Michigan Prescribed Fire Council
Steering Committee Meeting Agenda
9-11 AM Eastern, May 25th, 2021
START RECORDING, Assign Notetaker
9:00 – 9:10 Welcome and brief introductions (Name, Title, Affiliation)
Andy Vander Yacht, Michele Richards, Dave Borneman, Lee OSterland, Stephanie Bradshaw, Glenn Palmgren, Mark Sargent, Jack McGowan-Stinski, Steve Woods, Megan Martin (SWMLC), Makhayla LaButte (MUCC), Jarod Reibel (Ed Lowe), Dennis Ireland, Dakota Szcxepanski, Tamiko Rehagen (Mattawan FD and KNC), Amy Frye (NRCS), Steve Richardson, Craig Maier, Mark Marshal (Alba Township Fire Dept and MFA), Victor Gozian (Potawatomi Band in Cass County), Steve Richardson (MIARNG)
9:10 – 9:15 Future steering committee meetings
1. 4/year, 9-11 AM, last Tuesday of May, Aug (31), Nov (30), & Feb (22) - Discuss?
9:15 – 9:45 Fire season review
USFS and Brittle Fire Summary - Brittle Fire discussion – Andy reached out to Kevin Reese, and won’t be able to talk through it till the investigation is completed. 6000 acre escaped prescribed fire. No reports of injuries or damage. Steve Woods did a ridealong with USFS. Vast majority of bonus acres were on FS lands, but killed some timber (red and white pine damaged). The ecological effects will be pretty good, but the public relations side of this is serious. Facilitated learning will be available for us to review once investigation is complete.
Forest service burned over 20,000 acres on the Huron shores last year, the good stories don’t get any publicity. We need to work on the positive stories.
Let’s have Stephanie help us get more communications out via social media. She’s doing a great job now. Let’s get her more materials. We need to self-promote our work. The best way to get a story out is to do it yourself. Get info out to the press. Need to make sure we have a cohesive voice, and perhaps that’s a conversation to have. Stephanie will create a form to poke someone monthly to submit content for the month.
2. MI DNR, NGOs, Fort Custer, Consultants, Educators, Others? Dry but busy spring.
9:45 – 9:50 Review of MI PFC near-term goals
1. Top 3 perceived barriers to RX fire in Michigan, based on surveys:
a. Liability, Legislation, and Risk Management
b. Fire Training Availability and Qualification Standards
c. Limited Resources for Prescribed Fire
2. Top priorities for MI PFC this year…
a. Establish RX Certification Standards and Certified Burn Manager Program
Lots of states have hit the stumbling block MI has, but other states have also transcended it. NE-MW RX fire council group has lessons learned. There’s a working group being stood up on how to make this happen in other states. ID stumbling blocks and potential solutions. Funding for a coordinator may be coming. FL has one FTE assigned to a very huge program. Need to make sure our whole steering committee is good with this. Time and staff is the barrier for the DNR to run the program. Need to have a plan on how it’s going to work to get this launched.
At the time it was the Burn Manager law was passed. There was no online learning. The discussions may be different today than 15 years ago. Other path is to go through legislature and ask them to fund it. Toss this issue to Training Certification and Capacity Committee
b. More education and outreach
c. Private landowner and non-agency training, capacity, and outreach
3. Top priorities for MI PFC over the next 5 years…
a. More education and training – Certified Burn Manager Program
b. Private landowner outreach, volunteer force coordination
c. Sustainable council funding, management, and member activation models
9:50 – 10:30 Subcommittee Reports and 2021-2022 Actionable Goals
1. Training, Certification, and Capacity
a. Chair: Steve Woods (John Taylor as co-chair)
b. Members: Szczepanski, Reibel, Rehagen, Vander Yacht, Taylor, Palmgren, Martin, Richards, McGowan-Stinski
c. State Certified Burn Manager Program
i. MSU – MiWORKS Potential Andy has had conversations with these folks and has some opportunities. Perhaps we can craft some proposals and send them up the MDNR chain.
