Wagon Trail Ranch neighborhood achieves Firewise distinction
La PINE, Ore. (KTVZ) -- The Wagon Trail Ranch neighborhood in the La Pine area and north Klamath County, and within the La Pine Rural Fire Protection District and Walker Range Forest Fire Protective Association, has achieved the national recognition of being a Firewise community.
The NFPA Firewise community certification program is a national program where individual neighborhoods that are within a fire dependent landscape to make a commitment and to be proactive in working to ensure the community and homes are resilient from wildfire.
Wagon Trail Ranch is a community of 219 homesites nestled into the pine forest of Northern Klamath County along the Little Deschutes River, just south of La Pine. It was originally platted in 1972 by Brooks Resources and has a community center, pool, horse corrals, and extensive common areas.
The process started with the Community Wildfire Protection Plan (of which all Central Oregon communities have one) where public land agencies assess the risk and prioritize work on public lands around our communities.
Then the community, and the board of directors of the HOA in this case, created a local action plan to continue forest health and mitigation efforts on private and community property within the community, creating resiliency from wildfire.
Wagon Trail Ranch has been very active in creating defensible space on 120 acres of common areas and along 10 miles of roads. Since 2016, volunteers averaged almost 1,000 hours each year to address fuels in common areas.
Individual participation in an Oregon Department of Forestry Wildland Urban Interface Residential Assessment by Walker Range has also been significant -- since 2012, almost two-thirds of all the community’s residential properties have undergone formal assessment.
Subsequent improvements include creating fuel breaks, posting reflective address signs, and removal of ladder fuels. Many residences have taken advantage of Walker Range chipping services. Annual Fire Trailer refresher training, fire phone tree tests and chainsaw safety classes are conducted each spring. New residents receive literature in their Welcome packets on how to mitigate wildfire risks.
As there was only one primary ingress/egress road, the secondary emergency access road was carefully scrutinized. Members of the community worked with BLM and ODOT to improve a secondary access dirt road, with a direct path to Highway 97.
Partnering with Project Wildfire, Walker Range, BLM, ODOT and La Pine Rural Fire Protection District has been key to development of the best path forward for this community to help protect homes and properties from an extreme fire hazard.
Wagon Trail Ranch is the second community in Klamath County to have earned this recognition. There are now currently 21 Firewise neighborhoods in Central Oregon and nine within the La Pine Rural Fire District.
