf Mountains, then prepared Reservation-wide based on RAMS

(risk assessment and mitigation analysis) based on the WU] and HFR risk of each compartment.

Compartments are shown in map section Appendix A. Risk analysis was completed in spring

2009 for Crow using Landfire data and Flammap, which may help in making RAMS planning

most effective in HFR (non-WUJ) areas.

US DOI Bureau of Indian Affairs Fire Management Plan

Crow Agency October, 2010

As of 2009, fuels program projects to fulfill management objectives for annual treatment acres

have been identified and approved through 2014. Burns and mechanical treatments each year

since 2001 have exceeded program goals for the fuels program acreage accomplishments, rising

from about 1000 acres per year in 2005 to more than 5000 acres per year in 2008 and 2009.

Different FMUs have seen and will see differing treatment planning and pattems. Most of the

WUI treatment is in FMU 007, Fire Alley, and FMU 005, Rangeland. Most prescribed buming

and mechanical treatment in these community- and homesite-filled FMUs is smaller acreages

with more values at risk. FMU 008, the Wolf Mountains South and North, has seen more

broadcast burning. An aerial ignition of a previously treated timber (maintenance) burn was

completed in 2008. As or 2009, FMU 011 Pryor Mountains has seen mostly pile burning, but

future planning includes broadcast burning, and mechanical treatment. FMU 012 Bighorns East

and West have seen only limited fuels management in a WUI zone around the Black Canyon

Youth Camp; however, future planning includes broadcast burning, and more mechanical

treatments.

In FMU 008, FMUO11, and FMU 012, fire use, or analyzed management response, is a valid

option for meeting fuels and forest management objectives in certain timbered areas. Firefighter

and public safety remains the overarching objective of all Crow Reservation fire management,

which requires that some fires in difficult or inaccessible landscapes will receive less aggressive

suppression. Naturally occurring fires in remote or inaccessible areas with low values at risk,

when best available analysis confirms that fire effects will not become severe, and have

ecosystem benefits, will remain actively managed. In other words, the agency will actively

manage (not immediately extinguish) some remote fires which fall into prescribed burn

prescriptions. If these fires remain in prescription, crew actions will include monitoring and

holding rather than full suppression.

Fuels program staffing consists of a Fuels Specialist, and whenever possible, available fire

personnel, either Crow BIA fire and forestry employees, AD-hire, Tribally hired, or contractors.

Project activity requires ramping up assigned personnel. To enhance social and economic

benefits locally, and remove some workload from suppression staff during the summer, the fuels

program can use temporary-hire qualified firefighters during a slow fire season.

In 2009, ARRA funding allowed the fuels program to hire local people in two projects to clear

WUI hazards, and bring firewood to local residents while removing hazardous fuel

accurnulations from planned prescribed bum areas. From June through November 2009, the two

projects employed up to 105 people short-term, and surpassed biomass and acreage objectives

for each funded project.

The fuels program follows identified goals and treats specific hazard areas according to the Crow

Reservation Prevention Plan, in order to mitigate WUI hazards and assist in meeting Prevention

objectives.

US DOI Bureau of Indian Affairs Fire Management Plan

Crow Agency October, 2010

4.4 Prevention, Mitigation and Education

From 1988-2009, the Reservation experienced a twenty two-year average of 129 fires annually,

of which more than 80% were human-caused (2,280 in twenty two years}. Although most

human-caused fires were caught at 1/10 acre, several large fires upped the average human-caused

acreage to 30 acres over the twenty two years, or a total of more than 120,000 acres as recorded

in the WFMI. A Risk Assessment and Mitigation Strategies analysis from 2004 estimated that

the active prevention program funded that year would produce 11% effectiveness in preventing

unplanned human-caused ignitions.

BIA Crow Agency

Fire Occurrence, CY1983-2009

(Suppreszed ires and Natural Outs)

ControlAcres by General Cause Code

BIA Crow Agency

Fire Occurrence, CY1988-2009

{Suppresced Fires and iatural Outs)

Number of Fires by General Cause Code

= L Natural

a2 Campfire

2 3 Smoking

wa Fire Use

mE Natural

#2 Compiue

we Sincendiary

6 Equipment

1s 7Pailroads

8 Juveniles

#9 Miscellaneous

29 Miscellancous

1,650

Figure 10 — Number of fires, and number of acres, compared by general cause code, 1988-2009

From 2004 to 2009 the Crow prevention program has been contracted to the Crow Tribe as a 638

program. Actions taken in the last five years have not fully met the objectives listed below from

the 2004 Wildfire Prevention Plan.

