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About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (April 6, 2006)
The INDEPENDENT, April 6, 2006 Page 5 Business Notes Contractor likes working close to home Need something excavated? Want a new pond dug? How about getting a site for your new house ready? Robert J. Watts Construction, Inc. can help with these needs and many more. A self-employed general contractor for the last six months, Watts has 19 years of experience in construction. He has worked on jobs adding turn lanes to highway 219 and 30, performed on subdivision site work, including work at two Street of Dreams sites. Watts grew up in the Bux- ton/Vernonia area and still lives here with his wife, D’Lisa, who many know from her involve- ment with 4-H. Their two chil- dren, Kody (22) and Amanda (18), both graduated from Ver- nonia High School. The Watts still have quite a menagerie with rabbits, chickens, pygmy goats, dogs and cats, many of which came by way of Aman- da’s 4-H projects. Specializing in excavating, trenching, grading, house dig- outs, septics, driveways, What a relief! Columbia County’s unem- ployment rate was essentially unchanged at 6.5 percent in February – the lowest February rate since 2000 and about three percentage points lower than one year ago. The rate was the same as the statewide unadjusted rate of 6.5 percent but higher than the national rate of 5.1 percent. Total em- Striking out on his own, Robert Watts is ready to serve the needs of area residents with excavating and other construc- tion services. ponds, and Indian wells, Watts can take care of many con- struction needs. He really en- joys building demolition, too. Having his own business al- lows Watts to stay closer to home and have more flexibility in his hours, plus it gives the people here in the valley a chance to use his expertise. To see if your needs and the expertise of Robert J. Watts Construction, Inc., are a match, call his office at 503-429-5504 for an appointment to review your project. Meeting on sustainable forestry efforts The Oregon Board of Forestry’s ad hoc advisory committee on sustainable for- est management indicators will meet Wednesday, April 12, in the Tillamook Conference Room at the Oregon Depart- ment of Forestry (ODF) head- quarters, 2600 State St., in Salem. The advisory commit- tee will be continuing work on an important step in implement- ing the Board of Forestry’s strategic policy document, the Forestry Program for Oregon (FPFO), adopted in 2003. The meeting is scheduled from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The agenda includes consider- ation of comments received from technical experts and in- vited reviewers on draft Oregon sustainable forest manage- ment indicators. Further changes to the set of indicators will be discussed prior to pro- viding a recommendation to the Board of Forestry later this year. The committee will also receive a report from ODF staff on the Oregon Forest Assess- County unemployment rate stays at low of 6.5 percent in February ment Project, which is assem- bling data collection tools to as- sess the conditions and future trends for Oregon’s forest re- sources. Linkages between the assessment work and sus- tainable forest management in- dicators will be discussed. The charge given by the Board of Forestry to the com- mittee is to: 1. Coordinate with technical experts to reach both policy and technical consensus on a set of recommended sustain- able forest management indi- cators for use in measuring FPFO implementation perform- ance. 2. Solicit and summarize stakeholder input on both the usefulness of the recommend- ed indicators and potential de- sired future outcomes for these indicators. 3. Advise the Board of Forestry both on recommended indicators and desired future outcomes. 4. Advise the State Forester on future assessments of Ore- gon public and private forest re- sources. The overall project goal is to provide the Oregon Board of Forestry, its partners and coop- erators, Oregon citizens, and potential purchasers of Oregon forest products with a compre- hensive, manageable, set of outcome-based environmental, economic, and social indicators to assist in understanding Ore- gon’s forest conditions and trends. The 22-member advisory committee includes invited rep- resentatives from private forest land owners, federal land man- agement agencies, state, local and tribal governments, envi- ronmental organizations, and sustainability organizations. For more information, visit <http://egov.oregon.gov/ODF/R ESOURCE_PLANNING/Sus tainable_Forest_Indicators_Pr oject.shtml> or contact David Morman, Forest Resources Planning Program Director, at 503-945-7413 or dmorman@ odf.state.or.us. ployment in the county grew by 104 since January and the number of unemployed people increased by 80. Total employ- ment was 21,712 in February and 1,509 people were unem- ployed. The rate was 9.7 percent one year ago in February. Total employment for the month was 701 greater than one year be- fore and 749 fewer people were unemployed. Unemployment rates for oth- er counties can be found at http://www.qualityinfo.org/olmis j/AllRates.