In light of last year’s smoky fire season, the city of Sisters was selected for a nationwide program that will help reduce wildfire risk through local land use planning.
The Community Planning Assistance for Wildfire program, or CPAW, identifies communities that could improve code regulations and planning to reduce wildfire risks. The assessments are made by a team of land use planners, foresters, researchers and policy analysts through a yearlong process and the suggestions are presented to the city stakeholders.
Last summer’s Milli Fire, which burned 24,000 acres about nine miles west of Sisters in August, was a blow to tourism in the area.