County staff recommend accepting $40,000 FEMA subgrant via DNR to create fuels-reduction plans for conservation sites

County staff briefed the Board of County Commissioners on a FEMA-funded, Department of Natural Resources (DNR)-administered grant that would make Spokane County a subrecipient for $40,000 to prepare fuels-reduction (fuels management) plans for four Conservation Futures properties.

Doug Chase said the $40,000 award would cover preparation of fuels-reduction plans for the Haines Conservation Area, Holmberg Conservation Area, the Beacon Hill portion owned by the county, and McKenzie Conservation Area, and $10,000 of the total is earmarked for project management. He said the state and DNR would cover the FEMA-required 25% match and that plans must be completed before May.

Staff described a potential phase 2 implementation opportunity of roughly $400,000 from the same grant program to implement mitigation work. Several commissioners and staff cautioned that FEMA reimbursement rules can be highly detailed and described past experiences where program paperwork required GPS coordinates for individually felled trees and extensive documentation before reimbursements were approved. Heather (grant staff) said county grant-staff capacity is at maximum and that DNR will play a key administrative role with FEMA.

Why it matters: The plans would provide multi-year, low-risk planning value for fuels reduction and could position the county to pursue larger implementation grants in the future. But the county could face administrative challenges if FEMA denies reimbursements; staff said, however, that the county can absorb $40,000 worst-case and could use Conservation Futures maintenance funds to cover costs if necessary.

Next steps: Staff recommended finalizing the grant agreement with DNR, return to the board with the formal grant acceptance and related contract documents, and consider the phase 2 implementation option later after assessing administrative risks.