Baker County’s three commissioners have signed a letter opposing the Oregon Department of Forestry’s latest version of a statewide map showing wildfire risks for every parcel, public and private.

The letter originated with the Crook County Board of Commissioners, said Christina Witham, Baker County commissioner.

She signed the letter, sent to Gov. Tina Kotek and the Oregon Legislature.

Commission chairman Shane Alderson and commissioner Michelle Kaseberg also signed the letter.

In addition to the letter, the Eastern Oregon Counties Association, which includes Baker County, is asking state officials to repeal the map, which the forestry department released in early January.

Rep. Mark Owens, the Republican from Crane whose district includes Baker County, also opposes the risk map, which rates more than half the county’s 2 million acres at high risk.

Senate Bill 768 in the current legislative session calls for repealing a provision in a 2021 state law that required creating the risk map.

The larger areas of moderate risk are in the south-central part of the county, in the Burnt River Canyon area, and in the irrigated valleys, Baker, Keating, Eagle and Pine.

Those valleys also include the only low-risk areas in the county.

Republicans in the legislature had a press conference on Monday, Feb. 17, to address the map.

The issue of wildfire risk maps, and their accuracy, has been a major one in Oregon over the past two and a half years.

In June 2022 the Oregon Department of Forestry unveiled a map showing wildfire risk across the state.

Creating the map was part of a bill the Oregon Legislature approved in 2021, in the wake of the Labor Day 2020 blazes that destroyed hundreds of homes in western Oregon.

The map prompted rapid and widespread criticism. Many critics said the map didn’t accurately portray the relative risk of wildfire.

In addition to complaints about the map itself, many property owners said their homeowner’s insurance policy had either been canceled, or not renewed, around the time the state unveiled the map. They blamed the loss of insurance on the state’s new map.

The forestry department withdrew that map soon after its release.

In response to the complaints, the legislature in the 2023 session passed a bill that prohibits insurance companies from using any state-produced wildfire risk map as the basis for canceling or declining to renew a homeowner policy, or increasing the premium for a policy.

Witham said that law, which took effect Jan. 1, 2024, doesn’t alleviate all concerns about the state’s map, however.

Even if an insurance company doesn’t directly use the state risk map, the state data could potentially influence maps that companies do use to make decisions about policies and premiums, Witham said.

The letter that commissioners signed doesn’t address insurance.

The letter describes the process leading to the January release of the map as “fundamentally flawed, rushed, and counterproductive to the goals of protecting communities, promoting affordable housing, and fostering true collaboration among all Oregonians.

“By prioritizing speed over accuracy, fairness, and transparency, the state has produced a system that alienates rural landowners, undermines public trust, and risks exacerbating existing challenges rather than solving them.”

Among the specific complaints listed in the letter:

Ignoring the condition on specific private parcels

Witham said that because state officials didn’t inspect each private parcel, the map doesn’t account for the work that many landowners, including in Baker County, have done to clear debris and reduce the fire risk on their land.

The letter addresses the same issue, stating in part: “This approach ignores the significant wildfire mitigation efforts already undertaken by many property owners, including the creation of defensible space and the use of fire-resistant materials.”

Witham said she believes the state, by not acknowledging such efforts, is failing to give property owners an incentive to try to protect their parcels.

Owners of property deemed at high risk and also within the wildland-urban interface, which includes parts of Baker County such as the zone between Baker City and the Elkhorn Mountains and parts of Sumpter Valley, received a letter in early January from the forestry department alerting owners that any work they have done to reduce the fire risk on their land wasn’t incorporated into the computer model used to make the map. The model factored in weather, climate, topography and vegetation type to determine the fire risk.

Building costs

According to the letter, it could cost more to build homes on properties deemed at high risk for wildfires and that are also within the wildland-urban interface.

The effect, according to the letter, is “disproportionately burdening low-income residents and impeding progress toward meeting the state’s affordable housing goals.”

Witham said Baker County officials have raised that concern regarding the risk map.

Appeals

The letter contends that the state process by which property owners can appeal their parcel’s risk designation is “broken.”

Kotek on Feb. 17 directed the forestry department to maintain the March 10 deadline for property appeals.

The governor ordered the agency to hold off on referring those appeals to the state Office of Administrative Hearings until the current legislative session adjourns, which must happen no later than June 29.

“The governor’s decision allows the legislature to carry out a public process for deliberating changes to the map requirements absent potential conflicts driven by a concurrent appeals process through the Office of Administrative Hearings,” according to a press release from Kotek’s office. “In addition, the pause will prevent Oregonians who elect to appeal their wildfire hazard zone designation from incurring potentially unnecessary legal fees between March and June of this year, if the legislature makes changes to the Oregon Statewide Wildfire Hazard Map.”