e Provide for firefighter and public safety by implementing an aggressive fire

prevention/ignition reduction program (source: National Fire Policy). Firefighters

are widely respected in the community, as so many families have had firefighters in

the family. However, juveniles are not careful with fire. Many have had no contact

with firefighters other than seeing initial attack on fireworks fires, or seeing

Smokey Bear at Crow Fair. No injuries have been reported due to human-caused

fires in recent years, but the threat is obvious.

e Continue (make a public expectation of) the fire burn permit system during the

established fire season (source: Wildland Fire and Aviation Program Management

and Operations Guide 2004). Forms are available. Some residents call before

burning; most do not. The permit process is currently somewhat informally

conducted; standardizing community and agency expectations will require design of

and publicity for standardized permit practices. Also, reference Appendix K, Tribal

Burn Permit in the Forest Management Plan.

e Reduce the wildfire threat within WUI communities and increase public awareness

of WUI risks (source: Crow Fire Prevention Plan). The agency fuels program

aggressively manages WUI fuels with mechanical treatments and prescribed

[46]

US DOI Bureau of Indian Affairs Fire Management Plan

Crow Agency October, 2010

burning. Each Reservation community experiences prescribed burns each year

conducted by

e BIA Fire & Aviation. The Fuels Specialist has presented WUI risks and

documentation to the Tribal Council, most recently in summer 2009. The Tribe has

conducted a few school visits in the last five years.

e Develop a system for investigating and documenting all human-caused fires. The

Tribe has not pursued fire investigation in the last five years. However, all wildland

fire causes are documented in the Wildland Fire Information System.

e Form a coalition of persons interested in fire prevention within reservation

communities, as a coalition can reach more people, address more complex

problems, and be more credible than any single one person (source: Crow Nation

Dept of Forestry).

e Reduce the number of human-caused fires in all categories (source: Crow Fire

Prevention Plan).

e Provide technical assistance to the Crow Tribal Housing Authority in conducting

fire safety inspections in WUI communities (source: Crow Fire Prevention Plan).

e Ensure fire prevention material and information is distributed to local citizens,

Reservation visitors, and forest and rangeland users (source: Crow Fire Prevention

Plan).

The 2004 RAMS analysis estimated that savings of suppression costs due to an actively

planned and executed prevention program would total more than $900,000. The FMO who

conducted the analysis wrote that “Even if this amount is off by a factor of ten, the

prevention program would more than pay for itself.”

Continued prevention funding depends on the following factors: the completion of the 2009

FMP, a fire permitting system functional during the established fire season, documented

program support by the Tribe and local government, a functional system in place for

investigating and documenting all human-caused fires, and an agreement operating with law

enforcement to deal with violations and assist with investigations.

A prevention program operates within the broad categories of education, engineering,

enforcement, and administration.

Education: One or two school visits a year can be expanded to many more schools, sharing

more focused curriculum, and with visits to community groups and agencies. Visits to

community groups, media, and governmental agencies (ftom the Tribal Executive Branch

and Legislature, to BIA Law Enforcement, to the Indian Health Service) should coordinate

common messages and approaches to publicizing the benefits of preventing unplanned fires.

A coalition interested in wildland fire issues already exists informally on the Reservation,

US DOE Bureau of Indian Affairs Fire Management Plan

Crow Agency October, 2016

with many households having some experience with wildland firefighting, but working

groups have not developed. An active prevention program would keep public attention on

preventing unplanned fires’ effects on the neighborhood, while more fully sharing topics of

fire’s role in the ecosystem on the Reservation. Signage exists but is not coordinated

Reservation-wide.

Engineering: A RAMS analysis of 2004 found the following risks to FMUs and

communities from human-caused unplanned fires. Since 2004, fuels compositions,

settlement pattems, weather, and unplanned ignitions have not stayed constant, so a fresh

evaluation of hazards is in order.

FMU or ee | roteetion SP

MUP ity Fuel | sapability /

adalat hazard | Mifienlty

005 Rangeland High Low

007 Fire Alley High Low

008 Wolf Mtns Mod -| High

011 Pryor Mtns Mod High

012 Bighorn Mod Mod

Mtns

-100 Crow High Mod High High | High | Mod High

Agency

-400 Pryor High Mod Mod High | High | Mod High

-200 Lodge Grass | High Mod High High | Mod Mod High

-300 Wyola Mod Mod High Mod _ | Mod Mod Mod

-800 Dunmore Mod Mod Low Mod_| Mod Mod Mod

-700 Garryowen | Mod Mod Mod Low | Mod Mod Low

-500 St Xavier Mod Mod Low Mod | Mod Mod Mod

-600 Fort Smith | Low Low Mod Low | Mod Mod Low

Based on fuels Based on response . . 7

From 2004 Eenrisace, | puwopasia | Reaspeen | mer | cauua, | dreeesby

crowning complexity. in community commercial potential fires

Crow pote Coopesiar not and aesthetic swiin

Prevention Plan Se factored in, resourees armen

topography

Table 3 - 2004 RAMS analysis comparison of hazards

Enforcement: No arson wildland fires have been prosecuted on the Reservation in many

years. The last qualified fire investigators to work on the Reservation came in the busy fire

year of 2006.

