Fuels reduction project follows 2025 Kaiser Canyon Fire; additional work planned north of town.

NESPELEM - The Washington State Department of Natural Resources and Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation are nearing completion of a 40-acre fuels reduction project on the Colville Indian Agency Campus in Nespelem

Home to the Colville Tribal Government Center and other Tribal facilities, the campus was subject to a Level 2 "Be Ready" evacuation notice when the Kaiser Canyon fire burned within a mile of the Colville campus on July 30, 2025.

The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Highlands hand crew has worked since the fall to reduce the amount of fuel available to potential wildfires on the south end of the campus, adjacent to the Colville Tribal Convalescent Center, Colville Indian Housing Authority, and the Wenatchee Valley College Nespelem Resource Center.

"The Colville Tribes appreciates the partnership with the Washington State Department of Natural Resources, which utilized state funding appropriated as a result of House Bill 1168 to help us reduce the risk of wildfires to our community and tribal facilities,"said Jarred-Michael Erickson, Chairman of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation. "The Colville Tribes devotes significant resources to forest management and fire prevention, but with limited funding from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, we don't have the resources to complete critical projects like this. This joint fuels reduction project by the Colville Tribes and the DNR will help keep our Tribal government complex and Nespelem community safer.

Specific activities undertaken by the hand crew include clearing of flammable vegetation, removing hazard trees, and masticating of ladder fuels - excess amounts of grasses and brush capable of carrying fire from the ground up into trees, where it can spread more quickly and burn more severely than down below.

The project is estimated to cost $80,000 and will be paid for by DNR using funds from the Wildfire Response, Forest Restoration, and Community Resilience account created in 2021 by House Bill 1168. Budget proposals currently being debated by the Washington State Legislature would close the $60 million shortfall facing that account.

"Funding and supporting projects with a focus on environmental justice like this, which will help protect numerous community members in the Nespelem area, is one of DNR's most critical pieces of work," said Commissioner of Public Lands Dave Upthegrove. "Proactive efforts to prevent wildfires are central to our mission, which is why I am grateful the Legislature appears poised to fully fund that work for the coming fiscal year."

Following completion of this project, DNR and the Colville plan to collaborate on a second fuels reduction project along state Route 155 near the Nespelem Tribal Longhouse. Work there is anticipated to begin later this year or in early 2027.

Click here for images of the completed fuels reduction project.

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MEDIA CONTACTS

Will Rubin

DNR Communications Manager

Cell: 360-764-0854

[email protected]

Neeka Somday

Colville Tribes Policy Analyst

Cell: 509-634-2213

[email protected]