Jackson County Democrats

Partners Announce Hope Mountain Stewardship Project to Begin Soon

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE    
                 
Medford, OR – March 23, 2009 –   Today leaders of the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest, Siskiyou Project and Lomakatsi Restoration Project jointly announced an agreement is in place for the Hope Mountain Stewardship Project, which puts 1.4 million dollars in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding to on the ground Forest restoration work and quickly creates jobs for local people.

The Hope Mountain Stewardship project is the first supplemental agreement under the Wild Rivers Master Stewardship Agreement between the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest, Lomakatsi Restoration Project and Siskiyou Project.

"These economic stimulus funds are an important investment in our communities and Forest.  The dollars will create jobs that help reduce fire hazards such as overcrowded trees and brush, improve wildlife habitat in late successional forest reserve areas and restore forest health,” said Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest Supervisor Scott Conroy.   “It comes at an important time for our community to provide meaningful productive employment while protecting our communities from the threat of wildfires," he said.

The on-the-ground work is scheduled to start in April and will remove overcrowded trees and brush.  Through the Hope Mountain Stewardship Project, Lomakatsi will employ approximately 35 people over the course of the year, and an additional, 15 indirect jobs will be created providing economic benefits to the communities within Josephine County.

“The stimulus dollars come at a great time for both the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest and the economically challenged rural communities of Josephine County,” said Marko Bey, Director of Operations for Lomakatsi.  “Over the past six months, we have received more phone calls than any other time in our fourteen year history, from people looking for work and seeking employment opportunities,” said Bey.      

In addition to job creation in forest restoration, the Hope Mountain Stewardship Project will emphasize workforce and contractor training during operations.

“Lomakatsi will provide local workers and contractors with training opportunities in a diversity of skills for holistic ecosystem management; selective logging of small diameter trees and treatments focused on the utilization of biomass materials for a variety of value added restoration by-products,” said Bey.

“These training sessions will also help build community-wide capacity and demonstrate a workable model – while we implement projects that serve to reduce extreme fuel hazards, and restore forest habitats located in Late-Successional Reserve areas,” said Bey.

Restoration work will pay dividends by reducing unnatural accumulations of fuel and providing jobs to our local communities.   It involves labor intensive work such as cutting trees and brush, pre-commercial thinning, pruning the lower tree limbs, hand piling the cut material, burning of hand piles, under burning, and roadside brushing and chipping.  The Hope Mountain Stewardship Project also includes some removal of biomass material and small diameter biomass on approximately 890 acres.  

“Community-based forest restoration projects are not only good for the Forest; they also benefit rural communities,” said Oshana Catranides, Director of Siskiyou Project’s Community Forestry and Restoration Program (C-FAR).  “As project partners, Siskiyou Project will collaborate with Lomakatsi, Forest Service and community members to advance ecosystem conservation and protection through development of ecologically based projects that enhance wildlife habitat and forest diversity while increasing community fire safety and creating ‘forest-green’ jobs in rural Josephine County.

The Hope Mountain Stewardship Project is located about 1-3 miles from Takilma, Oregon, and 12 miles from Cave Junction, Oregon on the Wild Rivers Ranger District located on the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest.  

The Hope Mountain Stewardship Project is one of four project areas funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act located on the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest in areas of high fire danger.  These projects are designed to reduce over crowed trees and brush and to protect local communities from wildfires, and funded for a total of $ 2 million of projects located in Josephine County and $ 1 million of projects located within Curry County.  

Information on the overall U.S. Forest Service role in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act can be found at: http://fs.usda.gov/recovery.  For information on the total federal effort please visit http://www.recovery.gov/.

About the Siskiyou Project: For future generations of all species, the Siskiyou Project is the grassroots network dedicated to permanently protecting the globally outstanding forests, botanical areas and wild salmon streams of the Siskiyou Wild Rivers area. The Siskiyou Project combines science, education and advocacy to build an inspired and effective local and national constituency for this special place. www.siskiyou.org

About the Lomakatsi Restoration Project: "Lomakatsi" is the Hopi word for "Life in Balance" Lomakatsi Purpose: To organize and implement community based ecological restoration projects through education, vocational training, specialized workforce development and the utilization of restoration by-products, encouraging the recovery of ecosystems and the sustainability of communities, cultures and economies www.lomakatsi.org

About the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest: The Forest Service manages public lands in national forests and grasslands. Gifford Pinchot, the first Chief of the Forest Service, summed up the mission of the Forest Service— "to provide the greatest amount of good for the greatest amount of people in the long run." The Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest covers about 1.8 million acres and is located in southwestern Oregon and extends into California. The Forest ranges from the crest of the Cascades Mountains west into the Siskiyou Mountains, nearly to the Pacific Ocean.

Contact:  Patty Burel, Public Affairs Officer, (541) 618-2113 phone, (541) 941-4268 cell phone  
                     
Economic Stimulus Dollars Awarded; Agency Announces Local Contractors

MEDFORD, OR –March 23, 2009 – The Forest Service announced today three local contracts were awarded and an agreement was signed as part of the first round of economic stimulus project areas funded on the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest.  These projects are all funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to stimulate local economies in Oregon and put people to work.  

“Reducing fire hazards are important for both our local communities and the Forest,” said Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest Supervisor Scott Conroy “The funding for these projects is helping to create and retain jobs in our local communities and making an investment in our Forest,” he said.    

As part of the economic stimulus funding, the Hope Mountain Stewardship Project features a signed agreement between the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest and two local, partnership organizations that include Lomakasti Restoration Project and Siskiyou Project.  The investment of $ 1.4 million dollars in economic stimulus funding will have an emphasis on building local workforce and contractor capacity through on-project training cutting trees and brush, and the removal of biomass and small diameter materials on approximately 890 acres of Forest that pose a potential wildfire risks to communities and ecosystem values on the Wild Rivers Ranger District.    

The Forest Service awarded Grayback Forestry Inc. which is based in Merlin, Oregon, two contract awards at  $599,884.09 to treat hazardous fuels in the Waters Creek Area on the Wild Rivers Ranger District in Josephine County and at $324,870.00 for Hazardous Fuels Work in the Agness Area, Gold Beach Ranger District in Curry County.  

The agency also awarded Diamond Fire, which is based in Sutherlin, Oregon, two contract awards at $258,435.00 for Hazardous Fuels Work in the Gold Beach Ranger District in Curry County and at $325,621.15 for Hazardous Fuels Work in the Powers Ranger District in Curry County.    

Hazardous fuel treatment work involves reducing fuels on the ground by removing trees and brush.  This work reduces wild fire hazards by thinning trees, removing of brush and limbs through various means.  These hazardous fuel treatments of removing combustible vegetation can slow down a wildfire and keeping it from spreading and / or intensifying.    

The local agreement was signed and local contracts were awarded by the Forest Service as part of the $ 1.15 billion the agency has received from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Some of the contracts can start as early as this week.   The jobs from these project areas are estimated to last up to two years.