ii. NE MW RPFC Coordinating Group – Latest Networking Forum – several folks in MPFC have signed up to serve on this. Email has already gone out, if you are interested contact Jack to get on that committee.
d. Capacity Sharing/Enhancement via MI PFC Website – Stephanie will update website to reflect these changes.
i. 3 pages under “Get Involved” - replacing “Volunteer and Job Opportunities”
1. Job Opportunities
a. Intro text: paid MI ops in wildland and RX fire?
b. Too big? Cluttered? Organized? Expire? Take down?
c. Michigan specific? Regional? National?
2. Volunteer Opportunities
a. Intro text: unpaid exp in wildland and RX fire
b. Consistent offerors with links to websites/contact lists
c. Request to add org/opportunities to this page
d. Specific events (crosslisted on broader Events tab?)
e. Sign-up for separate email list?
3. Seeking Opportunities
a. List groups consistently looking to help (GVSU, MSU)
b. Resource exchange?
c. Other contact list – coded email? Contact us, we will send?
d. Another link to consultants?
e. Other Trainings
i. Ember Alliance, Szczepanski at Fort Custer?, ANNUAL PACK TEST!
News crew showing up at 26 June. Michele will play PAO. IRPG’s ordered, the only expense for the training.
f. Bylaws related to proposed trainings – let’s revisit the bylaws on this section. Subcommittee will do that.
i. 8-week prior approval?
ii. Task group review? – subcommittee?
iii. Fire council’s fee schedule?
iv. Must meet NWCG standards? “workshops” exempt?
2. EDUCATION AND OUTREACH
a. Chair: Stephanie Bradshaw
b. Members: Richards, Marshall, Frye, Rehagen, Taylor, LaButte, Szcezpanski
c. System of social media outreach (fed to Stephanie Bradshaw)
i. 1 per week - BI session recordings, SE regional infographics, other content, will start with weekly emails to steering committee members individually targeted for her to submit to social media and website.
d. 2 annual/biannual events: 1 targeting fire practitioners (BI?), 1 targeting general public and private landowners (e.g., learn ‘n burn event or a fire festival)
i. Partner with MUCC to deliver a Learn ‘N Burn event? – MUCC On the Ground Program. Has to host on public lands, usually open to the public for hunting. Starting to build calendar now for next year, so will require coordination with MDNR. Makhayla will take charge and make this happen. MDNR may be able to flex the grant requirements to fulfill the most possible actions.
Partnering with Conservation Districts to get learn and burn events on the ground has worked in the past.
3. Burning Issues 2022 Planning Committee
a. Chair: Andy
b. Members: Maier, Vander Yacht, Marshall, Richards, McGowan-Stinski, Szcezpanski
c. BI 2021 Speaker gifts?
d. Feedback survey?
e. Craig and Jack’s new model? Business model flow chart with alternatives?
Maybe we hold a special discussion to work through all of this. Craig and Jack need to step back from the large planning effort. Andy will send out email to start the discussion.
10:30 – 10:40 MI PFC Finance Update
1. KNC as MI PFC’s fiscal sponsor – status update
a. PNC Bank Account Status – transferred funds? Not yet
b. KNC atm/credit cards and checks? KNC is backstopping for us
c. Tracked as MI PFC expense – print reports
d. Can use the KNC registration portal to collect payments
2. Current Funds and Budget Review – Biannual Report 1? Will occur after we get funds out of old account.
3. Expense tracking sheet? Stephanie will develop next
4. Treasury related bylaws:
a. Treasurer’s responsibilities
i. annual budget
ii. biannual report
iii. annual audit by two officers – one being the chair
iv. fiscal year runs from BI to BI
b. Procedures for requesting/spending money?
10:40 – 10:45 Website Store? Restock merchandise inventory? New items? Michele is working on it with the vendor.
10:45 – 11:00 Additional items and roundtable discussion