To simplify analysis of fire causes and recognize trends that can be modified by appropriate

action, the current Wildland Fire Management Information (WFMI) system of documenting

fire reports should be merged with WFDSS within a few years. As of 2009, many fires are

still reported as “undetermined human origin.” Managers have created maps of humancaused fires and recognized clusters of negligent or intentional arson by both juveniles and

adults, but no cases have been pursued to indictment.

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US DOI Bureau of Indian Affairs Fire Management Plan

Crow Agency October, 2010

A solution depends partly on cooperative work and commitment to joint responsibilities by

fire personnel and BIA law enforcement, pursuant to the 2005 Memorandum of

Understanding between national BIA Fire Management and Office of Law Enforcement

Services. Goals include promoting the development of Standard Operating Procedures

(SOPs) at Agency and Tribal levels, enhancing understanding of wildland fire investigation

policies and procedures by both fire personnel and law enforcement in order to facilitate

sharing of information and technical staff and skills, initiating investigation of trespass and

coordinating prosecution of trespass action with law enforcement and the Tribe when

concurrent jurisdiction has been exercised, and working more meaningfully with affected

groups and individuals to prevent unauthorized ignitions.

Administration: The prevention program at Crow Agency BIA has progressed de facto by

fuels program actions since 2004. Homeowners seeking fuels reduction have been served by

the fuels program. While the Crow Tribe has operated a prevention program, advances in

preventing large unplanned fires have come from actively reducing fuels around WUI areas,

and from publicizing the dangers to WUI neighborhoods from wildland fire. Hazard fuels

reduction treatment plans exist for all WUI areas of the Reservation for the next five years.

Also, initial attack fire crews represent the fire program in the spring before green-up and

again in the hottest days of summer, as they patrol and as they respond to negligent arson

from trash burns or juveniles with fireworks. Engine personnel act as spokespeople for fire

prevention and as first-line investigators.

US DOI Bureau of Indian Affairs Fire Management Plan

Crow Agency October, 2010

’ CHAPTER 5 - MONITORING AND EVALUATION

5.1 Severity Monitoring

Evaluation of monitoring data helps to assess progress toward strategic goals and objectives, and

also toward specific projects’ goals and objectives. At the strategic level, monitoring helps

determine how the program is contributing to the objectives of the Crow Reservation Forest and

Fire Management Plans. For fuels treatments, “monitoring is the new black” (--Karrie Stevens,

Northwest Region BIA Fire Ecologist): progress toward objectives is measured not by acreages

but by monitoring of treatment effects, which have been planned to cumulatively support the Fire

and Forest Management Plans.

At the incident or project level, monitoring of fire effects helps to define tactical objectives.

James Steele has written, “The key to effective management is going to involve fire damage risk

assessments and mitigations to keep fire intensities manageable and fire effects within policy

limits.” In other words, evaluation of monitoring data is prerequisite to making effective tactical

and management decisions for emerging incidents.

Monitoring supports individual fuels programs in hazard and wildland urban interface fuels

reduction, and prescribed fire for silvicultural objectives. Active consideration of data also aids

professional development of effective personnel, through after-action reviews, fire effects

monitoring, and other reflective exercises in doing one’s job more effectively.

Study of indicators for the coming fire season becomes the earliest clue to how conditions have

carried over from the previous season, and how fuels are influenced by current and predicted

environmental conditions.

Measurements recorded locally include 1000-hour fuel moistures, green-up or curing rates, and

weather impacts. Low 1000-hour fuel moistures, if represented by actual oven-dried

measurements of cross sections, represent potential for high-intensity fires or for long term

residency of fire, which can degrade soils. Early or late green-up or curing (brown-up) strongly

affects fire intensities in microclimates (small areas with specific weather and curing rates).

Weather’s changes in environmental conditions can quickly contribute significant available

fuels. Examples include low winter snow depths, frost kill of shrub fuels, large areas of

windthrow, or thermal belts of low relative humidity and high air temperatures throughout the

night.

Many remotely operated measurements of fire danger are studied by agency managers at least

daily during fire season, including RAWS (Remote Access Weather Station) data from five units

on the Reservation, and NFDRS (National Fire Danger Rating System) and WIMS (Weather

Information Management System) data available to fire managers on the Internet (see

bibliography). Analysis of weather patterns from prior years’ and weather systems’ RAWS

observations on the Crow Reservation provide good perspective on potential expected weather.

