The map showing what lands the Oregon Department of Forestry should protect from wildfire in Deschutes County is outdated so the agency is forming a committee to compile a new one.

“It has been over 40 years since this work was last done,” Kristin Dodd, Central Oregon assistant district forester for the Department of Forestry, said in a news release Wednesday.

“The landscape has changed a fair amount in Deschutes County over that time frame, and as a result where we fight fire should as well.”

The committee, which includes private landowners and the Deschutes County forester, will determine what lands in the county meet the state’s definition of forestland that should be protected from fire by the Department of Forestry.

The agency protects private forestland, as well as public forestland overseen by the county or state. It doesn’t protect national forest or Bureau of Land Management lands.

With protection comes an annual assessment fee for private landowners, with the amount varying depending on how much land they own and the type of land. The budget for a given Department of Forestry district also factors into the fee rate. This year the Central Oregon District charged $1.62 per acre for timberland and $0.69 per acre for grazing land, said George Ponte, Central Oregon district forester for the department in Prineville.

The district, which includes portions of 12 counties, covers most of its $6.3 million fire protection budget with the assessment fees. Ponte said he doesn’t expect the redrawing of the map to change how much money comes into the agency through fees, but it will change who pays them in some cases.

Ponte said there are people currently paying an assessment fee who shouldn’t and there are people who are not who should. The fee shows up as a line on their property tax, marked “fire patrol assessment,” “ODF fire patrol” or a similar title. Owners of irrigated land, such as farms and golf courses, don’t pay an assessment because the land is not likely to burn.

Making changes to the map probably will take about two years, with members of the committee reviewing aerial photos and other information to determine what should be called forestland.

Updating the map has been long overdue, said Ed Keith, Deschutes County forester. He and Dodd are both on the committee, which holds its first meeting Wednesday. Given the development over the past four decades on the west side of Bend, the reclassification will likely bring big changes to who is paying the assessment fee in the rural fringe of the city. After 40 years since the last map update, there may be many people making such a change.

“It is something that would be pretty minor if it was done on a regular basis,” Keith said.

Along with Dodd and Keith, the other committee members are:

• Nicole Strong, Oregon State University Extension

• Jeremy Ast, Sisters-Camp Sherman Fire District

• Bill Swarts, representative for Cascade Timberlands

• Matt Cyrus, grazing representative

— Reporter: 541-617-7812,

ddarling@bendbulletin.com