Ashland Climate Collaborative
Jackson County
Request: $5,000
Ashland is in the 97th percentile of wildfire risk in the country. After an unusually dry winter, we are at extreme risk of wildfire. We applied for major funding from Oregon Health Authority to begin implementation of the city's newly approved Community Wildfire Protection Plan but this was unsuccessful. " To lower Ashland's risk profile, the residential area must become “a fuel break — not a fuel source,” according to the plan. So we are getting a modest (completely unfunded) start by initiating a grassroots peer-to-peer initiative to organize neighbors to reduce wildfire risks and improve evacuation safety. It is really taking off! 200 people have expressed interest, including 40 who have defined a neighborhood where they will work. 70 are already registered for a program being held on 7/28. This program builds on the successes and lessons learned from Firewise USA communities and other neighborhood organizing models, but its grassroots, interconnected peer-to-peer model is distinctly different from those established models. You can read more about it here: https://AshlandClimate.org/wildfireReady or read the Ashland.news article about our first community meeting here: https://ashland.news/wildfire-ready-neighborhoods-meetings-connect-neighbors-to-reduce-risks-as-a-community/ .
The $5000 request is just a guess at an amount that would make a difference to produce meeting materials (Oregon Emergency Management booklets; evacuation maps; go bag tips, etc.) allow us to have a paid subscription to our listserv product (Gaggle) with multiple neighborhoods and topic subgroups (est. $1200/year), and handle other incidental meeting expenses (hall rental, insurance). With more money we could pay someone to do the admin functions—currently this is being done by volunteers, but as the network grows that may be unsustainable.
We are trying to avert a disaster by helping neighborhoods organize to assist each other in an evacuation event, building toward wildfire risk-reduction interventions at the neighborhood level. Modeling shows (and the nearby 2020 Almeda fire demonstrated) that if a wind-driven fire starts on one end of town, the whole town could be destroyed fairly quickly--there are many wooden structures, connecting wooden fences, flammable plants, and more. We believe that a grassroots community mobilization effort could be life-saving, and accelerate other official efforts. Our fire department does not have the skills or the capacity to do this kind of outreach, whereas this is a strength of our organization. We are coordinating closely with them and requesting their input all along the way. We have built very strong trust relationships with City officials and local wildfire risk-reduction experts.