Predictive indices useful on the Reservation include ERC’s

US DOI Bureau of Indian Affairs Fire Management Plan

Crow Agency October, 2010

(Energy Release Components), BI’s (Burning Indices), and compilations of fuels moisture

measurements.

5.2 Project Level Monitoring

Each fire management project is driven by at least one specific reason that can be defined ina

measurable objective. To be useful, an objective must be easily measurable, easily understood,

mutually agreed upon, and attainable. If someone writes an objective to justify existing

planning, that is a rogue objective: objectives come first, and management is undertaken to best

meet them.

The BIA Fuels Management Handbook requires Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3 monitoring of all

prescribed burns. Level 4 monitoring will occur with Continuous Forest Inventory (CFI) remeasurements (see Appendix A for CFI Plots). This Fire Management Plan has expressed

specific intent to replicate pre-European contact forest structure by species and presence, though

possibly with greater stem densities and less frequent fire than pre-settlement. Based on this

direction, fuels and fire management will be targeting these same objectives, regulating amounts

of downed woody debris, and life stages of surface vegetation. Resource extraction objectives

for these lands also influence desired stand conditions.

A map of FIREMON plots on the Crow Reservation is located in Appendix A, Map Section.

They were initiated in 2008. Project monitoring describes current conditions, and after

treatments, it will describe effects of the treatment and how the new conditions compare to the

desired conditions. Ultimately the monitoring results should help demonstrate how effective or

ineffective the management actions were in moving the management area toward the desired

future conditions. .

Wildland Urban Interface

Areas meeting the definition of WUI high hazard areas receive special funding to support

projects that reduce the hazards of intense fire potential. Monitoring in these areas must

compare existing to desired hazard level. Monitoring in these areas will demonstrate a

reduction in fire behavior when comparing pre-treatment to post-treatment.

Database and Inventory Data

Following the principles of High Reliability Organizations, a redundant system would

allow access to inventory data by anyone, while a second system would provide the basis

for fuels management activities. This one is easily manipulated until displayed data is in the

form that is usable for site analysis and reporting. The final product should then be cached

in a database for public access, so that management of operations is transparent as well as

effective.

US DOI Bureau of Indian Affairs Fire Management Plan

Crow Agency October, 2010

5.2.1 Project Evaluation

Project evaluation follows a specific definition of what the results should be.

Project objectives define what will be treated and why, the prescription will

define how it will occur, and monitoring provides the data and analysis to

examine how successful we were. Evaluation depends on timely collection of data

that describes the desired fire effects, e.g. fuels reduction, shrub age class change,

fire caused sapling mortality, or duff reduction. Contrasting results to treatment

conditions and progression will begin to define when specific program activities

should occur. Project evaluation:

1. begins with activity planning by acquiring pretreatment data to

validate all objectives; their funding sources, and risk management,

is an ongoing evaluation of preparation through the initial project

inbriefing with management and workforce,

Requires on-site monitoring of environmental conditions as they are

described by the project prescription, changes, and risk management.

4, Has an evaluation (after action review) immediately following the

project, of operations, expectations, successes, and failures. These

should be based on on-the-ground reality vs. the pre-written project

plans.

Then includes manager’s analysis, through the use of the Firemon

Analysis Tool and Forest Vegetation Simulation results, for

comparison of post treatment data compared to objectives, and

recommendations for changes, to increase program effectiveness

before similar actions are re-planned.

N

bo

nr

5.3 Fire Plan Strategic Monitoring & Evaluation

This fire plan is an operational overview of how Crow Agency Fire and Aviation Management

will operate to meet the emergency need for wildland fire suppression as described by the

National Fire Plan, Department of Interior and Bureau of Indian Affairs Manuals, Operating

Plans and Cooperative Agreements, and other plans or special requests that originate from the

BIA, Tribe, or cooperators. Fuels management strategic monitoring will be done using CFI

analysis and Flammap runs during CFI re-measurements. The following activities serve to

monitor and evaluate the fire program in accordance with official and approved direction:

* Reviews and updates of existing agreements and plans.

* Annual preparedness reviews by an independent party.

* Annual performance evaluations of specific position responsibilities.

+ Requesting Aviation Safety and Technical Assistance Teams for aircraft operations.

+ Fire Aviation and Safety Team reviews as part of a geographic area effort or agency

request.

* Results of a Serious Accident Investigation Team review following a serious

accident.

US DOI Bureau of Indian Affairs Fire Management Plan

Crow Agency October, 2010

+ Approval of the annual Fire Management Operating Plan.

¢ Results of program or individual fire reviews.

