A CWPP helps a community develop, clarify and refine its priorities for protection of life and property and critical infrastructure in the wildland urban interface. The CWPP brings together diverse local interests with a large base of knowledge to discuss their mutual concerns for public safety, community sustainability and natural resources. It offers a positive, solution-oriented environment in which to address challenges such as: local firefighting capability, the need for defensible space around homes and subdivisions, and where and how to prioritize land management - on both federal and non-federal land.
A CWPP can be used by FireWise program working groups, individual homeowners, fire departments, fire management personnel in natural resource agencies, and others involved in wildfire planning and mitigation efforts. Guidelines for the creation of a CWPP are outlined in Preparing a Community Wildfire Protection Plan: A Handbook for Wildland-Urban Interface Communities. CWPP planning is under way in communities across the Kenai Peninsula Borough. Residents are encouraged to join the planning efforts for their community.
The schedule for CWPP meetings can be found in each communities CWPP area page (accessed using the map on the right). If your community is not listed as having a meeting scheduled and you are interested in getting something started, please call 714-2430.
Background
In accordance with the direction of the 2003 Healthy Forest Restoration Act, the Kenai Peninsula Interagency All Lands / All Hands Action Plan places a priority on working collaboratively with communities in the wildland-urban interface (WUI) and emphasizes the need for the communities on the Kenai Peninsula to complete Community Wildfire Protection Plans (CWPP's). These CWPP's give local community members an opportunity to consider WUI boundaries around their community for themselves, identify and prioritize hazard fuel reduction projects, and to recommend measures to reduce the ignitability of structures throughout the at-risk community. The SBB office has taken the lead in facilitating these protection plans for each of the communities.
Port Graham CWPP Meeting, April 1st, 2008
Kenai Peninsula Borough
Spruce Bark Beetle Mitigation Program
