The Coconino County Board of Supervisors listen as U.S. Forest Service District Ranger Matt McGrath gives a presentation showing the plan to address the significant wildfire risk in the Upper Rio de Flag Watershed during a meeting at the County Administration building in early March.
The Coconino County Board of Supervisors listen as U.S. Forest Service District Ranger Matt McGrath gives a presentation showing the plan to address the significant wildfire risk in the Upper Rio de Flag Watershed during a meeting at the County Administration building in early March.
Hattie Loper, Arizona Daily SunThe Coconino County Flood Control District Board of Directors recently approved about $7.6 million to support forest restoration projects in the Upper Rio de Flag Watershed near Flagstaff and on Bill Williams Mountain above the City of Williams.
The funding is meant to leverage federal investment from the U.S. Forest Service to conduct forest treatments meant to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire and post-wildfire flooding.
The investment comes after several studies developed in cooperation with the county examined the potential risk of a catastrophic wildfire, and postfire flooding, on the western side of the San Francisco Peaks and within the Rio de Flag Watershed.
Those studies, produced by JE Fuller Hydrology & Geomorphology and the Economic Policy Institute at Northern Arizona University, show the watershed is at high risk of catastrophic wildfire that could result in an economic impact to the greater Flagstaff area ranging from $535 million to $2.8 billion.
A similar 2016 study of the Bill Williams Mountain area determined a potential economic impact of $365-$700 million to the regional economy.
“When we consider the economic, ecological and cultural cost of wildfire on the San Francisco Peaks, the investment into proactive forest restoration measures is not just sensible, it is imperative,” said Coconino County District 1 Supervisor Patrice Horstman. “We are all too familiar with the vicious cycle of fire and flooding. We’re putting our money where our mouth is to reduce the two greatest public safety threats in Coconino County -- catastrophic wildfire and post-wildfire flooding.”
“The Bill Williams Mountain Forest Restoration Project has seen good progress already,” said Coconino County District 3 Supervisor Adam Hess. “With these added investments, we are one step closer to the finish line.”
The Coconino National Forest has announced its forest restoration plan for the Upper Rio de Flag Watershed. Phase 1 of that plan hopes to see forest restoration on 12,000 high-priority acres across the 21,500 acre watershed over the next three to five years.
The funding by the county will contribute about $2,064,000 to Upper Rio de Flag Forest Restoration Project, with the Forest Service committing about $11 million to it.
Then, about $5.6 million of the county’s funding allocation will be directed toward the Bill Williams Mountain Forest Restoration Project. The Kaibab National Forest plans to commit $7,500,000 to that effort.
“We have worked hand-in-hand with the U.S. Forest Service on both the Bill Williams Mountain and Upper Rio de Flag Watershed projects,” explained Coconino County Forest Restoration Director Jay Smith. “The distribution of funding reflects this partnership, as we determined that by committing more funding to Bill Williams Mountain, we could free up funds for the Forest Service to tackle the lion’s share of the Upper Rio De Flag Watershed.”
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