Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Council of Elders. Once the background report was completed by the archaeologist,
it was sent to the Nez Perce tribe for review. This was followed by an invitation from
Wallowa County to the Nez Perce Council of Elders to tour the Upper Joseph Creek
watershed and provide additional feedback to the process. Wallowa County provided
funding to support this tour and consultation by the Council of Elders.
The recommendations that flowed from these assessments focused on improving
the health of terrestrial and aquatic systems, and were targeted at specific locations
within the watershed. Activities to improve the watershed included the following:
• Promotion of late-seral and old-growth structure in forests
• Understory thinning for forest health, wildlife habitat, and fuel reduction
• Protection of wildlife travel-ways and key habitat
• Reductions in open road mileage
• Road maintenance and removal of fish passage barriers
• Noxious weed prevention and treatment
• Several types of range and grassland improvements, including upland water
developments
The activities were scheduled over a period of five years with the USFS. Those ac-
tivities with the greatest need and strongest level of agreement were scheduled first.
With respect to forest management, these areas were in the hot-dry ponderosa pine
(
Pinus ponderosa
) and warm-dry ponderosa pine and Douglas fir (
Pseudotsuga men-
ziesii
) stands, which showed the greatest degree of variation from historical conditions
due to overstory removal and fire suppression.
A strong theme of the effort was the blending of landscape and watershed health
needs with the needs and health of the community. Initial benefits to the local econ-
omy were generated by contracts for data collection and assessments. Following com-
pletion of the assessment, the recommendations for the WWNF lands were studied by
the USFS on a more site-specific basis through the NEPA and public involvement
process. Investments in riparian restoration to remove fish passage barriers, such as
culverts, log weirs, and rock gabions, began in 2005. Many of the restoration contracts
were awarded to local contractors on a best-value basis available through stewardship
contracting authorities.
Prior to being finalized, the watershed assessment was subject to peer review. Indi-
viduals from the University of California-Davis, The Wilderness Society, and North-
west Connections reviewed the complete final draft, submitted written comments,
and participated in a facilitated workshop in the summer of 2005. The workshop was
designed to identify the strengths and weaknesses of both the collaborative process
and the watershed assessment, and to generate lessons for future collaborative assess-
ments. The written comments were made available to all members of the collabora-
tive group and posted online for public access. In addition to securing external rec-
ommendations for process improvement, this review process helped secure broad
public confidence in the assessment and recommendations.
The WWNF's administration of priorities identified in the assessment included
some actions implemented under guidelines allowing for an expedited environmen-
tal review process, and others subject to Environmental Assessments or Environmen-
