14
Wednesday,February24,2021
Columbia Gorge News
www.columbiagorgenews.com
Funding available to help central Wasco County
forestland owners reduce wildfire risk
know no bounds,” said
Garrett Duyck, NRCS acting
district conservationist in
The Dalles. “Working across
public and private land
boundaries is key to increase
forest resiliency and protect
our forestlands.”
“The completed work will
restore pine and oak habitat
and riparian areas, improve
conditions for wildlife,
and reduce the risk of fires
spreading from public lands
to neighboring non-fed-
eral lands,” said Kameron
Sam, Mt. Hood National
Forest District Ranger for
the Barlow and Hood River
Ranger Districts. “We look
forward to getting work done
on the ground that benefits
the forest and our neighbor-
ing communities.”
Project funding will help
forestland owners imple-
ment conservation prac-
tices, such as forest stand
improvement and woody
residue treatment. Project
goals are to improve land-
scape resiliency to disease
and disturbance and to
restore ecological function
in Oregon white oak habitats
for associated plant and
THE DALLES — Private
forestland owners in central
Wasco County can reduce
the risk of catastrophic wild-
fire and improve their forest
health with conservation
assistance available from
the USDA Natural Resources
Conservation Service
(NRCS) and the Forest
Service. Applications for the
current round of funding are
due by April 16.
This forest restoration
effort, called the Central
Wasco County All-Lands
Project, is funded by the
Joint Chiefs Landscape
Restoration Initiative. The
Joint Chiefs initiative is a
partnership between two
USDA agencies — NRCS and
the Forest Service — that
reduces wildfire risk on both
public and private forests.
NRCS is offering assistance
to help private landowners
treat and improve their
woods and forests; the Forest
Service will be performing
similar restoration on the
federal side of the project
boundary in the Mt. Hood
National Forest.
“Forestland threats such
as wildfire and disease
wildlife species.
Forest stand improve-
ment utilizes practices that
guide or influence a forest
stand to meet a particular
objective, such as improv-
ing habitat for various
wildlife species, reducing
the risk of unwanted fire,
or influencing the stand
structure to meet landown-
er objectives, according to a
press release. It can help to
reduce the risk of unwanted
wildfire, while also creating
greater resiliency to poten-
tial stressors.
Planned woody residue
treatments will move forest
stands towards more histor-
ic conditions by reducing
stocking levels through
thinning, mastication,
and prescribed burning.
This project incorporates
high-hazard, high-risk com-
munities as identified in the
Wasco County Community
Wildfire Protection Plan
(CWPP).
The Central Wasco County
All-Lands project started
in 2020 and will continue
through 2022, targeting
restoration on nearly 47,740
acres of state, federal and
Photo courtesy of NRCS Oregon
private forestland in Wasco
County.
Collaborating project
partners include NRCS,
Mt. Hood National Forest,
Oregon Department
of Forestry, Oregon
Department of Fish and
Wildlife, Rocky Mountain Elk
Foundation, Wasco County
Soil and Water District,
and Wasco County Forest
Collaborative.
Interested landowners
should submit applications
by April 16 to The Dalles
Service Center field office
(2325 River Road, No. 3, The
Dalles, OR 97058) to be con-
sidered for the current round
of funding.
For more information,
contact Duyckat 541-298-
8559 x113, or Garrett.
Duyck@usda.gov.
Klickitat County reports latest metrics
on COVID-19 vaccinations
Klickitat County has
distributed 5,498 vaccines,
according to the latest met-
rics updated on Washington
state’s online COVID-19
dashboard.
The breakdown for those
doses results in 15.68 percent
of the county now has a first
dose and 4.13 percent being
fully vaccinated. Vaccine
shipments are being received
each week and the vaccina-
tions are on-going.
The Klickitat County
Community partners have
been working hard to
continue vaccine distribu-
tion to everyone eligible,
per the Washington State
Department of Health
guidelines.
Currently, the data is
showing that it takes one to
two weeks after the second
vaccine is given to become
fully protected. With that in-
formation, the county health
department is asking that all
residents please continue to
use social distancing, face
masks, and limit gather-
ings to minimize the risk of
spreading the virus in our
county.
The health department
said they are seeing a trend
of relaxation, which is to be
expected with the hopes of
vaccination protection and
things opening back up.
"However, we need to
continue taking health pre-
cautions until our county is
at a higher vaccination rate
to continue our downward
trend in positive cases," said
a press Klickitat County press
release.
"The vaccine is a valuable
tool needed to end this pan-
demic without having to see
a significant majority of our
family, friends, and residents
struggle through the effects of
COVID-19."
Resources
• Klickitat County Public
Health Department,
www.klickitatcounty.
org/1187/Klickitat-County-
Coronavirus-Response
• Klickitat Valley Health,
www.kvhealth.net
• NorthShore Medical,
northshore-medical.com
• Skyline Health, mysky-
linehealth.org
• Healthy Washington
Roadmap to Recovery,
www.governor.wa.gov/
sites/default/files/
HealthyWashington.pdf
• Vaccine Information
and FAQs, www.doh.wa.gov/
Emergencies/COVID19/
Vaccine
• Washington Department
of Health, www.doh.wa.gov
• Washington Department
of Health Dashboard, www.
doh.wa.gov/Emergencies/
COVID19/DataDashboard
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