The integration of Fire Plan direction and requirements into daily routine provides daily

direction for programs to meet the intent of the Plan. After-action reviews are one example

of continuous quality improvement efforts that help to focus personnel on meeting

objectives in effective ways. Measuring accomplishments in finding work-level

improvements to practice is a product of daily, weekly, and monthly staff meetings, and

will be documented to provide an additional source to monitor for program success.

US DOI Bureau of Indian Affairs Fire Management Plan

Crow Agency October, 2010

GLOSSARY

Apsaalooke: Members of the Crow Tribe.

After Action Review (AAR): A term adopted from the military: a facilitated and guided review

of any action or event that may suggest changes in existing protocols, decision making, human

factors, or understanding of technical data.

Anchor Point: A safe and advantageous location, usually a barrier to fire spread, from which to

start constructing a fireline. Using an anchor point minimizes the chance of being flanked by the

fire while the line is being constructed.

Billings Dispatch (BDC): The local zone dispatch, East Zone Northern Rockies Interagency

Dispatch Center.

Biomass: All dead and live burnable vegetation on a site.

Blacklining: Burning all material between the constructed fireline and the expected edge of the

fire. Burnout, in contrast, uses fire to strengthen a pre-existing control line.

Fire Behavior: Description of how a fire is burning, figured out using some form of

mathematical model based on numerical descriptions of environmental conditions and available

fuels. Calculated fire behavior is expressed as numbers, and must be interpreted in order to

represent reality and potential changes in a fire.

Complexity: A relative term that measures the increase or increasing value of a situation and

associated resource values, based on the number of internal and external influences that have

created it, or may influence it in the future. As complexity increases, analytical decision-making

becomes more difficult due to the need for more information, and the need to use current and

predictable information.

Condition Class: Fire Regime Condition Class (FRCC) is an interagency, standardized tool for

determining the degree of departure from reference condition vegetation, fuels and disturbance

regimes. Usually it measures how different a landscape is from its characteristics before

European settlement. Assessing FRCC oversimplifies ecological condition but is a useful guide

for management objectives and treatment priorities, especially in the frequent-fire ponderosa

forests of the Reservation:

Condition Class 1: - For the most part, fire regimes in this Fire Condition Class are

within historical ranges. Vegetation composition and diversity are intact. Thus, the risk

of losing key ecosystem components from the occurrence of fire remains relatively low.

Condition Class 2 - Fire regimes on these lands have been moderately altered from their

historical range by either increased or decreased fire frequency. A moderate risk of

losing key ecosystem components has been identified on these lands.

US DOI Bureau of Indian Affairs Fire Management Plan

Crow Agency October, 2010

Condition Class 3 - Fire regimes on these lands have been significantly altered from

their historical return interval. The risk of losing key ecosystem components from fire is

high. Fire frequencies have departed from historical ranges by multiple return intervals.

Vegetation composition, structure and diversity have been significantly altered, so these

lands verge on the greatest risk of losing their diversity and adaptability.

Contingency Plan: Plans for actions to reduce harm from possible changes that would

drastically affect the predicted outcome based on current actions. Contingency Plans are a result

of gaming an on-going fire, or are designed to meet and alleviate a “what if” situation.

Dry Cold Front: The leading edge of a cooler air mass, which pushes warmer air to rise. If the

lifted warm air does not contain enough moisture, cloudiness may occur, but precipitation does

not. As a front moves across a region, the winds gust and shift in direction. Ahead of an

approaching cold front in the Northem Hemisphere, winds usually shift gradually from southeast

to south, and on to southwest. As the cold front passes, winds shift rapidly to west, then

northwest. Typical cold front winds range between 15 and 30 mph but can be much higher.

Duty Officer: A designated employee of tenure and experience that can direct normal and

emergency operations with delegated authorities from a supervisor. This allows a rotation of

responsibility to assure a competent manager is available, to rest employees, or to help develop

employees toward a management position.

Ecosystem: Patterns of habitation by all species, their location, growth characteristics, and

presence, all caused by their influences on each other, combined with environmental influences

such as weather and soils, in a particular location or area with unique environment.

Energy Release Component — ERC: How intense a fire would be, based on current weather and

fuel moistures: the computed total heat release per unit area (British thermal units per square

foot) calculated to exist within the flaming front at the head of a moving fire at a certain time of

the day.

Extended Attack: A wildland fire that has not been contained or controlled within the first two

days and for which more firefighting resources are ordered by the initial attack incident

commander. Extended attack implies that the complexity level of the incident requires some

support to initial attack forces.

Fire Dependent Ecosystems: Ecosystems develop and evolve over time due to the interaction

amongst plants, animals, soil, and weather to produce current plant and animal neighborhoods.

