The 1,400-acre Alder Springs Fire, as seen from Shad Road, burned near Crooked River Ranch in 2011. (Submitted photo)

Two long-awaited developments in the effort to better protect Crooked River Ranch from wildfire moved forward within the last week.

A bill to move back a wilderness boundary adjoining the ranch, proposed by Rep. Greg Walden, R-Hood River, cleared a key committee hurdle, and the Bureau of Land Management approved a plan for what would be only the second road in and out of the roughly 5,000-resident community.

Walden’s Crooked River Ranch Fire Protection Act was approved by the House Natural Resources Committee this week.

The bill would trim the Deschutes Canyon-Steelhead Falls Wilderness Study Area next to the ranch by 832 acres, shifting the boundary of the area to the rim of the Deschutes River canyon and away from Crooked River Ranch homes.

Because wilderness areas and wilderness study areas prohibit the use of chain saws, vehicles and other motorized equipment, the boundary complicates efforts to remove fuels between the ranch and the top of the canyon, and restricts how firefighters can approach any fire in the area.

Passage of the bill is not guaranteed. Walden has presented similar legislation in the past that failed to get out of committee and on to the full membership of the House.

Walden’s bill would not provide any funding for fuels reduction between the ranch and the canyon, but it would allow the community to request a fuels reduction project overseen by the BLM, said Crooked River Ranch Assistant Fire Chief Sean Hartley. Jefferson County’s Community Wildfire Protection Plan has identified the area as one of the most potentially dangerous in the county, he said.

Hartley said so far, it’s been a fairly mild year for fires on the ranch. He said his department has fought three small fires — the largest reached 4 acres — and none has damaged any structures.

The separate decision by the BLM clears the way for a one-mile paved road across BLM land, providing a second access to residential neighborhoods that could also be used in the event of a fire emergency or evacuation.

Lisa Clark, spokeswoman with the Prineville District of the BLM, said the new road would connect NW Quail Road with Lower Bridge Road. The existing road through the same area is not suitable for regular travel or a coordinated evacuation, she said.

“It’s kind of a user-created road,” she said. “It’s better for 4-wheel-drive and gets really dusty in the summer, where one vehicle passes, and it’s super dusty for 5 or 10 minutes.”

Hartley said in the event of a fire that required a full or partial evacuation of the ranch, it’s likely firefighting equipment would be streaming in as residents are streaming out.

Being able to direct inbound and outbound traffic to different routes would improve safety for all involved, he said.

Bim Gander, a member of the Crooked River Ranch homeowners association, said his group expects to get to work next month identifying funding sources for the estimated $1 million required to construct the road.

Gander said the ranch is in an unusual position, with most of its residents living in Jefferson County but the path of the road entirely in Deschutes County.

Most likely, the ranch will end up working with a county that can better tap sources of state funding for road construction, and pay back the county with a local property tax or homeowners association assessment.

The ranch may also be able to get grant funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency due to the route’s importance during an evacuation, or a state program that supplies funds for roads to recreation areas — in this case, the Steelhead Falls and Scout Camp trailheads on the Deschutes.

Gander said under the best-case scenario, construction of the road will begin next year.

— Reporter: 541-383-0387, shammers@bendbulletin.com