Sean C. Morgan
Sweet Home Ranger District staff members are developing a list of projects for the new 40,000-acre Trout Creek Planning Area after meeting with interested members of the public Thursday, Feb. 5, to discuss the ideas.
The Ranger District has hosted two public field trips to the area, the last one in September, and then held the meeting to update interested people.
Similar to the Cool Soda Planning Area previously developed, the plan will address a variety of interests, concerns and goals through different kinds of projects.
Following the Trout Creek field trips and public input from members of the timber industry, conservationists and the public, district staff began brainstorming ideas.
Thursday, they unveiled a list of about 100 ideas.
Among the projects are three main themes, said Amanda Colton, natural resources staff with the Ranger District.
First was streams and wild fish, she said. Among project ideas is a tree-tipping project, like the ones along Soda Fork and Canyon Creek, to help provide winter steelhead habitat.
Second was forest and wildlife, Colton said. Forest officials are looking at silvicultural treatments to balance late seral (ecological development) with quality early seral forests, something that is lacking in the Trout Creek drainage.
Third is community and culture. Among projects, the district is considering timber treatments, thinning sales, to help pay for work on roads in the project area.
Another project is work on the Molalla Trail, a main north-south Native American passage through the Cascade Mountains. Staff members hope to connect the trail to Camas Prairie, near the intersection of Moose Creek Road and Highway 20, and then eventually to a community trail to Cascadia Cave.
Other projects include fuels treatments, work around the Menagerie Wilderness, fire breaks and road decommissioning of roads that are essentially impassable at this point.
The next steps are to take the feedback the district has received up to this point and start developing formal project plans, Colton said. Officials will narrow down the total number of projects and then begin formal National Environmental Protection Act processes and environmental assessments as necessary.
The district will complete scoping, setting specific proposed actions, for the Planning Area about June, Colton said. Then the formal public input process starts.
The Trout Creek Planning Area includes private property owners and managers Cascade Timber Consulting, Giustina Resources and Rosboro, along with national forestland. Highway 20 cuts across the southern part of the drainage just east of Cascadia.
For more information about the Trout Creek Planning Area, call the Sweet Home Ranger District at (541) 367-5168.