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About Applegater. (Jacksonville, OR) 2008-current | View Entire Issue (July 1, 2018)
16 Summer 2018 Applegater Q&A with BLM’s Allen Bollschweiler, Part 1 Thanks to the Applegater for this opportunity to address the changes in management that may result from the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) adoption of the 2016 Resource Management Plan. I asked the editors for some questions to guide a short article. In an effort to be thorough, I’m answering in this article the important question of the future of public involvement and will address more questions in future editions. What do the planning and public involvement processes look like in the Applegate watershed now that the 2016 Resource Management Plan (RMP) has replaced the Applegate Adaptive Management Area (AMA) Guide? Are they uniform throughout our watershed for all public lands? Throughout the planning process for the Western Oregon RMP, the BLM engaged the public as well as a host of sister agencies, tribes, and local governments in a series of meetings throughout western Oregon. These resulted in more than 7,000 comments, 4,500 of which were submitted during the formal comment period in 2015. This public process informed the land-use allocations in the Record of Decision (ROD), the foundation for implementation of the RMP. The BLM is now at the implementation stage, where public participation is critical for projects such as timber sales, recreation sites, and restoration activities. For each project proposed, the BLM identifies a strategy for public outreach. Personnel from the BLM work through Resource Advisory Councils, local governments, tribal governments, local watershed councils, and other entities to understand the issues that affect our areas. We encourage public involvement in public outreach activities. You can stay informed of our ongoing efforts at our E-Planning website at blm.gov/programs/planning- and-nepa/eplanning. The Southern ROD guides planning throughout the Applegate for the Western Oregon RMP. In the RMP, the landscape is divided into different Land Use Allocations (LUAs), including, but not limited to, the Harvest Land Base, Riparian Reserves, Late Successional Reserves, and Eastside Management Areas. Each LUA contains management objectives that provide Federal Lands Within The Applegate Watershed 2016 RMP Land Use Allocations (Harvest Land Base) Slate Creek 140 234 199 Rogue River 260 199 99 ino Ill Slate Creek te Sla ek Cre R is Ap pl eg at e ive Ri 5 62 r ve r 238 99 199 66 46 5 te R leg a Applegate Watershed 273 App RMP Land Use Allocations acres Grants Pass Ashland HLB 2547 22,714 Reserves 31,072 29,846 Non-HLB 21,067 41,151 ive r Federal Management Applegate WS BLM 148,397 ac. COE 409 ac. USFS 194,150 ac. Cow C reek Medford District Grants Pass Resource Area Grants Pass Resource Area Butte Falls Resource Area Resource Area Boundary Ashland Resource Area Interstate Highway BLM-Non-HLB State Applegate Watershed US Highway U.S. Forest Service Corps of Engineers BLM-Harvest Land Base State Highway Local Government Undetermined OREGON CALIFORNIA 0 2.25 4.5 9 13.5 Miles 18 Sweet corn improvement— be a corn taster! BY JONATHAN SPERO Lupine Knoll Farm in the Applegate Valley is developing open pollinated sweet corn from a cross of an Anasazi parent with a more modern sweet corn. Each year the sweetest (or best in some other quality) is chosen to carry forward. This year we will be growing the f8 (8th generation) of Tuxana, a white corn developed from an Anasazi-Tuxedo cross. Because this corn is variable for sweetness, we want to pick the sweetest ones. The best way to select for sweetness, it turns out, is good old-fashioned tasting. Since we want those sweeter ears to mature for seed, we first taste just the lesser ear on the stalk, called the secondary ear. (Stalks Burn reminder No warranty is made by the Bureau of Land Management as to the accuracy, reliability, or completeness of these data for individual or aggregate use with other data. Original data were compiled from various sources and may be updated without notification. generally h a v e only two ears.) I f i t ’s sweeter than the average ear in the patch, we’ll mark the uneaten ear on that stalk, the primary ear, as a keeper for seed harvest. For three or four days, we need a crew to taste literally hundreds of ears of raw corn right in the field. This has to be just as the guidance for what can and cannot be done on a particular piece of land. Land- use activities, including for timber- harvest practices and goals, would vary according to the LUA’s management objectives. For example, any activity in the Riparian Reserves must contribute to the protection of listed fish and water under the Endangered Species Act. Any harvest in those areas needs to contribute to the relevant management objectives, such as increasing fire resiliency, developing habitat for the northern spotted owl, or protecting listed fish and water. In the Reserves, the BLM would protect stands of older, structurally complex forests, which have the highest value to the northern spotted owl. One question we have received is how we, the BLM, will collaborate with the US Forest Service (USFS). The short answer is yes, we work with our sister agency, the USFS, in numerous ways. Within a planning framework, USFS, the BLM, and 11 other federal agencies are signatories to the Regional Interagency Executive Framework, which outlines general concepts to help frame revisions and amendments of plans. Within this framework, the BLM, USFS, and other signatories incorporate lessons learned from implementing and monitoring the 1994 Northwest Forest Plan. Furthermore, we pay attention to new recovery plans, critical habitat determinations, and new scientific information about threats. Other examples of collaboration between agencies include developing a joint Rogue River management program and collaborating on watershed projects such as the Upper Applegate Watershed Restoration Project. The public may recognize differences in each agency’s approach. This difference is because the USFS and the BLM are governed by different laws and policies, manage different land bases, and operate at different scales. Even though the USFS and the BLM may pursue different approaches to meet legal mandates, they share many common goals for land management. We look forward to your involvement. Allen Bollschweiler Grants Pass Field Manager Bureau of Land Management Medford District Office abollsch@blm.gov corn is ripe, which we can’t predict exactly, but a guesstimate is August 10. Corn tasters need a good sense of taste and the ability to come to Lupine Knoll in Provolt and work with a tasting crew for a shift of about two and a half or three hours at a planned time, usually in the morning. Corn tasters will get all the corn they can eat, more to take home, and the experience of being a corn taster. Let us know if you are interested. Jonathan Spero Lupine Knoll Farm lupineknollfarm@gmail.com Before burning outdoors any time of year, check with your county to make sure that day is an official burn day and not a NO burn day. ••••• Jackson County • 541-776-7007 / Josephine County • 541-476-9663 (Press 3)
