Rebuilding after the Lone Rock Fire

The Lone Rock Fire is one of the largest wildfires to ever burn in Central Oregon. It burned 137,222 acres and required support from local volunteers, fire districts, and state and federal fire agencies. The heroism of local volunteers prevented the destruction of Lonerock and Spray. Dozens of homes and ranches were saved as a result.

In the coming weeks, the impacted areas will continue to be monitored for flare-ups. Although most firefighters have left the area, the work for many landowners is just beginning.

Hundreds of miles of fence line, corrals, and spring developments have been destroyed. Ranchers have been hunting down stray cattle that were turned loose as the fire grew.

The mounting financial impact is staggering when considering the loss of pastures and the cost of buying more hay or transporting cattle to other locations.

At the Gilliam and Wheeler Soil and Water Conservation Districts, staff have been tirelessly working to help landowners who suffered significant losses. With their partners at the National Resources Conservation Service in Condon, which serves both Gilliam and Wheeler County, staff are working in uncharted territory and are exploring a number of ways to help impacted landowners.

Governor Tina Kotek has given a Secretarial Disaster Designation for sixteen counties in Oregon that have been hard hit by wildfires, including Wheeler and Gilliam counties. This designation allows the state to request federal assistance for those disproportionately harmed in the agriculture industry. It also makes available Federal Lands Grazing Permits for alternative grazing areas and flexibility in grazing schedules to accommodate recovery across National Forest System lands.

The funding will eventually come; that is almost certain. But when it will be available remains unknown.

At the Gilliam SWCD office in Condon, District Manager Herb Winters and Conservation Technician Roger Lathrop have engaged with landowners in Gilliam County that were impacted by the Lone Rock Fire. Lathrop has poured over existing maps to look at burned-out areas and documented lost property when visiting landowners.

And while they don't have a lot of answers for those people right now, Herb and Roger are working to keep them informed and to advocate on their behalf.

Herb has been sending daily emails to producers and landowners in the area. They have handed out packets of information. More recently, they have been working to get satellite imagery to carefully document heavily impacted areas so that when the money is available, they'll have strong data to support their funding requests, and speed things along.

The US Department of Agriculture will eventually make those funds available, but they will likely require documented losses and information on what exactly the landowners need to be made whole.

To adequately provide this information, the Gilliam SWCD is engaging with a private company that provides high resolution satellite imagery. With photos taken before and after the fire, the SWCD can make their case to USDA and work to get as much funding as possible for landowners.

Cassi Newton, District Manager of the Wheeler SWCD, is also hunting for high-quality satellite images of impacted areas. Like Winters, she is working closely with DelRae Furgeson with NRCS on burn severity maps. But advancements in recent years in satellite imagery, and a boom in private companies that provide high resolution and detailed satellite photos, is what they are after.

Winters and Lathrop believe these images could make a significant difference for getting funding to landowners in Gilliam County, where approximately 200 square kilometers burned in the Lone Rock Fire.

However, there are additional challenges in Wheeler County.

In Gilliam County, the fire exclusively burned on private land, and almost all of that land was used for agricultural purposes. In Wheeler County, where the fire burned the most acres, there is a mix of state, federal, and private lands.

The Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) owns a significant amount of the land that burned in Wheeler County. Identifying where private property was destroyed and if that property was used for agricultural purposes has been challenging.

Like their partners in Gilliam County, the Wheeler Soil and Water Conservation District is seeking high quality maps and satellite imagery to streamline this process and to prepare for funding requests.

At the Wheeler County Court meeting last week, Newton said that some landowners may not receive the support they need.

"There's a handful of landowners that are not going to be eligible for that funding because they don't have an ag operation on their property," Newton said. "The only thing they can get from USDA is fencing."

When looking at impacted areas, SWCD staff in both counties see opportunities to help landowners now, improve the soil, and mitigate future fire risks by planting perennial plants and native grasses.

Herb Winters says that the intensity of the fire burned a significant amount of cheat grass, invasive weeds, and juniper. With dozer lines and fire lines that have been established, Winters and Lathrop believe that there is an opportunity to improve soil conditions and to prevent fires from spreading so quickly in the future.

The challenge is that there is a limited time to seed.

If funding is made available quickly, SWCD staff can help landowners by seeding native plants that have been proven to slow wildfires and erosion. Should burned areas not be reseeded, noxious weeds and cheat grasses will return.

There is also some potential for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to seed native plants on public ground in Wheeler County. The hope is that by spring, the plants will take root and will help to slow erosion. Winters and Newton worry that with heavy snow and a rapid thaw next spring, erosion could further damage the soil and significantly harm streams and creeks.

Should that happen, there could be catastrophic damage, especially on Rock Creek in Gilliam County.

"Fifty-two percent of upper Rock Creek burned," Winters said. "The risk of erosion is extremely high."

Rock Creek is already known for its violent flow during the spring thaw each year.

Right now, the Gilliam and Wheeler SWCD offices are trying to find partners and are continuing to explore creative solutions.

That includes methods of helping landowners immediately and not waiting for the federal government.

"We're trying to think outside the box and come up with some solutions," says Herb Winters. "Roger has reached out to the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, ODFW, the Ford Family Foundation – we're trying to see if unconventional pots of money are there that might be a little bit more fast moving."