BEND, OR -- Deschutes County hopes to secure a state grant to help reduce the fire risk in Juniper Ridge, north of Bend. County Forester Kevin Moriarty says fire is a serious problem on the 1,350 acres of city and county land. "In 2024, there have been 14 wildfire responses, and a total of 48 wildfire responses since 2020," he told County Commissioners this week. 

Moriarty is applying for a $75,000 grant from the State Fire Marshal's Office, "To implement ladder fuel reduction on seven miles of unimproved roads within the Juniper Ridge area, and to treat approximately 55 encampment concentrations. The total project area in Juniper Ridge is approximately 305 acres." He says the work will be strategic, "Primarily going to be working on routes and treating areas around encampments. We don't really have the funding to treat all the areas." Moriarty adds, "We're looking at the area with the highest concentration of encampments, to try and focus on that area and potentially trying to keep that area intact."

If the state money comes through, Deschutes County will contribute $30,000 and the city of Bend will add $50,000.

The goal is to reduce the overall risk to nearby homeowners, railroad infrastructure and area utilities, "The project will reduce fire risk to the project area and the areas surrounding it. It will also reduce the hazard risk to first responders." Moriarty says, "The treatment will primarily be limbing and brush removal. We are proposing to treat six-inches or less trees as well. But there's not a lot of small trees out there right now. They're primarily mature, older trees."

Work on the project would begin later this year, "We generally don't try to do fuel reduction projects when we have high fire risk. We primarily try to implement our projects in fall, winter and spring time."