IDAHO PANHANDLE RESOURCE ADVISORY COMMITTEE

TITLE II PROJECT INFORMATION FORM

PROJECT NAME: Forest Collaboration on the Idaho Panhandle National Forest
Project Sponsor: (fiscal sponsor) North Idaho Community Services Corporation and the Coeur d’Alene Area Chamber of Commerce is the responsible entity
Sponsor’s Address:	No. Idaho Community Services Corp.; 11100 N. Airport Drive; Hayden, ID 83835 Coeur d’Alene Area Chamber of Commerce; P.O. Box 850, Coeur d’Alene, ID 83816
Sponsor’s Phone:	Coeur d’Alene Chamber – (208) 664-3194; Community Service Corp. (208) 772-0584
Project Location: (Township/Range/Please attach map) Shoshone and Kootenai Counties of the Coeur d’Alene District of the Idaho Panhandle National Forest
Partners/Volunteers: See attached list of participants

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT, EXPECTED OUTCOME AND BENEFITS:

Is NEPA Complete On This Project? N/A

The Coeur d’Alene Forest Coalition is a relatively new organization. In April of 2005 the Idaho Panhandle National Forest Supervisor learned of the collaborative approach to planning processes that had been ongoing in the Colville National Forest of northeastern Washington State for the past five years. That effort in the Colville National Forest has lead to the successful permitting of seven projects that will generate 50 MMBF of timber from the Colville National Forest in 2006 and a similar amount for successive years. Similarly, a 20,000 acre stewardship project is being planned through the collaborative process in Ferry County.

At the Idaho Panhandle Supervisor’s request an assessment of the potential for a similar cooperative planning process was undertaken during May through August 2005. A grant application to the National Forest Foundation was written in August of 2005 after the assessment determined that the critical mass of interest in the “collaborative model” existed in the Coeur d’Alene region.

During the assessment forty-five individuals from a wide cross section of perspectives were contacted and brought together for two meetings. The result was the proposal to form an organization with the purpose to find alternatives to conflict and litigation over public lands management. The focus of the group has been the restoration of the public forestlands and the reduction of the threats of catastrophic wildfire. The Coeur d’Alene Area Chamber of Commerce has acted as the platform entity to bring these discussions about and to promote the collaborative model.

The constituency of the Coeur d’Alene Forest Coalition is a combination of environmental organizations, timber companies, sawmill owners, loggers, community development agents, educators, conservation organizations, businesses and local citizens. The Forest Service, Idaho Department of Lands and several other public organizations are also at the table. The age, gender and class is a broad spectrum. The general unifying theme of the organization’s individuals is there love of nature and their desire to see productive use of forestlands in an ecologically sound manner. Good jobs in the forests and mills and the spin-off businesses are considered a vital part of the community.

The participating individuals and organizations benefit from this work because many of them are, or have been, employed in forest industries and many of them have been committed to the ecological protection of the public forests. All of the coalition members have participated in public lands planning and decision making processes in the past. The inherent value of this new approach to balance human community, ecology and economy has struck a chord with this coalition of diverse stakeholders. I personally am thrilled to be a part of this re-definition of western human relationship with nature.

We are reviewing proposed Forest Service wildland urban interface (WUI) project areas in order to give input, prior to the formal NEPA process, that will allow the projects to be designed in a manner that will reduce the likelihood of appeals. The Coalition is currently engaged in field reviews and collaboration on the Blue Alder Resource Area, east of Coeur d’Alene at Wolf Lodge Creek. This project is addressing reduction of wildland fire risk to adjacent non-federal lands as well as forest health and resiliency on National Forest system lands. The Blue Alder project will include the mechanical treatment of as much as three thousand acres.

The basic premise is that “If the Forest Service will engage in an authentic dialogue about the details of its forest projects, and accept the recommendations from the collaborative group, then we will see projects get implemented rather than appealed”.

One of the main tasks of the facilitator, and the Coalition at large, is to build trust amongst the participants and then reach out to the larger conservation community and the larger timber resource community to gain regional support for this process. This cooperative effort will be tested upon the Blue Alder Project. If this is successful the Coeur d’Alene Forest Coalition will be able to build a body of permitted projects such as was done upon the Colville National Forest. The impacts to the fire threats, ecosystem needs and the local economy will be significant once this first project succeeds.

The specific request from the Idaho Panhandle Resource Advisory committee is for a $15,000 grant that will be used to match the funds expected from the New Priorities Foundation this fall, 2006. Our work will continue project analysis and input, field trips, educational forums, regular meetings and continuing outreach within the local and regional community of interested people. Additionally, a monitoring protocol will be developed and a “multi-party monitoring team” formed to insure that the work is done as proposed and to build a body of data regarding impacts. There is also a need to develop Stewardship Contracting upon the Idaho Panhandle National Forest. Finally, we expect to hold a two and a half day “collaboration workshop” to bring the Coalition members and the Forest Service representatives into a more formal Memorandum of Understanding concerning the method of the ongoing collaboration.

Much of this is modeled after the work that I have been involved with in the Colville National Forest over the past five years. It has worked well in that community and, with localized adjustments, it should work well on the Coeur d’Alene River Ranger District.

PROJECT COSTS:
Title II Funds Requested:	$15,000.00
Partnership Funds Available:	$20.000.00
In-Kind/Volunteer Time:	$15,000.00
Other Sources of Funding:	New priorities Foundation; USFS; Industry

Funding Partners:

1. New Priorities Foundation - $15,000.00

2. Panhandle National Forest - 2,500.00

3. Local Industry/Organizations – 2,500.00

In-kind contributions are being made by the three committees within the Coeur d’Alene Forest Coalition, from The University of Idaho Extension Office, The University of Idaho Forestry Department, The Coeur d’Alene Area Chamber of Commerce, and the participants in the Collaborative process (see participant list). Many of the Coalition participants come to the collaborative process with a high level of knowledge skills and professional training in forestry related topics. The value of this level of in-kind contribution would well exceed $15,000 on the open market.

Project Budget: See attached.

Prepared and presented by: Jim Doran – Community Forestry Resources, independently contracted facilitator for the Coeur d’Alene Forest Coalition

SUBMIT COMPLETED FORM TO:

Idaho Panhandle RAC

Attn: Ranotta McNair

Idaho Panhandle National Forests

3815 Schreiber Way

Coeur d’Alene, ID 83815

For questions regarding submission, please contact Dave O’Brien (208-765-7319) or

Suzanne Burnside (208-765-7369).