Linn County Commissioner John Lindsey presented a check for $5,000 to the City of Sweet Home last week for use in beautification projects.
Lindsey presented the check on May 12 to the City Council during its regular meeting.
The Linn County Board of Commissioners set aside $50,000 of forest safety net money to spend in community forestry and education.
The grant to Sweet Home was awarded for the ongoing project in the median strip and other beautification efforts in Sweet Home. The median strip project has used high school students on a volunteer basis for planting and other work.
“What we’re looking for is involvement of students in community projects,” Lindsey said. This project hasn’t had a large educational component, but it heavily involves students in the community.
The city applied for the grant to use as a match with what the Sweet Home Economic Development Group has offered in addition to $2,500 in city funds for a total of $12,500 to be used for beautification projects.
“We probably use the funds to do a little more educational activity in conjunction with the high school kids,” City Manager Craig Martin said. Beyond the median strip, the beautification committee is planning to begin work in the Midway-Foster area.
At Midway, Oregon Department of Transportation is planning to offer grant funds to build a pedestrian refuge between Midway Grocer and South Fork Trailer Park, where a vehicle hit a girl while crossing a road last year.
ODOT will make a presentation to the traffic committee, Martin said. Following that, the beautification committee will tie into the project, planting the refuge.
The City of Sweet Home also plans to recognize the efforts of the high school students, possibly purchasing plaques as awards.
The main use for the grant money is get the youth engaged in community service while they are young, Martin said. As they enter adulthood, he hopes they would stay active in the community.
The Board of Commissioners also funded a School District 55 education program, some $80,000, through the high school, Lindsey said. Students will work with federal agencies, such as the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and private partners, like Cascade Timber Consulting, to learn about federal land issues.
These funds are taken from the regular forest safety net, which backfills public money lost to the decline of the timber industry. The Board of Commissioners receives and disburses more than $10 million in the program. A portion of the money is to be used in community projects and projects on federal lands under the direction of a resource advisory committee (RAC). Most of the money goes to schools and county roads, where it historically was used.
This year, money will be used to reconstruct Blowout Road near Detroit and on thinning projects, Lindsey said.
Lindsey is a member of the Willamette-Hood RAC along with former commissioner Dave Schmidt. Schmidt, Lindsey and Don Hopkins of Sweet Home also serve on a RAC for Salem BLM.
The Hood-Willamette RAC also is helping fund a portion of the Ames Creek Restoration Project and is spending money to combat noxious weeds, such as Scotch broom, which is moving northward out of Lane County, where it has annihilate some areas.
The next funding cycle for grants from the safety net will begin in September, Lindsey said. The commissioners want to narrow projects down to those involving youths and timber-dependent communities.
The safety net program ends in 2008, Lindsey said, but a national coalition of commissioners and school superintendents is drafting new legislation to continue the program.