Sean C. Morgan
The U.S. Forest Service Sweet Home Ranger District is looking for public input to help plan the future of 10,000 acres of forest 30 miles east of Sweet Home.
That process began May 22 with two public meetings. Scientists described the geological, hydrological features of the planning area as well as its wildlife, plant life and other resources, what they called the inherent qualities of the land .
The Cool Soda Planning Area is located up Soda Fork Road off Highway 20, and is part of a “checkerboard” of forest properties managed by Cascade Timber Consulting or the U.S. Forest Service.
The Forest Service, CTC and the South Santiam Watershed Council are using a community-based planning process to develop restoration proposals for the area.
The team is working together across ownership boundaries to look at the potential for restoration in the Soda Fork Watershed.
“We’re so excited to embark on this collaborative learning journey together,” said Sweet Home Ranger Cindy Glick. “Our Cool Soda all-lands approach includes partners, stakeholders and the public, all focused on promoting landscape health across ownership and management boundaries. We want to know what interested citizens value about Cool Soda’s natural resources. This information will help determine what should be maintained or restored.”
The Forest Service has cooperated with CTC for a hundred years, Glick said. The partners know how to build roads, fight noxious weeds and suppress fires, but they are less knowledgeable about how to improve water quality and re-establish endangered fisheries.
“We’re thinking it would be great if we can figure out an incentive where the private landowner would be compensated,” Glick said of the all-lands management of private forests in the interest of the public.
The Cool Soda all-lands approach is rooted in the best available science and relies on community-based input to develop a restoration proposal that meets the public’s interest, Glick said. It begins by developing a common understanding of the landscape and its inherent ability to produce a variety of both ecological and economic goods and serves, such as clean water, recreation, forest products and wildlife habitat.
Based on what has been gathered at this point, the team developed presentations for concepts of what’s really possible, she said. The team provided an introduction to the planning area, and solicited ideas. The team will rank the key benefits in the area.
Based on input and the values of east Linn County residents, the team will hold another meeting on June 14 where it will present its assessment of the existing condition of the planning area, solicit more ideas and identify risks and nhancements to the key benefits of the resources in the area.
People may value such things are eco-resiliency, forest products, jobs, habitat for game animals, Glick said.
From there, the team will begin to develop management proposals, which will be presented in August.
The environmental assessment portion of the planning will begin in October, and the proposed management plan will be released in fiscal year 2013.
“It’s an open slate for people to give their opinions and ideas and us to listen and try to find out what’s doable,” Glick said.
For more information about the June 14 meetings and the Cool Soda Planning Area, contact the Ranger District at (541) 367-5168.