Community Wildfire Protection Plan

Community Wildfire Protection Plans (CWPP) have helped communities work together to achieve common goals and deal with often controversial issues. CWPPs have offered many valuable opportunities to communities, allowing them to identify local priorities for community protection and resource management. In addition to enhancing safety and reducing risk to human structures and watersheds, communities with CWPPs are also given priority for USFS and BLM funded hazardous fuels reduction projects as authorized under the Healthy Forest Restoration Act of 2003 (HFRA). In the end, CWPPs have helped communities better protect themselves for fire risk and better manage their forested landscape.

The collaborative efforts of foresters from the federal and state agencies, rural fire departments, private landowners, local government agencies, volunteer organizations, and concerned citizens who live in the wildland urban interface, have resulted in signed CWPPs in every county and many communities across Oregon.

Plan information

A CWPP is a plan developed by a community in an area at-risk from wildfire. The Community Wildfire Protection Planning process is the collaboration between communities and agencies interested in reducing wildfire risk.

A valid CWPP has three minimum requirements. First, the plan must be collaboratively developed by local and state government representatives in consultation with federal agencies and other interested parties. Second, the plan must identify and prioritize areas for hazardous fuel reduction treatments, as well as recommending methods of treatments that will protect at-risk communities and essential infrastructure. Third, the plan must recommend measures that homeowners and communities can take to reduce ignitability of structures throughout the area addressed by the plan.

The Healthy Forest Restoration Act (HFRA) requires that three decision-makers mutually agree to the final contents of the CWPP. The three are the applicable local government (i.e. counties or cities), the local fire department(s) and the State entity responsible for forest management (ODF). These three are directed to consult with and involve local representatives of the USFS and BLM and other interested parties or persons in the development of the CWPP.

The statutory definition of a CWPP appears in Title I of the HFRA. The HRFA decrees that communities, which have a CWPP in place, will be a priority for receiving hazardous fuels reduction funding administrated by the USFS and BLM.

When undertaking the task of creating a CWPP, there are two templates used in Oregon. The first template, developed by the University of Oregon Program for Watershed and Community Health, is titled "A Framework for Community Fire Plans" and is the Community Fire Plan (CFP) Framework. The Community Fire Plan Framework may be a good fit if you are coordinating multiple planning efforts.

The second template is titled "Preparing a Community Wildfire Protection Plan - A Handbook for Wildland-Urban Interface Communities" and is referred to as the Healthy Forest Handbook. The Healthy Forest Handbook offers concise, step-by-step instructions for creating a CWPP. This handbook is designed to assist communities in creating CWPPs that conform to both the spirit and letter of the HFRA.

Additional tools