Consideration and Approval of Contract: An agreement with National Forest Foundation to implement 1,656 acres of ecological thinning across the Fort Valley Experimental Forest on the Flagstaff Ranger District of the Coconino National Forest.
 

The City of Flagstaff is working with AZ Department of Forestry and Fire Management and the US Forest Service to fund ecological thinning across 1,656 acres of the Fort Valley Experimental Forest. The objective of the project is to restore the forest to a more natural condition while reducing wildfire risk across the Rio de Flag watershed and the greater Flagstaff community. The thinning prescriptions will be based on the July 2000 Fort Valley Ecosystem Restoration Project Environmental Analysis. The National Forest Foundation will be the project manager and thinning operations supervisor. Coconino County staff will be providing staff time to assist with project planning, preparation, and monitoring.

The agreement with the National Forest Foundation is being finalized by Legal and will be attached to the final agenda. 

Project Name: Fort Valley Experimental Forest Thinning Project
Cost: $250,000
Account Number Budgeted: 407-09-425-3277-1; project GG3277FD
FY Budgeted Amount: $598,432
Grant Funded: No
Funding Source: Flagstaff Watershed Protection Project - GO Bond Funded 


Funding Contributions:
US Forest Service: $1,800,000
AZ Department of Forestry and Fire Management: $430,000
City of Flagstaff: $250,000
 

This is a novel project.  
While the City Council and the Flagstaff community are familiar with the ecological, economic, and public health benefits of effective forest and fire management, no previous decisions about this specific project have taken place. 

The City Council has the option not to approve this agreement.
This will significantly delay implementation and will result in cost increases. 

In December 1907, Forest Service Chief Gifford Pinchot requested that Raphael Zon, Chief of the Division of Silvics, develop plans for permanent experiment stations devoted to scientific research on the national forests. The next year Zon traveled to Arizona after Frank C.W. Pooler, the Forest Supervisor of the Coconino National Forest, suggested this forest as an ideal site for the first research location. Gustaf A. Pearson, Raphael Zon, and Willard Drake explored land on the Coconino, eventually selecting the area of Fort Valley, an isolated area near Flagstaff, as the most suitable site.

The first Forest Service research facility established in the Nation, the Fort Valley Experimental Forest (formerly the Coconino Experiment Station) opened in August 1908. The site was established after two lumbermen, the Riordan brothers, from Flagstaff, Arizona, asked Gifford Pinchot (the first Chief of the Forest Service) to determine why the area's ponderosa pine forest was not regenerating after logging.

Early research examined ponderosa pine forest management practices, as well as the effects of weather on seed regeneration. Pearson and Region 3 silviculturist T.S. Woolsey, Jr. established permanent sample plots over all the various forest types in the southwest in 1912. They measured, photographed, and inventoried the plots every five years until Pearson's retirement in 1944. NAU forestry professors and students have been remeasuring the plots for the past eight years, providing a ninety-year record of change.

A weather study initiated in 1916 followed biologist C. Hart Merriam's study from 1889 when he suggested the life zones theory based on his work on the San Francisco Peaks. Fort Valley scientists placed weather recording instruments and nurseries at various altitudes. They planted exotic species to see if they would survive and take weather readings weekly.

By 1927, Fort Valley's scope of operations had grown to include Range studies. Charles K. Cooperrider was the head of this Division. Scientists studied domestic and wildlife grazing damage to tree reproduction and also studied range grasses. Permanent Range Study Plots were established around Region 3 and are still being monitored.

Civilian Conservation Corps workers helped expand the site's building, facilities, and permanent structures during the 1930s. During World War II, Fort Valley staff gave radio interviews promoting the importance of forest research on national resources in wartime.

During the 1950s, budget cuts and agency reorganization led to the decline in use of the Fort Valley site. The facilities were used intermittently over the subsequent years by outside groups, but more recent work by the USFS and Northern Arizona University have seen the site gain new importance. The Fort Valley campus is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Sitting at the base of the San Franciso Peaks and sharing over 3 miles of boundary with private property, the 9,100 acre Fort Valley Experimental Forest has been a priority area for wildfire risk reduction treatments in the Rio de Flag watershed for many years. An interdisciplinary team consisting of the City of Flagstaff, US Forest Service, Coconino County, AZ Department of Forestry and Fire Management, and the National Forest Foundation have formally been working to secure funds and develop plans to reduce catastrophic wildfire risk across the area since 2023.

 

Priority Based Budget Priorities and Objectives:
High Performing Governance: Implement innovative local government programs
Safe and Healthy Community: Ensure the built environment is safe through the use of consistent standards, rules and regulations, & land use practices
Environmental Stewardship: Promote, protect & enhance a healthy, sustainable environment & its natural resources
Environmental Stewardship: Strengthen Flagstaff's resilience to climate change impacts on built, natural, economic, health, & social systems

Environmental Planning & Conservation -- Vision for the Future: In 2013, the long-term health and viability of our natural resource environment is maintained through strategic planning for resource conservation and protection.
Policy E&C.3.3 -- Invest in forest health and watershed protection measures.
Policy E&C.6.1 -- Encourage public awareness that the region's ponderosa pine forest is a fire-dependent ecosystem and strive to restore more natural and sustainable forest composition, structure, and processes.
Policy E&C.6.3 -- Promote protection, conservation, and ecological restoration of the region's diverse ecosystem type and associated animals.
Policy E&C.6.6 -- Support collaborative efforts for forest health initiatives or practices, such as the Four Forest Restoration Initiative (4FRI), to support healthy forests and protect our water system.
Policy E&C.10.2 -- Protect, conserve, and when possible, enhance and restore wildlife habitat on public land.

HF-1: Protect existing forests, resources, and meaningful open spaces
HF-2: Restore and maintain the natural fire-adapted structure and pattern of the forests of the greater Flagstaff region through collaboration with partners.
HF-3: Educate the public on forest health and wildfire risk reduction.

No direct connection.
Every forest restoration effort, especially one at this scale, helps reduce the wildfire risk that is contributing to insurability challenges.
 

Service Level Goals: Increase community outreach and Reduce risks through Prevention & Wildland Fire Management efforts
Standardization and Improved Partnership Goals: Advance Community Risk Reduction measures