Residents Invited to Participate in Public Workshops for Community Wildfire Protection Plan Update

Missoula County will host a series of workshops in June for residents to learn more and provide feedback on an upcoming update to the Community Wildfire Protection Plan, which serves as a guide to understand wildfire risks and outlines action items residents, agencies and community organizations can take to reduce the risk and impact of wildfires. 

The workshops will be held in the following communities from 6 to 7:30 p.m. They will include a combination of presentations, breakout sessions, displays and the opportunity for community discussion. 

Residents who are unable to attend a workshop will be able to fill out a survey, which will be available in early June at missoulacountyvoice.com.  

CWPPs were created under the 2003 federal law called the Healthy Forests Restoration Act. A CWPP is a community planning tools; it is not a regulation, a growth plan or an evacuation plan, but it can help guide those documents and tools.  

“While agencies across the county play a major role in wildfire preparedness and resilience, so do property owners,” said Karen Hughes, director of the Planning, Development and Sustainability Department, which is leading the effort in coordination with other local agencies. “These workshops will help residents understand how the CWPP involves them and what they can do to reduce the impact of wildfire on their homes and communities.” 

The County’s last CWPP update was in 2018. This update will use new data, look at how conditions have changed and address new issues such as wildfire smoke. The plan will help the county, city and partners: 

Residents can find more information, ask questions and provide comment online at missoulacountyvoice.com.