Valley County OKs wildfire seminar contract and accepts roughly $750,000 for mitigation projects
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Summary
Commissioners approved $21,250 in SWIFT funding and signed a facilitation agreement with SWCA for a wildfire-mitigation seminar, and accepted a PRRA grant award (reported at $500,000 plus an expected $240,000) to fund fuel-reduction work in the East Mountain/Cascade area over the next two–three years.
Valley County commissioners on Jan. 5 approved funding and contracts to broaden wildfire-mitigation outreach and on-the-ground work in the county.
The board voted to accept a $21,250 award from the All Lands Partnership (described in the meeting as SWIFT/Southwest Idaho forest fund money) to host a wildfire-seminar program and authorized the board to sign a facilitation agreement with contractor SWCA. The presenter said those funds are provided up front — not on a reimbursement basis — and will be used to pay vendors, run social-media outreach, print materials and support a steering committee to plan sessions.
“We got funding from the All Lands partnership to be able to do a wildfire seminar,” the presenter said, and described hiring a professional facilitator so county staff can learn to run larger seminars in future years.
Commissioners also approved a PRRA memorandum of understanding after the presenter said the county had been awarded $500,000 from the entity spelled in the meeting as “IDDL” for projects in the East Mountain area and that an additional $240,000 award is expected, creating roughly $750,000 available over the next two to three years for mitigation work in Cascade.
The presenter said portions of the grants will cover administrative costs and personnel: “So some of my wages and some of that additional person’s wages” will be paid from the grant funds, and typical award periods run two to three years depending on landowner engagement.
The presenter emphasized landowner outreach as the seminar’s primary audience and said the event will include practical topics such as insurance and available programs (for example, EQIP) and will bring together federal, state, county and nonprofit partners. The board approved the SWIFT MOU and the SWCA facilitation agreement by voice vote and approved the PRRA MOU by motion and second.
Next steps include finalizing the facilitator contract and steering committee membership, public outreach to landowners, and scheduling the first multi-agency seminar and follow-up workshops.