Tuesday, May 30, 2023
11:00 AM - 2:00 PM
Photo of Lupine flower by Nora Duncan, property of MI PFC
Attendance: Kevin Butler, Tina Stephens, Andy Henriksen, Dave Borneman, Amy Frye, Jarod Reibel, Jeb Barzen, John Fomusa, Mark Sargent, Katie Carlisle, Jack McGowan-Stinski, Stephanie Diep, Bruce Miller, Todd Aschenbach, Joshua Wissinger, Craig Maier, Kevin Butler, Tyler with Huron Metroparks
AGENDA/NOTES
Welcome and Attendance Call (Amy)
Membership Clarifications (Steph)
No separate memberships for steering committee members versus regular membership. No different tiers of membership. Membership remains free.
o Dave brought up concerns about having the Council open to anyone may make the Council vulnerable to hostile takeover. Years back discussion of who have voting rights in organization. Roll into discussion for Strategic Planning committee task.
Subcommittees
o Training subcommittee - lead: Steve Woods and John Taylor, currently working on regional MI MOUs
o Outreach subcommittee - need a new outreach leader (Tina Stephens?) to schedule and set up meetings and help decide and allocate tasks
o Burning Issues subcommittee - request for involvement to start planning for 2024
first meeting in June (Amy will work to schedule), lead needed Amy willing to lead if no one else is able to
Steph will still assist with logistics when given clear instruction but will not be in all planning meetings to help alleviate admin expense.
KNC will have Damon Panek (wildfire operations specialist for Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa) coming to talk in Kalamazoo in February in conjunction with the fire exhibit and would love to incorporate Burning Issues with this event if possible
o Temporary Subcommittee for updating MI PFC mission/vision. Mark Sargent volunteered to lead.
o Anyone who expressed interest on the membership form should hear from the subcommittee lead. If you want to be on a subcommittee and did not express interest yet, please contact info@firecouncil.org to be put into contact with the correct lead.
TREX update and needs: May 6-15 2024 (Michele)
o IMT set up from Army National Guard
o Will send open slot needs to council members
o Hand tools needed and other equipment for incident cache
Discount admission for fire engines brought to use
Concerns about damages compensation, insurance? Will look into.
o New Ember Alliance contact: Greg Gilbert
o Save the Date going out soon
Quarterly Financial Review (Steph)
~$3,600 profit
~$15,000 in bank account
About average with where the council usually falls. Admin expenses are a bit higher than years past. Lack of revenue since not doing fire trainings.
First year we asked for sponsors at Burning Issues, was helpful for the finances and should be continued
Produced by Stephanie Diep, MI PFC Treasurer
· Discussion on how council will prioritize spending funds:
#1 Administrative Expenses,
#2 Burning Issues and Annual Meeting,
#3 Training Materials and Tools
Need more S130/190, especially for non-agency folks and seasonally. Tyler (Huron-Clinton Metro Parks) may have some help to offer with people and logistics.
Jan-March 1-2 day training ideal for nonprofit & NGOs, week-long GVSU course often too expensive and too long for many interested individuals
March best to avoid Burning Issues and not too much snow
TNC can assist with planning and leadership
DNR often able to provide leadership in cadre in winter
#4 Education/Outreach Events
* some grants will limit what funds can be spent on
Updates on White Oak projects (Steph)
COMPLETED:
Reimbursed Oceana Conservation District Intro to Fire Workshop ($300) 15 attendees, Steve Cross presentation
$513 towards Burning Issues Oak panel and fundraiser outreach materials
$1,746 towards Admin time (~31 hours)
3 practice fire shelters purchased (housed at KNC)
No Fire History or Field Tours (postponed until Aug/Sept or 2024 if different funding available)
What to use remaining $2,890 for?
CHOSEN IDEAS:
· $2,000 with 1:1 match ($2,000) to Steve Woods for fire cache tools for Northern Lower MI
· $890 for Admin time to help conduct Learn & Burn or S-130/S-190 training at FCTC
OTHER IDEAS:
Purchase more equipment for training cache? (Steve hand tools for Northern Lower and potentially UP)
Pay a facilitator for a S-130/S-190 before July 24?
Public fire demo at FCTC or private landowner before July 24?
Admin time? To do a specific task? Develop oak mgmt with fire outreach content…assistance from MSU or other university or consortia staff? Start a MI regional burn map?
Private landowner fire needs assessment/WOI & fire resource sharing postcard and online survey. Get private landowner mailing lists from SAF, NRCS, etc. in SW MI. Survey land type, acres, fire rotation needed, has been burned/not, contractors or other help/not, interest in personal training/collaboration. Compile stats in report that can be used for evidence to support future grants by all orgs statewide. Offer MI PFC SWAG prizes to first 10 landowners to complete survey. Make sure contractors list is up to date on website prior to distribution.