Plant characteristics often display either fire-resistant or fire-kill-prone vegetation, such as thick

bark or resprouting from the roots, because their ancestors were used to fire occurrence on the

site. All of the Crow Reservation has co-existed with fires immemorially. Several Reservation

ecosystems are entirely fire-dependent, such as the Wolfs’ ponderosa pine forests, the Pryors’

lodgepole pine forests, and the rangeland’s native short-grass prairies.

US DOI Bureau ef Indian Affairs Fire Management Plan

Crow Agency October, 2010

Fire Management Planning Analysis: A formal process by which the BIA fire management

program identifies its average annual workload, the optimal program configuration for recurring

program elements, and the estimated budget required to support the program.

Fire Program Analysis: FPA is a performance-based, landscape scale interagency fire program

planning and budgeting system. The system is comprised of: 1) a preparedness module focused

on the planning and budgeting of the initial response to unplanned ignitions and program

management; this module also includes use of wildland fire; 2) a set of modules including

extended response, large fires, fuels management, prevention program and emergency

stabilization and rehabilitation.

FIREMON: Fire Effects Monitoring and Inventory System is a plot level sampling system

designed to characterize changes in ecosystem attributes over time. In other words, people make

a detailed count of biomass on the ground at particular times and places, then store and update

that data. The system consists of a sampling strategy manual, standardized sampling methods,

field forms, Access database, and a data analysis program. In 2009 the name became FFI (Feat-

Firemon Integrated).

Fire Regime: The long-term occurrences and patterns of fires in a particular ecosystem or

specific neighborhood. A neighborhood’s fire regime is characterized by fire frequency,

predictability, seasonality, intensity, duration, scale (patch size), as well as regularity or

variability. Five combinations of fire frequency, expressed as fire return interval in fire severity,

are defined:

Groups I and IJ - include fire retum intervals in the 0 - 35 year range. Group I includes

ponderosa pine, other long needle pine species, and dry site Douglas-fir. Group II

includes drier grassland types. Groups III and IV include fire return intervals in the 35 -

100+ year range. Group II includes interior dry site shrub communities such as

sagebrush. Group IV includes lodgepole pine. Group V is the long interval (infrequent),

stand replacement fire regime and includes high elevation conifer species.

Forest Health: An arguable concept of the dynamic (constantly changing) state of defined forest

ecosystems. Some say that forest health is a measure of how forest disease and insect activity can

affect forest growth and management risk. Others say that forest health is a measure of how

successful the appropriate fire regimes are in affecting the perceived condition classes of a forest,

which include disease and insects.

Hazardous Fuels Reduction (HFR): The removal of biomass from an area, or changing fuels’

flammability (for example, by chipping brush), to reduce the intensity of a future fire in that

neighborhood. Also, a funding category for projects that remove bumable materials, or reduce

hazards of unplanned fires to values at risk.

Incident Command System: A standardized on-scene emergency management concept since

the 1970’s, that allows participants to quickly function in an integrated organizational structure

fo Ae

equal to the complexity and demands of an incident, without being hindered by jurisdictional

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boundaries. Participants are pre-certified (with “red cards,” in wildland fire) to fill standardized

positions.

Incident Command Team: Type | and 2 teams are nationally-rostered interagency teams

brought to an incident at an agency administrator’s request. A Type 3 team is usually local and

non-local resources assembled to meet the management needs of an ongoing incident. A Type 4

team is usually several local resources working for several operational periods on an incident,

without specific management support. A Type 5 incident is initial attack.

Initial Attack: The actions taken by the first resources to arrive at a wildfire to protect lives and

property, and to prevent further extension of the fire.

Long Term: “Long term” refers 1) to conditions created and naturally developed over a period

of time exceeding the management period, before regulation or active management, or 2) toa

plan for active management, with defined objectives, strategies, and potential future tactics laid

out, but open to change.

Management Action Points (MAP): Physical locations identified on maps and on the ground

by fire managers. If fire reaches these locations, managers evaluate existing and future

conditions to make significant decisions.

Minimum Impact Suppression Tactics (MIST): Light-on-the-land suppression tactics that

include use of hand crews rather than mechanical ground equipment, and rehabilitation of most

constructed fireline. MIST is a ‘do least damage’ philosophy, not a special kind of firefighting

tactics but rather a mind set: how to suppress a wildfire while minimizing the long-term effects

of the action, MIST is using the minimum tool to safely and effectively accomplish the task.

National Fire Danger Rating System: A uniform fire danger rating system that focuses on

environmental factors that control the moisture content of fuels. NFDRS indices represent a

general condition that would induce fire starts and associated fire behavior based on current and

predicted conditions.

