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In March, Deputy Chief of Business Operations, Hank Kashdan announced, “For the first time in six years, the Enterprise Program is soliciting prospectuses for new enterprise teams.” This opportunity is available to all Forest Service employees interested in operating an independent, self sustaining business funded by clients and customers who benefit from an array of products and services. Interested employees may submit a prospectus by June 29, 2007 which is available on the intranet.
Originally established in 1997, the Enterprise Program was initiated to test the concept of using internal Enterprise Units operating under a private sector business model as a means to improve: 1) service to the public and the efficiency of operations; 2) enhance the work environment for employees; and 3) increase the quality of management of public lands managed by the Forest Service.
In addition, the Enterprise Program offers a number of advantages to employees and programs such as:
If you are interested in discussing your Enterprise Business idea or need additional information, please contact the Enterprise Program office at enterprise-program@fs.fed.us.
The Enterprise Program (EP) continues to be on the move forward. In this issue I want to highlight three things: 1) Recent EP meetings I attended, 2) New and updated intranet and internet sites and, 3) An upcoming EP photo contest.
Not long ago I sent an email to all of you about the successful Annual Meeting we had in Folsom, California. One of the outcomes from that session was the call for proposals to start new enterprise units (see “New Enterprise Team Opportunity” article). We also looked at long term action plans for the EP, both strategic and business. Again, I gave an overview of where we are with those plans in a recent email.
Recently I had the opportunity to join TEAMS Planning at their meeting. It was great to interact with those in attendance and get to know more enterprisers. I also got a better understanding of their thoughts on how to make this successful endeavor even more prosperous. In the coming months, and as time permits, I look forward to meeting more enterprisers.
I want to let you know that we will begin to have greater utilization of the new EP intranet site. Our plan is to have this as a primary place, internally, for the Enterprise Program and Forest Service staff to visit for information about the program. That said, we will also update our internet site at http://www.fs.fed.us/enterprise. It will be focused on current and potential clients. As such, some information will be found on both sites. I recommend you check both of them out.
Last, as we began to catalog Enterprise photos it became apparent that we need additional images for various EP projects and materials such as the internet site and an upcoming decade report. Therefore we are going to have a photo competition. Get your camera at the ready; details will be coming soon!
, Director, Enterprise Program
Ventura County Fire Department hired the Adaptive Management Services Enterprise Team to validate Ventura County’s 100-foot clearance requirement around structures as it relates to firefighter safety. In addition, the Department wanted to evaluate site specific locations where 100-foot clearance may be inadequate for safe operational space for firefighters.
Safe operational space for firefighters utilizes the same guidelines that are used for a wildland fire safety zone. A safety zone is defined as “a preplanned area of sufficient size and suitable location that is expected to prevent injury to fire personnel from known hazards without using fire shelters.” Sufficient size for a safety zone is a minimum of 4 times the height of a flame length for radiant heat. This guideline is considered a minimum for radiant heat only. Convective heat from wind and/or terrain influences will increase the distance requirement. Areas with these influences would need greater distances than those recommended in this analysis but very little to no research has been done with safety zones and convective heat.
The Upper Ojai and Bell Canyon areas of Ventura County were selected for this pilot project. Historic weather patterns, local terrain features, and wildland fuel conditions were analyzed to evaluate the vegetation clearance requirements around structures needed to provide safe operational space for firefighters protecting structures in a wildland urban fire.
The fire behavior model selected for this project was FlamMap, a fire behavior mapping and analysis program that computes potential fire behavior characteristics (flame length, spread rate, fireline intensity, etc.) over an entire landscape for constant weather and fuel moisture conditions. The model uses spatial information on topography and fuels to calculate fire behavior characteristics at one instant.
For this analysis, two fires that had previously burned in the Upper Ojai and Bell Canyon areas were used to validate the outputs from FlamMap. The 2005 Topanga Fire was used to validate the Bell Canyon area and the 1999 Ranch Fire was used to validate the Upper Ojai area. The flame length outputs generated by FlamMap closely approximated actual flame lengths that occurred on the Topanga and Ranch Fires.
The analysis demonstrated that additional clearance would be needed for firefighters to safely engage in structure protection actions within many of the parcels (in some cases minimum clearances of up to 300 feet would be needed based on safety zone guidelines).
Ventura County Fire Department is currently reviewing the report to see how they might apply additional clearance requirements to structures in their county.
Spaces are still available for sessions of FPI Toolbox Module 3 - "Issues & Alternatives" and Module 4 - "Effects in EAs" in Folsom, California, April 17-19. These are advanced NEPA short courses, with the prerequisite being FPI 1900-01.
Folsom features bike/pedestrian paths along the American River, plus outstanding safety & security. Folsom in the springtime is too good to miss!
Contact Kelly Fike at kfike@fs.fed.us for application forms and information.
The 2007 Enterprise Unit Partnership Executive Board was elected in February. This year board members include:
The EUP was established in 2002 to focus the Enterprise Unit collective towards strengthening business “owner” networks and to provide a unified voice for promoting better business principles in the Forest Service.
Enterprising People is a bi-monthly newsletter focusing on Enterprise teams and their partners. Partners and Enterprisers are encouraged to share topics and ideas or join our electronic mailing list by contacting editor Kristi Bray at kabray@fs.fed.us. Thanks You!