Partner with KNC fire exhibit to do a speaker event on oak mgmt with fire?
L-280 Fire Leadership Training course or book club discussion (pay/reimburse for books and have hybrid discussion after reading, or pay KNC staff to facilitate a L-280 course day virtual or in-person for MI PFC members who are fire leaders in their orgs)
PMS-449-2 Leadership Publication: $4.71 each or online free
NWCG Book Lists and discussion guides: https://www.nwcg.gov/wfldp/toolbox/prp
The 5 Graces of Life and Leadership by Gary Burnison $16 each RE:quick read, overview leadership skills
The Resilient Life by Dr. Susan Biali Haas $17 each RE: mental health/stress
Upcoming partner events?
o June 21, 9am-5pm White Oak Initiative Symposium at Kalamazoo Nature Center (Stephanie Diep, Jarod Reibel, and Mark Sargent can represent MI PFC depending on how many needed)
o June 3, 2023 “Carrying the Torch: Rekindling prescribed fire in Michigan’s prairie peninsula” public art exhibit by Gillian Moore
o June 24, 2023 Kalamazoo Nature Center “Rekindling: Fire, Land and People” public exhibit opens featuring Ethan Turpin's immersive art installation, “Walk Into Wildland Fire,” placing the viewer at the heart of a wildland fire.
o The FIRST NE-MW Regional Prescribed Fire Science and Management Workshop will be held in Madison, Wisconsin at The Madison Concourse hotel on August 29 – 31, 2023
What does the committee think of sponsorship? Anyone interested in going to table? comes with 1 free admission.
Jarod moved to sponsor the event. Amy seconds Jarod’s motion. All in favor, passed unanimously.
Wisconsin PFC update
· Going through slow and long process of developing a certification program. Trying to ramp up training programs. Private landowner assistance is getting developed. Dual paths for training. NWCG is one path, but not available to all. Non-NWCG training is being worked on that meet the needs of different audiences, particularly private landowners. Finding it helps with NWCG training as well as other types of training. Revised rating sheet to evaluate fire complexity for specificity of where they’re training people to. Reduce jargon, make it more specific to rx fire not wildfire. Tools/firebreak construction are different. Willing to share those documents for beta testing in MI.
OPEN FLOOR
Bruce Miller, TNC: Tracking land burned somehow. Agency/Private/NGO. Maine has someone in their MDNR doing the information input. There were MI DNR folks and said they couldn’t do that as it would be overwhelming for that individual. Talking to State and Fed people in that meeting, hard to get info from outside agency due to data and security. MPFC is a good clearinghouse for this kind of information. Movement to get all that data in one spot. We would be the housing for that information.
Could CPBM be the person to do this? Getting through the IT security of getting our info to state system is the hardest thing to do.
How do we outreach to landowners to get their information into a system we set up? How do we make it user-friendly to non-professionals – keep info simple? Private lands will be hardest. Local government and NGOs and contractors won’t be as difficult to tie them in. Pheasants Forever may have some funding to manage this or assist in some way with private landowners?
Data sheet to fill out with information. Everyone submits to online form (Survey123). MI PFC would need a subscription for ESRI Survey 123 and Field Maps. $100 per year for non-profits. Stephanie and Bruce will work on this. Need to be clear on what we want to collect data wise. And make sure it’s something that would be helpful we need to do. Fire accomplishments map vs fire needs map. Michigan DNR fire needs map for state and federal lands should be completed this year. MNFI is doing a fire needs map for private lands after the state/federal study is done. One flaw in system is that CRP/converted farm lands doesn’t show up in the base data they’re using. Private landowner information is available via NRCS. Beware of private landowner privacy desires with geographic locations.
Action Steps:
· Mark Sargent - setting up subcommittee meetings for strategic meetings and Burning Issues
· Michele, Steph, Bruce Miller - S-130/S-190 scheduling FA24, admin time for billing in advance to KNC for WOI grant
· Next WI PFC meeting June - Amy Frye and Jack McGowan-Stinski rep
· Bruce Miller and Steph - ESRI subscription for MI burn accomplishment map (annual?)
· Steph - reach out to Steve Woods with offer of $2k tools funding with 1:1 match
· Steph - will see if any KNC want to rep an MI PFC booth at NE-MW Regional RxFire Workshop as part of MI PFC sponsorship $450
In-Person Hybrid Locations for 2023:
Sept 5 (11am-2pm EST): UP: Biomass Innovation Center, Escanaba, MI
(Pending confirmation that the facility successfully installed an internet connection. This is a somewhat remote site. Work to do this was scheduled to start on May 24th, 2023. Amy is in touch with facility and will develop an alternative location if needed.)
Dec 5: SW: Ed Lowe, Cassopolis, MI