National Incident Management System (NIMS): In 2009, the Department of Homeland

Security’s cross-jurisdictional version of the incident command system (see).

National Wildfire Coordinating Group: Local, state, tribal and federal agencies that have

legally pledged to keep common standards for fire professional training and management.

Pre-settlement Conditions: Forest conditions that relate to vegetation species, stocking, size

classes, and relative health prior to the late 1800’s. The landscapes were then influenced by fires

set by native peoples, as well as by naturally occurring fires, within climates and ecosystem

dynamics that cannot remain unchanging.

US DOI Bureau of Indian Affairs Fire Management Plan

Crow Agency October, 2010

Preparedness Levels: Condition or degree of being ready to cope with a potential fire situation.

The PLs are different stages of required response readiness, based on the anticipated complexity

of potential incidents.

Prepositioning: Locating suppression resources before a fire starts, based on the likelihood of

fires in certain areas, in order to reduce response time and increase initial attack effectiveness.

Prescribed Fire: Any planned ignition intended to meet specific objectives. Prescribed fires are

conducted in accordance with prescribed fire plans. A non-agency “controlled burn” may not

have a prescribed fire plan.

Prescribed Fire (“Burn”) Plan: A plan for each prescribed fire. Plans are documents prepared

by qualified personnel, approved by the agency administrator, and include burn prescriptions and

analyses of fire potential.

Prescription: Measurable conditions under which a prescribed fire will be ignited, that guide

selection of management responses, and indicate other required actions. Prescription criteria

may include safety, economic, public health, and environmental, geographic, administrative,

social, or legal considerations, as well as weather.

Rehabilitation: Attempting to prevent future problems from damage caused by suppressing a

wildland fire. Under special circumstances, a Bumed Emergency Area Rehab (BAER) team may

take mitigation measures to lessen potential damage caused by the fire.

Restoration: Managing a site to create a more diverse and stable condition in a neighborhood

that currently exhibits significant departure from the desired ecological structure. See Condition

Class.

Risk Assessment and Mitigation Strategies: This is a wildland fire prevention planning model

for the use in the preparation of wildland fire prevention plans. It addresses the causes of fires

and strategies that will reduce them.

Risk Management: An organizational approach to managing risk through a systematic risk

assessment and mitigation process, identifying ways to reduce the likelihood of an unwanted

event occurring, or sustaining maximum loss to values at risk.

Scott’s 40 Fuel Models are standardized models of fuel types (describing bumable material on

a local area) used to mathematically model fire behavior and fire spread. Richard Rothermel

defined 13 original fuel types in 1972. Describing fuel types helps in fire behavior analysis: the

mathematical prediction of current and predicted fire intensity, self-propelling fire growth, rates

of spread, effects, and so on. The Crow Reservation’s fuels encompass several of the major

subdivisions of Scott’s types: (NB) Nonburnable areas in badlands, (GR) Grass, (SH) Shrub,

(TU) Timber-Understory, (TL) Timber Litter, and areas of (SB) Slash-Blowdown in the Pryors.

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US DOI Bureau of Indian Affairs Fire Management Plan

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Single Engine Air Tanker: An agricultural fixed wing smaller than a heavy air tanker, capable

of landing and takeoff on smaller airstrips, capable of hauling and dropping 400-1000 gallons of

mixed chemical retardant.

Smoke Preduction: Smoke created by combustible material considering fuel size, fuel moisture,

and ignition type and sequence. Smoke includes gasses, moisture, and solid particles both large

and microscopic, produced during combustion (smoldering and/or flaming).

Tactically Defensible: An effective location from which to control a wildland fire, yet that also

meets all safety needs of the firefighters.

Unplanned Ignitions: Unapproved and unauthorized fire starts that occur in unwanted places.

Values at Risk: Natural resources, improvements, or other values that may be harmed if a fire

cccurs; also, the estimated damages and benefits that may result from fires in a particular

presuppression or suppression situation.

Volunteer Fire Department (VFD): A non-paid organization cf local community members,

occasionally but not necessarily trained using NWCG standards. VFDs can be first on scene to

rural range fires. Members have variable training for either wildland or structural firefighting.

Wildland training and equipment may be supported by grants from counties and/or by

coordination with Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation.

Wildland Fire Decision Support System (WFDSS): A process which examines the full range

of responses to a wildland fire and becomes the documentation support system for the

management strategies taken. Managers update the WFDSS throughout the course of a wildland

fire. Replaces the Wildland Fire Situational Analysis (WFSA) and WFIP process.

Wildland Urban Interface (WUD: Places where people live, that are at risk from wildland fire:

where human structures and values at risk have been developed in an area with a fire regime that

is prone to wildland fire. Also, a funding category for projects that reduce hazards to humans’

values at risk in developed areas.

