In partnership with Oregon State University Extension, RVCC is organizing two small-group peer learning sessions focused on governance processes and structures for partners working across large landscapes. We will have participants from collaboratives in northeast Oregon, southern Oregon, northern Arizona and Colorado's Front Range. RVCC will summarize key insights and lessons learned from these two events and share them via our newsletter and website. For more information about these sessions and RVCC's other peer-learning work, please contact Emery at Emery@wallowaresources.org.

Ideas to Action 2021 Webinar Series:

Getting the Most out of Forest Service Agreements

Practitioners from across the West will share how they developed and implemented Forest Service agreements to successfully carry out partnership-based restoration on the national forest. This is for an audience familiar with the basics of agreements, that wants to learn more about the nuances of these partnership tools and how to maximize their potential.

Date and Time: Thursday, February 11, 2021, 1:30-3:00 PM

WATCH the webinar recording here

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

Meet Our Panelists:

Liz Peterson

Liz is a Senior Administrative Analyst in the County Administrator’s Office for Tuolumne County, California. In this role, Liz manages the county’s Master Stewardship Agreement with the Stanislaus National Forest. 

Brian McCrory

Brian is a Timber Contracting Officer for the Stanislaus National Forest in California. As program manager for the Master Stewardship Agreement between the Stanislaus National Forest and County of Tuolumne, Brian is responsible for the coordination of supplemental project agreements tiered to the master agreement. 

The stewardship agreement between Tuolumne County and the Stanislaus National Forest has been used to accomplish a variety of activities over the past two years including timber sale preparation, resource survey work, prescribed fire prep, reforestation, and mechanical fuels treatments. 

Laurel Baum

Laurel is the Central Cascades Conservation Associate with Conservation Northwest in Seattle. Laurel helps implement the organization’s challenge cost-share agreement with the Mt. Baker Snoqualmie National Forest. She serves as a liaison between USFS specialists and the restoration contractor, which includes creating a contractor ‘scope of work’, overseeing the contractor while on-site, managing invoices and completing project reporting. The agreement activities include restoration and rehabilitation of unauthorized trails and motorized routes on the forest and performing archaeological surveys along system and non-system routes to support proposed rehabilitation. 

Don Boucher

Don is retired after more than 40 years with the Forest Service, on the Rogue River-Siskiyou NF in Oregon. He was the Project Manager for the Ashland Forest Resiliency Stewardship Project, a partnership between the Forest Service, The Nature Conservancy, the City of Ashland, and Lomakatsi Restoration Project. This project was implemented with a 10-year Master Stewardship Agreement, signed in 2010. Work primarily included non-commercial surface and ladder fuel removal, commercial helicopter density management, and prescribed fire.

Andy Lerch

Andy is the Lead Forester for the Arkansas River Watershed Collaborative, a regional non-profit that works on forest restoration and fuels reduction to benefit water resources in the Arkansas River Basin in Colorado. Andy helps implement the South Arkansas Stewardship Agreement, a 5-year agreement between USFS and ARWC. Signed in June 2019, the agreement allows the partners to remove spruce beetle kill on steep slopes on Monarch Pass and undertake other watershed improvement projects in the headwaters of the South Arkansas River. 

RVCC 17th ANNUAL MEETING PANEL DISCUSSION

Policy and Governance in the Year Ahead

The contentious 2020 elections are (mostly) behind us, and it is projected that a new administration and congress will begin in January. As we gear up for these changes, join RVCC and a panel of knowledgeable DC insiders to break down the implications of the election results and opportunities to advance coalition priorities with a new congress and administration. We’ll dig into topics like the Farm Bill’s  impact on natural resource-dependent rural communities and the outlook  for policy change to address  the growing need for wildfire risk reduction. 

Register here for the policy panel discussion

RVCC 17th ANNUAL MEETING PANEL DISCUSSION

Learning From a Year of Crises: A Fireside Chat

It’s been a year like no other for the rural West. This panel is designed to garner fruitful, organic dialogue between dynamic leaders in our field on the pressing issues of 2020 - the impacts of coronavirus on communities and the core work of community-based organizations; skyrocketing recreational pressure; a historic wildfire season; and political turmoil and social injustice. Come decompress with us -- and be inspired by your colleagues and their vision for the future.

Register here for the learning panel discussion

In partnership with Oregon State University Extension, RVCC is organizing two small-group peer learning sessions focused on governance processes and structures for partners working across large landscapes. We will have participants from collaboratives in northeast Oregon, southern Oregon, northern Arizona and Colorado's Front Range. RVCC will summarize key insights and lessons learned from these two events and share them via our newsletter and website. For more information about these sessions and RVCC's other peer-learning work, please contact Emery at Emery@wallowaresources.org.

Learn how Good Neighbor Authority projects are implemented on National Forests by the Oregon Department of Forestry Federal Forest Restoration (FFR) Program and Washington DNR. During this session, speakers will:

• Share examples of how Good Neighbor Authority (GNA) projects are being implemented in the Pacific Northwest.

• Answer the following questions: How is GNA meeting land management objectives for the Forest Service and Oregon and Washington? How are Collaboratives engaging in GNA projects? What are the opportunities for GNA going forward?

This event is part of Sustainable Northwest’s PNW Collaborative Workshop. Suggested audience: Collaborative partners engaged in or interested in GNA, USDA Forest Service employees, ODF and DNR employees.

Registration required, Register HERE.

If you are interested in participating in RVCC’s Recreation working group, please reach out to Sarah Altemus-Pope at Director[at]swfcollaborative.org

If you are interested in participating in RVCC’s Recreation working group, please reach out to Sarah Altemus-Pope at Director[at]swfcollaborative.org

Aspen Institute Community Strategies Group and the Rural Development Innovation Group, in collaboration with Rural Voices for Conservation Coalition and Portland State University, invite you to our tenth panel and discussion in our series:

Tension as Catalyst: Land Stewardship and Development Align for a Better Rural West

@ Portland State University 

Smith Memorial Student Union
1825 SW Broadway
Portland, OR 97201

It’s no secret: the fortunes and future of many rural communities, especially in the West, are strongly tied to how natural resources are cared for and managed. In the past, economic development proponents and natural resource champions have often been at odds on resource use. But now, necessity and a sense of shared fate are forging collaborative solutions that simultaneously advance economic development and sensible resource management – while also building more inclusive communities. This new way of doing business signifies an emerging gold standard, a shift that propels enduring stewardship and prosperity. Rural-rooted intermediary organizations are central to this transformation, convening across interests and roles – and working across historic divides.

Join our America’s Rural Opportunity conversation on June 10th with five rural and tribal innovators who are leading this way forward. Learn about what they have done to forge new productive partnerships and about the difference it has made for the economy and environment, as well as rural communities and livelihoods.

Panelists:

William Barquin, Attorney General, Kootenai Tribe of Idaho

Toni Ruth, Executive Director, Salmon Valley Stewardship

Mark Webb, Executive Director, Blue Mountains Forest Partners

Susan Jane Brown, Staff Attorney, Western Environmental Law Center

Mark Haggerty, Headwaters Economics

with Moderator Tony Cheng, Director, Colorado Forest Restoration Institute

For those attending in person at Portland State University, coffee will be served starting at 10:00 am. The event will be followed by a buffet lunch and informal networking conversation. 

REGISTER HERE to attend in person or via our live stream

The event and livestream will begin promptly at 10:30 am Pacific and 1:30 pm Eastern time.