Diverse group finding common ground:
Northeast Washington Forestry Coalition gives everyone a voice
http://www.statesmanexaminer.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=137&Itemid=1 <http://www.statesmanexaminer.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=137&Itemid=1>
BY MAGGIE ULMER, Eastern Washington Statesmen Examiner (Colville, WA)
Friday, May 19, 2006
“It’s exciting when you get to go to work knowing that other people are going to work with you,” Colville National Forest Supervisor Rick Brazell said of the Northeast Washington Forestry Coalition.
Brazell was one of several attendees at a recent reception for NEWFC in Spokane. Also on the guest list were representatives from political offices, the timber industry, environmental groups, recreation enthusiasts, and other interested parties. “I’ve been in the Forest Service for 26 years, and I’ve never seen this level of cooperation and collaboration before from any other group in any part of the country,” Brazell noted.
Lloyd McGee, NEWFC’s President, said the coalition is working to help support the Forest Service and local communities. “We’re working together to support Colville National Forest,” McGee said. “We’re trying to remove the roadblocks that have rendered Colville National Forest incapable of achieving its objectives in land management.”
One major issue McGee pointed to was timber sale appeals that have been drastically reduced since the inception of NEWFC. “There was just a lack of open dialogue and effective communication between all the different groups who are involved with the forest and the Forest Service,” McGee pointed out.
‘We need the coalition’
Brazell said the communication between the different groups has realized a vast improvement in the operation of the national forest. “We need the coalition,” Brazell asserted. “As Colville National Forest, we need to talk to all the different facets of the public, and the coalition has brought them all together, all at the same table. “Not everybody always agrees, but they always work through it,” Brazell said. “Colville National Forest is proof of what collaboration can accomplish. Everybody involved has passion and faith in what they’re doing, and it goes such a long way.”
Some of the groups represented in NEWFC range from Conservation Northwest, to the Lands Council to sawmills and 49 Degree North Ski Resort. “We’re an open group, and always looking for new members,” McGee said. “Everyone is welcome; we’re always looking to diversify even more.”
NEWFC’s mission is to collaborate with Colville National Forest on a local level to share local knowledge and expertise with an emphasis on reducing forest fuels near communities and homes, thus making Colville National Forest a safer place to live near. The coalition covers the Colville National Forest, spanning three counties, 1.1 million acres, plus properties adjacent to forest land.
Uniting instead of dividing
Mitch Friedman, director of Conservation Northwest, called the coalition the greatest thing going on in the entire western side of the country.
“People want and deserve economic stability and prosperity,” Friedman said. “They shouldn’t have to choose between the two. This coalition may be the one to unite a community around a controversial issue instead of dividing it, like what’s been happening over the last 40 years.”
Judy Olson, Eastern Washington Director for Senator Patty Murray, noted, “It’s always a powerful thing when you have two allies who traditionally come from opposite ends of the spectrum. The senator has said that this coalition is a landmark, and very commendable.”
Peter Griessmann is chairman of the coalition’s Public Education and Outreach Committee. The Colville man explained how things used to be done, as opposed to how goals are accomplished utilizing NEWFC.
“It used to be that the Forest Service would come up with a project and solicit nebulous public input for a decision,” Griessmann explained. “The public felt that there was no point in trying to get involved, and the environmental agencies usually felt alienated. Things would go back and forth and then a group would file an appeal of a timber sale, which would usually turn into a lawsuit. Everything would stop for the court process, and the project would get shelved. In the meantime, the trees that were supposed to be logged would die and lose their value, and it would be too late for the forest treatment to do any good.”
‘Something everyone can agree on’
But since everyone has come together, the process is running much smoother.
“Now, the coalition gets monthly briefings from the Colville National Forest,” Griessmann said. “We all get involved in the planning of the forest’s project from the beginning so there aren’t any surprises, and we work out something that everyone can agree on.”
Some of the previous conflicts stemmed from simple miscommunication. “A term like ‘timber sale’ has connotations,” Griessmann said. “It has implications like cutting trees for commercial production, adding new roads into the forest, and all sorts of things. But what is actually going on might be better termed a ‘rehab’ or ‘restoration sale.’ The sales are done to create adequate spacing between the trees so they’ll grow better, make a better habitat for animals, and in some cases, forest rehabilitation, such as after a fire or wind storm does damage.”
McGee pointed out that several different elements were in place when NEWFC originated. “Everyone recognized a need in the community, from the environmentalists to the industry,” he said. “It all started with the first multi-party steering groups that brought different groups to the table.” Jim Doran, a former mayor of Twisp and the first CEO of NEWFC, brought all the pieces together. “He had the political experience to talk across the spectrum, and he’d seen what happened with the forest in his own community because of such division,” Russ Vaagen, Vice President of both NEWFC and Vaagen Brothers Lumber Co. said.
Leading the revolution
“After fighting over the forest for so long, the industry left the area and took most of the jobs with it,” Vaagen said.
NEWFC was founded in 2002. “Around the same time as the group was getting started, Stevens County Commissioner Tony Delgado was running for office, and he talked about the potential for the Colville National Forest to lead the nation,” McGee pointed out. “He thought that with citizen groups guiding the Forest Service, there was potential to set the bar very high.”
Also during that time, according to Vaagen, the Healthy Forest Restoration Act and the Healthy Forest Restoration Initiative were mandated. “The act said that the National Forest had to include the public in their decision-making process,” Vaagen explained. “When NEWFC formed, the Forest Service knew it was time to listen.