US DOI Bureau of Indian Affairs Fire Management Plan

Crow Agency October, 2010

PREPARERS

Dale Glenmore, team lead, Fire Management Officer, Crow Agency BIA Fire & Aviation

Jon Kohn, Public Information Officer, Crow Agency BIA Fire & Aviation

Randy Pretty On Top, Fire / Fuels Specialist, Crow Agency BIA Fire & Aviation

Fred Wayne Taylor, Regional NEPA Officer, BIA Rocky Mountain Regional Office

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REFERENCES CITED

Aviation Management. 2009. Departmental Manual Parts 350-354, US Department of the

Interior. http://elips.doi.cov/app_dm/index.cfm?fuseaction=home (accessed January 1, 2010).

Brown, James K.; Smith, Jane Kapler, eds. 2000. Wildland fire in ecesystems: effects of fire

on flora. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-42-vol. 2. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture,

Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station.

Crow Indian Agency, Forest Management Plan. 2009. U.S. Department of the Interior

Bureau of Indian Affairs, Rocky Mountain Regional Office.

Crow Reservation Study Area. 2009. Montana Digital Atlas, Natural Resource Information

System (NRIS), State of Montana.

http://maps? nris.mt.vov/mapper/ThemeList.asp? Profile=800457 &gLaverl=INDIANRES&qFiel

dl=ResName&qValuel=CROW&Operl=&Bufter!=0&TabName=Land%20Intormation

(accessed July 17, 2009)

Fire Management Measures. 2009. Code of Federal Regulations, CFR 25, § 163.28.

Electronic Code of Federal Regulations, http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/titext/text

idx?c=echr&sid=5bbb0966d56c3bSa468ee23008db 1 Neb &ren=div8&view=text&node=25:1.0.1.

8.71.2.91.19&idno=25 (accessed January 1, 2010).

Federal Wildland Fire Management, Policy and Program Review, Final Report - December

18, 1995. (1995).. U. S. Department of the Interior, U. S. Department of Agriculture.

http//www.nite.cov/policies/1995_fire_policy.htm (accessed January 1, 2010).

Flathead Indian Reservation Fire Management Plan 2006. 2006. comp. James Steele.

Ronan, MT: Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, Branch of Forestry, Division of Fire

Management.

Healthy Forests Initiative, website.

http:/web.archive.org/web/200704270944 1 O/www.healthyforests.gow (archived copy of

website of April 2007, accessed January 1, 2010).

Introduction to Fire Effects. 2008. Course Materials for NWCG RX-340 class, Introduction to

Fire Effects, Northern Rockies Training Center, Missoula, Montana, March 2008.

National Fire Plan. http://www.forestsandranyelands.vow/overview/index.shtml (accessed

January 1, 2010).

Scott, Joe H.; Burgan, Robert E. 2005. Standard fire behavior fuel models: a comprehensive

set for use with Rothermel’s surface fire spread model. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-153.

Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research

Station. 72 p.

=

nN

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US DOI Bureau of Indian Affairs Fire Management Plan

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Smith, Jane Kapler, ed. 2000. Wildland fire in ecosystems: effects of fire on fauna. Gen.

Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-42-vol. 1. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service,

Rocky Mountain Research Station.

Vegetation: Resources. 2002. Crow Indian Tribe. Crow Natural, Socio-economic and Cultural

Resources Assessment and Conditions Report.

http://www.bim.gov/pedata/ete/medialib/biny/ mt/ticld_offices/miles_city/og eis/crow.Par.85585.

File.dat/vegetation.pdf (accessed July 17, 2009).

Wildland Fire and Aviation Program Management and Operations Guide 2009. 2009.

Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), Indian Affairs Manual (AM), Part 90.

hittp://www.nife.zov/policies/bluc_book.him (accessed January 1, 2010).

Wildland Fire Management. 2009. Departmental Manual Part 620, US Department of the

Interior. http://elips.doi.gov/app_dm/index.cfm?fuseaction=home (accessed January 1, 2010).

Wildlife: Resources. 2002. Crow Indian Tribe. Crow Natural, Socio-economic and cultural

resources assessment and conditions report.

http://www.blm.gov/pedata/ete/mediatib/bim/mt/ficld_offices/miles_citv/ox_cis/crow.Par.65918.

File.dat/wildlife.pdf (accessed July 17, 2009).

Zouhar, Kristin; Smith, Jane Kapler; Sutherland, Steve; Brooks, Matthew L. (2008). Wildland

fire in ecosystems: fire and nonnative invasive plants. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-42-vol.

6. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research

Station.

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APPENDIX A

MAP SECTION

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