*Authorize Intergovernmental Agreement with the U.S. Forest Service to complete suppression repair work following the 2023 Camp Creek Fire response in the Bull Run Watershed for $237,000

The Bull Run Watershed serves as the municipal water supply for the City of Portland. The Portland Water Bureau co-manages the watershed with the Mount Hood National Forest as authorized under the 2007 Bull Run Watershed Management Unit (BRWMU) Agreement mandated by the Bull Run Act, Public Law 95-200, Section 2(d). In late August of 2023 the Camp Creek Fire, ignited by lightning, burned approximately 2,000 acres of National Forest System (NFS) lands in the watershed. The U.S. Forest Service assembled and assigned an incident management team to the fire to coordinate and direct all phases of firefighting operations. The 2023 Camp Creek Fire was the first significant fire in the Bull Run Watershed since it became the City’s main water supply in 1895. Impacts from the fire to the water supply and associated infrastructure were minimal. Due to Portland Water Bureau’s ongoing collaboration and planning with the Mount Hood National Forest, the Oregon Department of Forestry, and other local fire response agencies, the fire response as outlined in the U.S. Forest Service’s Bull Run Fire Preparedness Plan (Plan) went as planned. The Plan requires fire fighters to avoid and minimize natural resource impacts while suppressing the fire, but some impacts are unavoidable to infrastructure and the forest that need immediate repair after the fire response is over to prevent long-lasting effects on water quality and forested ecosystems. During the final phases of the fire, efforts were undertaken to repair damages or impacts that resulted from fire suppression activities. These efforts continued into the rainy season but were suspended with the onset of winter, and the remaining repair work was deferred until the following spring. Work was scheduled to resume in the spring or early summer of 2024 and consists of repairing damaged road segments, closing roads that were opened to fight the fire, cleanup of landing sites, and removing piles of biochar left over from the incineration of slash. This work is necessary to minimize impacts to the water supply from stormwater runoff, soil erosion, and invasive species. Portland Water Bureau will complete this work for the U.S. Forest Service using Water Bureau labor, equipment, supplies, and materials. In return, the U.S. Forest Service will provide funding to Portland Water Bureau to complete the work. This ordinance authorizes Portland Water Bureau to enter into an Intergovernmental Agreement with the U.S. Forest Service to complete the remaining suppression repair work for a period of two years.

The Portland Water Bureau Director is authorized to execute on behalf of the City an intergovernmental agreement with the U.S. Forest Service in substantial conformance with Exhibit A in the amount of $237,000 to complete the remaining suppression repair work following the 2023 Camp Creek Fire response in the Bull Run Watershed. Portland Water Bureau will make in-kind contributions of no more than twenty percent of the total project cost in the form of project management and suppression repair work done prior to the execution of this Intergovernmental Agreement. It is estimated that 0.1 FTE of an existing position will be required to manage the work associated with the Intergovernmental Agreement.

The BRWMU Agreement is a 20-year agreement, adopted in 2007, that guides the cooperative management and protection of the watershed by the City of Portland and the Mount Hood National Forest. Public input from the community, solicited during the development of the BRWMU Agreement, is documented in the accompanying 2007 Report to the Community. Per the BRWMU Agreement, Portland Water Bureau is responsible for maintaining the roads in the Bull Run Watershed, and the services included in the Intergovernmental Agreement are compatible with those responsibilities. The Bull Run Working Group, made up of U.S. Forest Service and Portland Water Bureau staff, frequently focuses on fire planning and resilience. The group holds semi-annual meetings open to the public and makes its annual reports available to the public.