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8A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22, 2017 U.S. Forest Service signs off on Lower Joseph Creek restoration More than 100,000 acres could be treated State tourism bucks are tied to water efforts By GEORGE PLAVEN East Oregonian PENDLETON — Acceler- ated restoration is coming to the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, including an increase in logging and burning. The U.S. Forest Service has approved a massive proposal to treat more than 100,000 acres on the Wallowa Val- ley Ranger District north of Enterprise, part of a broader regional effort to increase the pace and scale of forest resto- ration across Eastern Oregon and Washington. Tom Montoya, supervi- sor for the Wallowa-Whit- man National Forest, signed a record of decision for the Lower Joseph Creek Resto- ration Project on Friday. Activ- ities will include more than 16,500 acres of commercial logging and fuels reduction, and up to 90,000 acres of pre- scribed burning over the next decade. It is the first major project to be completed by the Blue Mountains Restoration Strat- egy Team, a group of local Forest Service employees that formed in 2013 to step up res- toration, make landscapes healthier and lower the risk of devastating wildfires. But the plan isn’t without controversy, as stakeholders continue to wrestle with the environmental and economic impacts of such a large effort. The project garnered input from Wallowa County, the Nez Perce Tribe and the Wal- lowa-Whitman Forest Collabo- rative, consisting of both envi- ronmental and timber industry representatives. Montoya admits the parties did not reach a perfect consen- sus, but said he is pleased with the result. “This project, safe to say, is a priority not only for this for- est, but for the region,” Mon- toya said. Initial assessment The Lower Joseph Creek Restoration Project began with a 2014 watershed assessment by the Wallowa County Natu- ral Resources Advisory Com- mittee, which identified 20,000 acres of forestland at very high risk due to heavy fuel loads and overstocking of trees that could be commercially logged. Another 21,370 acres were recommended for thinning smaller trees, for a combined estimated value of more than $67 million. The Blue Mountains Resto- ration Strategy Team decided to take up Lower Joseph Creek under the umbrella of acceler- ated restoration, making forests more resilient to things like fire and disease while also protect- ing natural resources and sup- porting the local economy by boosting timber production. The project area is located on the northern boundary of the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, and includes portions of the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area. Joseph Creek provides critical habitat to Snake River steelhead, which are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Ten different groups and individuals filed objections with the Forest Service after the agency released its draft decision for Lower Joseph Creek last year. Montoya said they were able to work through some of their disagreements — such as roadless-area conser- vation and limiting the size of trees that can be harvested — but not everything. “My goal was to see if we could move a little closer to meeting everyone’s thoughts and concerns out there,” Mon- toya said. By PHUONG LE Associated Press U.S. Forest Service. Swamp Creek, a tributary of Joseph Creek, flows through Wallowa County and will be subject to the Lower Joseph Creek Restoration Project. ingly dense — as much as 10 to 20 times in some areas of the Lower Joseph Creek watershed. Higher density means more fuels for fires to become large infernos, and has even changed the compo- sition of tree species, allowing shade-tolerant firs to expand significantly. The Lower Joseph Creek Restoration Project will involve cutting trees across roughly 17,000 acres and using prescribed fire on up to 90,000 acres to bring the forest back in line with historical conditions, McCusker said. “Really, the focus is on thin- ning all age classes out on the landscape and retaining old trees wherever they may be,” he said. The final project also calls for improving or replacing six culverts to boost fish passage, and closes 12 miles of roads to address resource concerns while opening 23 miles of roads to provide public access. Riparian areas Paul Boehne, fisheries biol- ogist for the restoration team, said they primarily looked at treatments around streams that do not contain any fish popula- tions. These riparian areas are mostly located at higher ele- vations, he said, and make up 20-25 percent of any given watershed. But even though the streams do not host fish, Boehne said they serve