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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (April 6, 2016)
A10 News Blue Mountain Eagle FOREST Continued from Page A1 many organizations help pro- vide the other half through the required local match. He said the projects include prescribed burning, stream restoration, pre-commercial thinning, fencing and other wildlife, vegetation, hydrology and range projects. The collaborative includes both timber industry profes- sionals and environmentalists that have traditionally been at odds over forest management policies. Beverlin said the sci- ence-backed, solutions-based approach has been successful on the Malheur. “We’re the only forest in the nation that’s tripled our timber target in the last four years. We’re the only forest in the na- tion I know of that has not had a vegetation management proj- ect litigated in the past four years. We’re the only forest in the nation that nearly doubled the size of their CFLR project. With the collaborative’s assis- tance, we’ve brought in more funding in the community to do more work in the communi- ty to provide more stability of forest products in the commu- nity to the mill,” he said. “(The collaborative process is) really the proven method to work through those sticky issues and continue to get work done and not come to a stalemate and have things stop.” From laissez-faire to litigation At one point, a large vol- ume of timber — about 200 million board feet each year — was being harvested from the Malheur, BMFP Executive Di- rector Mark Webb said, adding many industrial professionals would agree that amount was not sustainable. In the mid-1990s, how- ever, the U.S. Forest Service implemented a new screen- ing protocol, the Eastside Screens, on forests east of the Cascade Mountains in Oregon and Washington to protect old growth forest areas, according to a chronology by U.S. Forest Service silviculturist David Powell. Among other new guide- lines, the screens prohibited cutting trees larger than 21 inches in diameter, which re- duced the annual volume har- vested. The Eastside Screens also provided new legal footing for environmentalists to challenge proposed timber projects. Webb said litigation became common and slowed the pace of projects, which hurt the resource-based economy in Grant County while allowing the forest to become over- grown and more prone to cat- astrophic wild¿res. In 2002, the annual timber harvest was down to 3 million board feet. From enemies to partners Susan Jane Brown, an en- vironmental attorney, said she began working on issues in Grant County in 2003, repre- senting several conservation organizations. She said, al- though she was quite success- ful in stopping projects with lawsuits, wild¿res would often destroy the areas she was try- ing to protect. “Litigation is a great tool for stopping things from hap- pening, but it’s not a very good tool to compel good actions to happen,” she said. “As a con- servation community, we were losing a lot of wildlife habitat we worked to preserve.” Grant County Commission- er Boyd Britton approached Brown at a forest plan revision meeting in 2003 and said he wanted to discuss moving be- yond litigation toward a more sustainable outcome for the community. Brown said the discussions started small. Slowly, more people joined in, and although there were many points of disagreement, she said they started to ¿nd common ground to move forward. The Blue Mountains Forest Partners collaborative was formalized in 2006 with members repre- senting the timber industry and environmentalists. “Following the science and being true to our values really meant that it made sense in this particular situation to engage with these diverse stakehold- ers,” Brown said. “There was just a convergence of agree- ment that working together Wednesday, April 6, 2016 The Eagle/Sean Hart The Malheur National Forest on Dixie Butte west of Prairie City. An additional $1.5 million — for a total of $4 million this year — has been awarded by the federal government for Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration projects on the Malheur forest. was going to get us where we wanted to go faster and better than litigation. Ultimately, I think we’ll be more successful than the back and forth that has characterized forest manage- ment in the past.” From closure to consistency Webb said it took the col- laborative several years to reach a consensus for its ¿rst project, which was only about 6,000 acres. Through the years, however, the collaborative de- veloped “zones of agreement” that could be applied for proj- ects across wide swaths of the forest, he said. In 2012, the Blue Moun- tains Forest Partners teamed up with the Harney County Restoration Collaborative to create the Southern Blues Restoration Coalition to apply for the federal Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration funding, which was awarded at $2.5 million per year. When Malheur Lumber, the last sawmill in Grant County, announced it would be clos- ing in 2012, the Forest Service was able to accelerate timber sales and increase the pace of restoration work. With enough wood, the mill was never forced to close and still employs about 100 peo- ple, said Bruce Daucsavage, president of Malheur Lum- ber’s parent company Ochoco Lumber. “The Blue Mountain col- laborative work in general has given us a new lease on life with our John Day sawmill,” he said. “With the good work they’ve put forward, we’ve been able to have assurances that an ample supply of wood would be available to our mill. I cannot tell you how import- ant it was for us to have all these people work on these projects that were so interested and committed to our commu- nities. We could not, under any circumstances, do this on our own.” From decreases to increases When the collaborative was established in 2006, it covered about 690,000 acres of the 1.7 million-acre Malheur National Forest. The CFLR report from 2014 shows it created or main- tained 113 jobs with direct la- bor income of $4,522,167. Information from the col- laborative in 2015 states more than 68,500 acres of hazardous fuels were reduced and more than 15,500 acres of wildlife habit was restored. Beverlin, the forest super- visor, said the collaborative was so successful they want- ed to expand their efforts to increase the pace and scale of restoration over a larger area. In 2015, an expansion to more than 1 million acres was ap- proved, he said, the largest in- crease of any CFLR project in the nation. In 2016, the collaborative’s CFLR funding was increased from $2.5 million per year to the maximum $4 million pos- sible. In 2002, only 3 million PLAN Continued from Page A1 meetings was to adopt a more “hands-on” approach to land management that would make the forests safer, more resilient and productive. “These alternatives really try to do that, and they try to THE BOSS PG-13 Comedy. A titan of industry, sent to prison for insider trading, emerges ready to rebrand herself as America’s latest sweetheart. 