October 16, 2007
Last night the Alsea Stewardship Group passed an important milestone. It approved two proposals for submission to the Siuslaw Stewardship Fund. The Siuslaw Stewardship Fund is a pool of funds created by implementing stewardship contracts in the Siuslaw River Basin on the Siuslaw National Forest. This is the first time (and I think the first in the nation) that proposals are being accepted for projects outside of the Siuslaw Basin to the Siuslaw Stewardship Funds.
The ASG approved a roadside Scott's Broom removal project from Doug Shaller of Lincoln County Road Department for submission. The Lincoln County proposal is attached.
It also approved a culvert replacement project from Don Davis of the Alsea Watershed Council for submission. Don is still working on the narrative of his proposal and I will distribute it to the Group when I receive it.
These two proposals represent concrete steps toward the Group's vision of watershed restoration and local community benefit.
Next steps:
The Siuslaw Technical Review Team, led by Siuslaw National Forest Hydrologist Bill Conroy, will conduct a technical evaluation of all the proposals. Bill will present his team's findings to the Siuslaw Stewardship Group at their November 8th meeting in Mapleton.
Project applicants are invited to attend the Nov. 8th meeting and respond to questions about their projects.
The Siuslaw Stewardship Group will evaluate the proposals and make recommendations for funding to the Siuslaw National Forest at the Nov. 8th meeting. The Siuslaw National Forest project team will then consider the recommendations from the SSG and make a recommendation to the Forest Supervisor, Barnie Gyant. After the Forest Supervisor, the package of approved projects goes to the FS Regional Office for final approval.
Project applicants will be notified within 45 days about the success of their proposal to the Siuslaw Stewardship Fund.
Congratulations again to you all for your hard work and dedication to fostering community-based collaborative stewardship.
Best,
Marcus
Marcus Kauffman
Program Manager Resource Innovations Institute for a Sustainable Environment University of Oregon 5247 University of Oregon Eugene, Oregon 97403
541-346-0661 (office)
Project proposal below as Flashpaper document: