Scott Swanson
Sweet Home’s Livability Initiative kicks off for real this week with a visit from three representatives from The Conservation Fund and the Federal Highway Administration who arrived Sunday, Dec. 15, to tour the community and visit with local residents, business owners and government officials.
The Livability Initiative is an effort to help “gateway communities” to wildlife refuges, parks, forests and other “treasured” public lands. Sweet Home was identified as a participant in the program last July, along with three other communities – two on the East Coast and one in the Midwest.
The initiative will be a two-year project led by a partnership between the FHWA, U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service and The Conservation Fund’s Conservation Leadership Network to strengthen the livability of communities that are neighbors to federally managed lands.
Groundwork for the local visit has been laid for months by local officials and community activists, who have accumulated documentation and lined up individuals to visit with the representatives of the program – Katie Allen and Kendra Briechle o the Conservation Fund, and Gye Aung of the FHWA.
Sweet Home District Ranger Cindy Glick, one of those organizers, said the program could lead to financial help to build the local economy and make the community healthier in a variety of ways.
“We are surrounded on the east end by many public lands,” she said, in noting why Sweet Home was selected to participate.
The City of Sweet Home, Sweet Home Economic Development Group and the Sweet Home Ranger District are working with The Conservation Fund to identify how natural assets in the area can be enhanced to complement community and economic development goals related to health, vitality, and overall well-being.
The initiative is separate from the Governor’s Oregon Solutions Team project to work toward establishing a South Santiam Community Forest Corridor east of Sweet Home. The Solutions Team met Monday evening in Sweet Home and will be signing a Declaration of Cooperation in early 2014. The visitors from the Livability Initiative participated in the Solutions Team meeting Monday.
The Conservation Fund is an Arlington, Va.-based non-profit organization that, according to its mission statement, works with public, private and nonprofit partners to protect land and water resources through land acquisition, sustainable community and economic development, and leadership training that emphasizes the integration of economic and environmental goals.
“The economic vitality of Sweet Home is linked to the area’s potential for tourism, industry and natural resource-based products and services, which nearby public lands provide,” Glick said. “Benefits from public land include recreation opportunities, habitat for fish and wildlife, forest products and much more.”
During their visit to Sweet Home, the Livability Initiative representatives will also meet with representatives of the local healthcare field, educators, public safety officials, housing officials, students and a variety of business owners.
“We’re trying to expose them to everybody we can,” Glick said.
Their assessment, which will be partly based on this visit, will evaluate the key livability factors, including quality of transportation options, accessibility of affordable housing, attractiveness of employment and business opportunities, and the strength of community character in Sweet Home and surrounding communities, Allen and Aung said Monday in a meeting with the Community Forest group.
“It’s really an opportunity for us to come assess the livability of Sweet Home,” Allen said. “We will see how we can enhance the livability here.”
The Conservation Fund will develop a livability report that outlines the key recommendations and will hold a workshop in 2014 that will generate step-by-step plans for its implementation.
Allen said the report will be put together by a “design team” who will “assess the livability, the quality of life for residents and visitors.”
The three said that although there are no “dedicated funding sources” in the program, the study will help the community position itself to qualify for grant funds.
“You’re getting your ducks in a row to qualify for these grants,” Aung said. Those potential funding sources include the Federal Lands Transportation Program and the Federal Lands Access Program.
Glick noted that the FHWA has already awarded some $8 million to three local projects from those two programs: $6.8 million to improve Quartzville Road; $200,00 to develop a nature trail, fish viewing platform and information kiosk at the former Cascadia Ranger Station site next to Short Bridge; and another $1 million to address landslide issues in the Sheep Creek area along Highway 20.
Participation in the Initiative could pay off for Sweet Home in a variety of ways, some financial, she said.
“More than likely we’ll have connections to help us apply for grants, put grant applications together, figure out how to apply and be competitive,” she said. “This is kind of like a shot in the arm.”