“Having Rick Brazell as Forest Supervisor also played in very well,” according to Vaagen. “He’s very open-minded, and he also sees the bigger picture from Washington, D.C.’s point of view.”
In 2005, NEWFC formed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Colville National Forest. Per the memorandum, the Forest Service consults with NEWFC before moving ahead with plans. That way, the two groups are able to work out problems in the planning stages and avoid potential lawsuits.
Fire protection
“NEWFC is focused on the things we agree on, not the areas where we disagree,” McGee said. “We all surprised ourselves when we found more area to agree than to disagree. The biggest area so far that’s been equally important to all of us is protecting homes and communities that border National Forest land from wildfire.” With the coalition’s initial focus on the common ground, they agreed on no new roads, no old growth harvesting, and no clear cuts. This agreement has evolved with the coalition, and members expect the evolution to continue.
The Wildfire-Urban Interface, or WUI, is a project made possible by the Healthy Forest Initiative.
“The initiative opened the door for local people and agencies to have more input on the forest planning, including WUI,” Vaagen explained. “It used to be that all the decisions were made from the National Forest Headquarters in Washington, D.C. Now NEWFC is working with the Forest Service to create fire plans. We’re identifying areas that are vulnerable to wildfires that might start in Colville National Forest. We identify WUI and make wildfire contingency plans, just in case.”
Pend Orielle County has completed a fire plan, and Stevens County is working with NEWFC to complete its first phase by August. Ferry County’s fire plan is on track to be completed in July. “The Republic Ranger District is collaborating with NEWFC on a large scale stewardship project called Malo-East Lakes,” McGee said. “There are 20,000 too 25,000 acres in WUI areas on the west side of the county that are part of a fuels reduction project.”
Broad base helps communication, trust
McGee pointed out that the diversity of NEWFC allows for better communication and trust between the coalition and communities and property owners in WUI areas because of NEWFC’s broad base. “For some people, if it was only people from the timber industry trying to tell them about fuels reduction in planning for wildfire, it wouldn’t seem very credible,” McGee said. “But when there are so many different players in the group, it makes us much more reliable.”
About 20 percent of the total Colville National Forest, or 200,000 acres, is within or adjacent to WUI.
“Getting the WUI identified and prepared before a fire is vital,” Vaagen said. “It’s a much more effective method to remove fire fuel than it is to try to put out the flames. It’s also better to return money to the communities through harvesting the fuels than it is to take money away by firefighting.” Griessmann pointed out that although fire planning was NEWFC’s first priority, the possibilities don’t stop there.
“Some amazing partnering opportunities have already been realized,” Griessmann pointed out. “The National Forest Foundation gave a grant to NEWFC, but NEWFC needed some administrative help with it. So NEWFC partnered with the Stevens County Conservation District to help with the grant, and it’s worked out very nicely. Hopefully more opportunities like that one will come along.”
The fire planning grant is being put to use to start county-wide, Community Wildfire Protection Planning for Stevens County.
Preventing the spread of fire
Griessmann pointed to Burnt Valley near Chewelah as an example of successful CWPP.
“That project was a fuels treatment program,” Griessmann explained. “It involved the removal of smaller forest material to create fuel breaks and promote forest health. That basically takes out the small ingrowth and creates a structure in the forest that prevents fire from spreading very far or fast.” The CWPP has sparked others’ involvement in NEWFC, as well. “ John Eminger, who owns 49 Degrees North Ski Resort, became involved with NEWFC because of WUI and the CWPP,” Griessmann pointed out. “You don’t have to be a logger or an environmentalist to have a stake in this and to be involved.”
Griessmann said that NEWFC is also working to increase its representation. “As the coalition grows, we want to make sure we don’t leave anyone out. We’re currently targeting recreation groups who use the Colville National Forest, like the ATV and horse-riding groups to get involved. “We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us,” Griessmann conceded. “We need to dispel the myth that we’re a closed group with a secret agenda. Our goal is to be open, transparent, and inclusive.”
Griessmann said NEWFC is a participatory process. McGee and Vaagen also pointed out that the coalition doesn’t run as a democratic process with votes. “It’s not a matter of a majority making the decisions,” Vaagen said. “It’s collaboration, where we talk and plan things out until we can find a middle road that everyone agrees on and can be comfortable with.”
More options for forest product uses
Griessmann said he sees potential for NEWFC to take the lead on fully utilizing and diversifying natural resource use.
“This is just my personal view, but I think there’s an opportunity to develop business infrastructure by way of natural resources,” he said.
“A small spoke in the wheel might be something like a floral/green niche market,” Griessmann explained. “Things like pine cones, boughs and plants could be harvested before the timber, and a really neat thing could operate. It would be very cyclical and seasonal, but two months is better than no months, and people could use the same material that’s being cut anyway, just in different ways. If it was planned carefully, something like that could be a great way to complement, not exploit, the forest land.” Griessmann clarified that such a plan was not a priority for NEWFC, but that the group takes care of current issues with an eye on the next step.
NEWFC meets every fourth Thursday of the month at the Stevens County Conservation District, on Williams Lake Road near Highway 395. “Everyone is welcome to attend,” McGee stressed. “There’s nothing formal, no membership dues or application packets. We want everyone who’s interested to join us.”
The next meeting is Thursday, May 25. NEWFC will have its regular meeting at 12:30, followed by a WUI workshop at 2 p.m. For more information on NEWFC, visit www.newommunityforestry.org.
Jenna Gibson
Forest Restoration Advocate
National Forest Restoration Collaborative
American Lands Alliance
202.547.0188