an important eco- logical function, providing cold water and filtering sedi- ment where fish do swim. “That’s the value of those large trees standing in the ripar- ian habitat conservation area,” he said. “We want to protect those.” Boehne said the Lower Joseph Creek project will not touch old growth trees in ripar- ian zones, and foresters will work to maintain a minimum level of canopy to ensure the water doesn’t get too warm, and snow doesn’t melt too fast. More controversially, the project aims to treat 31 acres around Swamp Creek, a tribu- tary of Joseph Creek that does support steelhead. Boehne, however, argues the work is justified, citing lodgepole pine trees that have encroached in the area. “They shouldn’t be there,” he said. “It should be a wet meadow that stores water like a sponge.” Instead, Boehne said those trees are sucking up water that would otherwise filter back into the stream for fish. Ulti- mately, Montoya agreed in his decision. “I felt, based on specialists, that we needed to do a little bit of work in Swamp Creek,” Montoya said. Stakeholder concern Several environmental groups have expressed con- cerns with the plan, though they are continuing to review the details of the final proposal before determining the next steps. Rob Klavins, Eastern Ore- gon field coordinator for Ore- gon Wild, said the organization has spent hundreds of hours over several years to find com- mon ground on the project. The Forest Service, he said, contin- ues to use restoration to treat symptoms in the forest, rather than addressing the underlying management issues. “Given the politics and spe- cial interests behind it, it’s been clear for some time that come hell or high water, this project was going to go forward, push boundaries and test the limits of public trust,” Klavins said. Brian Kelly, restoration director for the Hells Can- yon Preservation Council, said the organization remains con- cerned about logging in remote forests. “Joseph Canyon is a magnif- icent place,” Kelly said. “Hells Canyon Preservation Coun- cil has worked incredibly hard through the Wallowa-Whitman Forest Collaborative to find solutions for this project. We are extremely disappointed that those efforts apparently did not succeed.” SEATTLE — State offi- cials, environmental advo- cates and others are warn- ing of dire environmental and economic consequences if President Donald Trump’s cuts to Puget Sound and other environmental programs go through as proposed. The Environmental Pro- tection Agency’s funding for Puget Sound — about $28 million last year — would be gutted under Trump’s budget blueprint released Thursday. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administra- tion’s 50-year-old Sea Grant program, which focuses on creating a healthy coastal environment and economy, would also be axed, includ- ing about a $4 million hit to the program in Washington state. U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer, a Washington state Demo- crat, called the cuts “com- pletely irresponsible” and vowed to fight the presi- dent’s proposal. “It sets a bad starting point for the discussion,” Kilmer, who is on the House Appropriations Committee, said in an interview Friday. “These are iconic bodies of water that have an important role, not just environmen- tally but from an economic standpoint as well.” Statewide tourism and recreational dollars are tied to Puget Sound and clean water supports shellfish and fishing industries that pumps up the economy, Kilmer said. EPA money has helped cities, counties, state agen- cies, local nonprofit and tribes on cleanup efforts in Puget Sound. The money has been used to restore salmon habitat, help open shell- fish beds to harvest, manage stormwater runoff, replace culverts that block salmon passage and prevent flood- ing while restoring wetlands. Trump’s spending plan says it “returns the respon- sibility for funding local environmental efforts and programs to state and local entities, allowing EPA to focus on its highest national priorities.” The plan also targets the Great Lakes and Chesapeake Bay. While the plan doesn’t identify them, a proposal by the Office of Manage- ment and Budget this month called for cutting all or most funding for San Francisco Bay, Puget Sound and the Gulf of Mexico. The EPA in D.C. did not immediately respond to an email. “We’re just at the point where we’re seeing things turn a corner,” said Sheida Sahandy, executive direc- tor of the Puget Sound Part- nership, the state agency set up in 2007 to oversee resto- ration of one of the nation’s largest estuaries. Consult a Professional Q: Can you P LACE Y OUR detect oral cancer? A : JEFFREY M. LEINASSAR DMD, FAGD A DS N OW ! 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