Participants report on Page Mountain stewardship work
From our weekly issue dated November 25, 2009
Siskiyou Project’s Oshana Catranides and Shane Jimerfield. (Photo by Linda Corey-Woodward, for IVN)
Reforestation partners in the Page Mountain Project, part of the larger Hope Mountain Project, met with members of the public on Tuesday, Nov. 17 at Lorna Byrne Middle School in Cave Junction to answer questions and report on their efforts.
The Hope Mountain Project’s purpose is to change Douglas fir plantations on U.S. Forest Service (USFS) land in the Wild Rivers Ranger District into more natural forests through a long-term restoration plan. The aim is to improve wildlife habitat, foster plant diversity, improve watersheds and prevent catastrophic wildfires.
Participating were USFS/Wild Rivers Ranger District, represented by District Ranger Joel King; Lomakatsi Restoration Project (LRP), represented by General Manager Marko Bey; with Siskiyou Project represented by Shane Jimerfield, executive director, and program assistant Oshana Catranides.
USFS administers the Hope Mountain Project, said King. Referring to the first-phase Page Mountain Project, King said, “This is a small step in the Hope Mountain Project. As administrator of it, I make sure it goes right.”
Lomakatsi provides the forest restoration work, using reforestation prescriptions agreed upon by the partners and the community. Tasks include fir tree thinning, mulching the forest floor and planting native grasses and other plants.
Said Bey, “Our job is to provide training, implement the work on the project, provide equipment, get funding, and work closely with Siskiyou Project on each segment.”
Jimerfield recapped the Hope Mountain Project process, beginning a year ago when Takilma residents requested a meeting to raise concerns. They asked what the project purpose was, how work was to be conducted, how it would affect the forest and their community, and the specific benefits to the forest.
Community input was incorporated into the HMP, which encompasses USFS land in S.W. Oregon and into California.
Jimerfield said that he and the project partners want to create a model for good forest stewardship. As the project proceeds, they will assess their efforts and modify them where they are not yielding expected forest improvements.
The HMP Master Stewardship Agreement was hammered out by the three partners to describe the purposes, goals, and responsibilities of each partner, and will affect 10,000 acres during a 10-year period. The agreement is intended to alter the Douglas Fir plantations planted after the lands were clear-cut 50 years ago by selective thinning.
The plan is to improve habitat for native plants, animals, fish and fungi, to restore the land to diverse forests and plants, to create both open spaces and dense canopies, and to foster conditions for future old growth forests.
As he described the work accomplished, Jimerfield commented, “We’ve gotten a lot farther this year than we expected.”
Charts and a slide show were presented to help the community understand how the work was being conducted in an ecological way.
The photographs showed sites before and after LRP treatment. While showing photos of plants, Bey pointed out that they were making spaces for larger trees to grow, reduce stress on all the trees, and make spaces for wildlife foods such as thimbleberry, grasses and other low-level plants.
Bey said that of the targeted 220 acres on Page Mountain, some 180 had been treated. Work on Page Mountain will end this month and resume in May. In February, work will begin on the Pepperbuck Project, near Oregon Caves National Monument.
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In answer to questions about employment, he reported that 25 jobs were provided on the fall phase of the Page Mountain Project. Sixteen of the workers were from Cave Junction. LRP has 18 workers on its payroll and subcontracts two timber operator outfits, one from Takilma and one from Butte Falls.
Timber operators comprise nine additional jobs. Last spring 130 jobs were created when work started in several areas, including Page Mountain, he said.
Bey and King commented that harvesting timber was not an HMP goal. It is a by-product of the reforestation work. Some of the forest material is laid down as mulch for water-retention, some is burned and some is sold to biomass and lumber companies.
Funding has come from federal stimulus money to create jobs in S.W. Oregon. These jobs are primarily forest workers. A secondary source of funding is from sales of some forest material. Bey said that 40 log truck loads were sold to South Coast Lumber Co. of Brookings, and 1,000 tons of biomass are ready for delivery to Rough & Ready Lumber Co. in Cave Junction this week.
King reported that although his budget had increased five-fold he had not increased his staff except for two temporary employees. He said that he wanted most of the money to go directly to the reforestation projects. As administrator, he is trying to manage the money frugally, not creating a greater bureaucracy which would detract from the project.
Bey said, “HMP has received $950,000 in federal money, of which $150,000 is specific just to Page Mountain. Additional stimulus money includes $864,000 for the Pepperbuck Project, plus some $500,000 which may be generated as stewardship credits resulting from log sales.”
It was noted that for 2010, the Pepperbuck Project will be funded by stimulus dollars through USFS and contributing matching funds from Siskiyou Project and Lomakatsi, which have been obtained through nonfederal grant foundation awards.
“Approximately $350,000 is related directly to the Illinois Valley,” Bey added. “The additional funds stayed in the greater Josephine County and S.W. Oregon region to compensate other forestry subcontract crews, timber operators, trainers, organizational partners and forestry equipment suppliers from Grants Pass and Medford.”
As work continues on each HMP phase, additional public meetings will be scheduled to report to the community on the work accomplished and to answer questions that may arise.
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