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YVFACC Strategic Plan

Use to bring new people into coalition, evaluate coalition effectiveness, consistency

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Criteria for Selecting a High Priority:

  • The largest, greatest, and long term impact and will it make the community safer

  • Cost analysis / comparison…return on investment, risk vs reward outcome and feasibility

  • Community involvement & investment

  • Will it prevent catastrophic fire resulting in life and property loss

  • Most positive intervention of people’s lives – present and future

  • Availability of funding or opportunity

  • Does it have a multi-agency organizational use

  • Is it sustainable and allows the community to be self sufficient

  • Integrates community and ecosystem resilience

  • Political support

  • Does it have someone that will lead the project/activity

  • Proposal readiness, permits, etc completed

 

High Priority Projects Identified:

  • Develop a fire adapted communities promotional campaign all members can use including establishing a communication – education network / hub between and within communities

  • White Swan area defensible spaces and community involvement

  • West Valley / Cowiche area defensible spaces and community involvement

  • Education and demonstration events (days where people are doing things)

  • Firewise programs recognition starting with four Firewise Communities – West Valley, East Valley, Selah, Lower Valley

  • Develop individual CWPP coverage for all areas of Yakima County and each CWPP will have a top priority that the coalition will support (ownership)

 

Strategic Areas:

Communication / Coordination

Public Outreach & Education

Projects & Funding

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Measures of Success & Goals:

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Benchmarks, Timeline, Actions

Develop a fire adapted communities promotional campaign all members can use including establishing a communication – education network / hub between and within communities

Coalition Framework:

 

Facilitation / Convener

  • RC&D to provide for now

 

Membership

  • Current coalition members (today)

  • Some type of listing of coverage…look at missing areas and make contact with a leader(s) of the missing

  • Membership description built from today’s meeting

  • Sharing of role and structure of organizations involved

 

Meetings – number and type

  • In person for first meetings

  • Once a month – 10:00 am to noon

  • Duration – 2 hours maximum – may be longer at first couple of meetings

  • Informal meetings

  • Evaluate meetings for format & content

  • Content developed for agenda…send items to Ryan

  • Set agenda items for next meeting at end of meeting

  • Something new brought up would be normally acted on at next meeting

  • Meeting agendas and materials one week before meeting

 

Minutes or notes

  • Summaries of what was addressed

  • Ryan choice & organized

 

Funding

  • Use RC&D for 501c3 organization for receiving funding received and sponsorship

  • Grants could be through individual member organizations or be organized through RC&D

 

Preferred communications method

  • Email communication

 

Decision Making

  • Consensus as primary decision process

  • Consensus defined as “I can live with it”…once decision is made be supportive

  • If vote needed – one vote per organization

 

Issues resolution

  • Bring to Ryan’s attention

  • Can table issue to next meeting

  • Focus on what we can do together

 

Selection of issues most appropriate for coalition consideration

  • Give opportunity to speak with the coalition

  • Coalition choice as to whether to take it on

  • Direct them to resources and alternative

Communication / Coordination

  • Develop a communication hub/network of coalition partners that would be available and interactive

  • Have a Yakima County Fire Adapted Community Coalition formed that had membership identified and active and getting things done, prioritizing projects

  • Coalition would help build capacity for fire adapted community work

  • Use coalition process/setting to fully understand agencies/organizations constraints and support them to meet their objectives/goals related to resilient landscapes (eg agencies and organizations meet funding needs

  • Build relationships as a coalition and use enthusiasm to accomplish the work we have to do to serve the Yakima County Community leading to support and funding form government and non-government sources

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Public Outreach & Education

  • Increase private land owner role through greater media presence in Yakima County

  • Creating a mindset that there are two types of fire…threat or prescribed fire for restoration and natural fire…more people see the fire as a tool

  • Develop a successful conduit for educating the public on Firewise and Fire adapted community

  • Increase the number of community wildland fire preparedness events including one in White Swan

  • Coalition members would be fully aware and understand each other’s organization, goals, role, structure…then support and champion each other’s organization/agency

  • Have a common concept of management and control of fire in Yakima Valley…would have same messaging

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Projects & Funding

  • 20 Recognized Firewise communities by 2017

  • Funding allocated for two projects based on coalition priorities that we can promote, stand behind

  • Emphasis on securing funding to enable the completion of desired and identified projects

  • Developing an additional two Firewise communities…one lower and one upper valley

  • Successfully fund and support implementation of Firewise principles on all private lands on Highway 410 & 12 CWPP areas

  • Be competitive nationally on funding sources and policy barriers

  • Plan for the future recovery for after the fire comes through and after the emergency response

 

Effective Coalitions:

See notes

 

 

Unique Role for Coalition:

  • One stop shop for all things wildfire

  • Work directed at County Wide fire resiliency and awareness

  • Support the RC&D and utilize the non-profit status

  • Be the non-political entity that concentrates on common goals

  • Use the collective knowledge to learn, improve our understanding and get more work done together

  • Provide a forum for empowering people in Yakima County in wildfire awareness

  • Recruit, foster, learn from, support, and mentor new partnerships

 

Purpose Statement:  

“Purpose of the Yakima County Fire Adapted Community Coalition is to increase and sustain wildfire resiliency by working together, empowering people, providing education, supporting partnerships in preparing for, responding to, and recovering from wildland fire for and with the people in Yakima County

Session Notes - June 25, 2015, 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

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