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Coordination is a law that requires the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Manage- ment to work with local gov- ernments on how public lands are managed. “I want a seat at the table,” Palmer told the commission- ers. “The people I represent are not getting heard. I’m not getting heard.” Ultimately, the commis- sioners did not adopt the sher- iff’s natural resources plan, and Palmer did not attend a work session with Beverlin and the commissioners about the issue. The commissioners ruled the sheriff had no author- ity to invoke coordination and told Forest Service of¿cials do it at a different pace and scale,” Montoya said. Comments made at the public meetings also em- phasized the need to protect watersheds and the environ- ment, Montoya said. Any new restoration proposals would still have to comply with existing laws, making forest management an exer- For Only BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE PG-13 FRI-SUN (12:45) (4:00) 7:30 MON-THURS (12:45) (4:00) 7:00 board feet were harvested and sold from the Malheur. Sales increased to 39 million by 2010 and up to 70 million in 2014. Sales were down to 43 million in 2015 due to the Can- yon Creek Complex ¿re but are projected to be 75 million for 2016 and the foreseeable future, Beverlin said. The collaborative’s work has received praise at the na- tional level. “It’s no accident the harvest on the Malheur National For- est tripled over the past few years,” U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon said in a statement. “It took hard work by industry, community and environmental partners, working through the Southern Blues Restoration Coalition, who got the cut up in an ecologically responsible way. I am pleased the Forest Service has recognized the value of their work by adding $1.5 million to this successful collaboration. The collabora- tive is a national model for us- ing the best available science to restore the forests and main- tain timber jobs.” $15 You Get: UNLIMITED words, 5 large “Yard Sale” signs and a voucher for a FREE 25-word, one week ad (a $17 value!) The Blue Mountain Yard Sale E AGLE Package! Call 541-575-0710 • Fax 541-575-0244 Email office@bmeagle.com Stop by 195 N Canyon Blvd., John Day Deadline for Classifieds is 10 am Mondays. the County Court was the of- ¿cial government agency with which to coordinate. Frances Preston, one of the natural resources deputies, said she has attended sever- al Forest Partners meetings in the last year and the most recent meeting in March. She said she was surprised by how comfortable everyone in the room — environmentalists, Forest Service personnel, timber industry professionals and others — were with each other. Preston said she believed the group should be com- prised of more local people than outside organizations. “There’s not very many lit- tle guys that are there that are going to be able to get any of this money,” she said. “That’s my problem. I feel that there needs to be more local people around the table.” Preston said it made her uncomfortable “because only a few people are getting the bene¿t of the dollar, because they’re the ones that are around that table.” She also said peo- ple believe the Forest Partners make back-room deals with Forest Service of¿cials. The BMFP Operations Manual speci¿cally prohib- its back-room deals and out- lines the membership process, which is open to anyone who attends a certain number of meetings, adheres to guide- lines and signs a declaration of commitment. However, Preston said at- tending the meetings can be dif¿cult for many small busi- ness people, because the col- laborative goes on full-day ¿eld trips to analyze upcoming project areas and half-day ¿eld trips to monitor previous proj- ects each month. The group also meets from 4-7 p.m. the third Thursday of each month at the airport in John Day, and Webb, the ex- ecutive director, said anyone is welcome to attend to learn about or participate in the col- laborative. Preston said she could agree with what the collabo- rative is trying to accomplish “if they were bringing in ev- eryone.” She said she plans to attend future meetings and to become an of¿cial member. cise in compromise. Forest plans are the guid- ing script for achieving goals and desired conditions in each national forest. Though the Blue Mountains Forest Plan is being authored under one umbrella, each forest will have its own individual plan. All together, the Blue Moun- tain forests comprise 4.9 million acres across Eastern Oregon and southeast Wash- ington. The plan has three stated goals: to promote ecological integrity, social well-being and economic bene¿ts. While it does not approve any spe- ci¿c management projects, it does set numerous desired conditions for things like ¿re protection, recreation, access, scenery and timber harvest. The Forest Service typ- ically updates forest plans every 10-15 years to account for new science. However, the current Blue Mountains plan hasn’t been revised since 1990. April 4 - 9, 2016 STOP BY TODAY FOR INCREDIBLE OFFERS AND UNBEATABLE SERVICE 821 W Hwy. 26, John Day • www.jdpolaris.com If It’s a NAPAGold Filter It’s On Sale. John Day Auto Parts 721 W. Main St. John Day, Or 97845 541-575-1850 So stop by, save money, and stock up for the season. Open Mon-Fri 7am-6pm Sat 8am-5pm Closed Sunday