Friday, March 29, 2024

NCW Forest Collaborative receives DNR grant

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OLYMPIA – The North Central Washington Forest Health Collaborative (NCWFHC) is one among nine organizations across Washington state to receive a portion of $1.8 million in grant funding from the Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

NCWFHC was awarded $124,270 in All Lands Forest Restoration funding and $25K in Building Forest Partnerships funding to help reduce wildfire risks in the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest in Okanogan and Chelan counties.

NCWFHC, launched in 2013 and facilitated by the Upper Columbia River Salmon Recovery Board (UCRSRB), is comprised of local stakeholders from conservation, timber, tribal, land management, and elected officials working together in the cause of forest, land, and water resource restoration.

Among sites NCWFHC is currently engaging is the Mission Project in the Methow Valley Ranger District, where 7,500 acres in the Libby and Buttermilk watersheds are being thinned and treated with prescribed burning.

Another is the South Summit Project, an area burned over by the 2014 Carlton Complex wildfire. NCWFHC is consulting with the Forest Service exploring restoration options there.

About 70 percent of the Okanogan and Chelan county land base is covered by the four-million-acre Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest. A recent forest restoration study determined that unusually severe wildfires combined with disease epidemics, insect infestations, flooding and water erosion threaten national forests and make restoration efforts vital to combat forest health decline.

NCWFHC meetings are open to the public and citizens are invited to learn more about the group and its activities by contacting Pete Teigen at (509) 662-4710, or email pete.teigen@ucsrb.org. The NCWFHC website is at www.ncwfhc.org/.

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