Weaverville Community Forest Becomes A Reality: Summer 2006
Weaverville Community Forest Becomes A Reality: Summer 2006
Weaverville Community Forest Becomes A Reality: Summer 2006
Vol. XV No. 3
he purpose of the Weaverville Community Forest is to invest the community with a sense of ownership and responsibility for land stewardship in the Weaverville basin. Through Stewardship Contracting, a new federal tool, the Bureau of Land Management and the Trinity County Resource Conservation District have built a partnership to manage 984 acres of federal land as a community forest, through a 10-year stewardship agreement. Most of the Community Forest is located in the Weaverville Basin between Mill Street and Oregon Street, abutting residential areas like Timber Ridge. The District and Trinity Resource Conservation and Development Council invited people to a community forest visioning workshop in May 2004. High visual quality rose to the top of the list of goals in that meeting along with the shared vision of a forest that would be managed in a way that improves its re safety and forest health, provides recreational and educational opportunities and produces merchantable timber to sustain the management of the Community Forest. The District and BLM entered into the stewardship agreement last fall with all of these goals in mind. In May of this year the District invited evAlso In This Issue: eryone back to check our vision, as Pat Frost, the Community Forest, Cont. ................... 2 District Manager, put it and to look at the rst phase Trinity River Landowners Program ..... 3 Summer Day Camp Program ............ 4-5 of forest health thinning that was designed by BaldDeadline for 2007 EQIP Program ........ 6 win, Blomstrom, Wilkinson and Associates, profesWatershed Group Established ............ 7 sional foresters hired by the District. The reality of Trinity River Factoids ......................... 7 the Community Forest vision has been underscored District Manager's Corner ................... 7 with the sale and delivery of power line hazard trees to Trinity River Mill, putting the rst money in the continued on page 2...
Summer Issue 2006
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he Weaverville Summer Day Camp has concluded another successful season at Lowden Park. The District ran 5 weekly sessions from June 26th to July 28th for children in the rst through the fth grades.
A total of fty children attended one or more sessions and enjoyed various activities. The overall goal of the camp was to provide nutritional information, healthy snacks and fun physical activities to children empowering them to adopt healthy eating habits and physical activity patterns as a part of a healthy lifestyle and to learn about the natural world around them. The camp also gives the District the opportunity to provide summer jobs for local high school students. This years counselors were Ashley Britton, Hannah Hammett, Heather Nawrock and Landis Taylor. The camp was sponsored by the Trinity County Resource Conservation District and led by the Districts Watershed Stewardship members, Jessie Oliver and Nancy Small. Camp received funding from the Shasta Cascade Regional Nutrition Network and the United States Environmental Protection Agency. Many volunteers gave their time to teach their many skills to the children of the camp. We would like to thank them for their time and effort. The Trinity County Resource Conservation District looks forward to another successful camping year in 2007.
Counselor Heather Nawrock and Jim Love talk with a camper at the Community Childrens Garden.
Summer day campers enjoy a free lunch provided by the Trinity Union High School District.
Counselor Ashley Britton and campers pick up trash in Lowden Park as part of a community service project.
Cut-Off Deadline Set for Landowners Applying for FY 2007 Environmental Quality Incentive Program Funds
pplications are now being accepted from agriculture producers wishing to participate in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2007 Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), a cost-share program offered by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). Applications are available to all agricultural producers year round on a continuous basis; however, the application cut-off date for this years ranking is November 30, 2006. Agricultural landowners and operators interested in participating in EQIP can apply at their local USDANRCS service center. During FY 2006, the Trinity County NRCS ofce obligated approximately $300,000 in EQIP cost-share funds for a variety of conservation projects, and is expected to receive approximately the same amount for the FY 2007 program. EQIP is a voluntary conservation program that assists producers on a cost- share basis to meet local, state, and federal regulations. EQIP funds help farmers and ranchers reduce soil erosion, improve water quality and forest health, conserve water and protect grazing land. Through the EQIP program, farmers and ranchers can receive nancial and technical assistance for conservation practices such as irrigation pipelines, sprinkler systems, water development fencing for livestock, forest stand improvement and fuels reduction. Individuals who wish to participate in the EQIP program must meet all eligibility requirements, le a Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) 1200 form, and ll out other forms necessary for program eligibility. Applicants also need to have a completed conservation plan by November 30, 2006 in order to be considered for funding in FY 2007. Landowners or tenants must have control of the property for the life of the contract period. The contract period can be from two to ten years in length. The NRCS will evaluate each application and give highest priority to those applications that use costeffective conservation practices; treat multiple resource concerns; address national, state, or local priorities; and provide the most environmental benets. Once FY 2007 funds have been exhausted, interested applicants may, upon request, remain on le until additional funding becomes available. For more information about EQIP, go to: http//www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/ eqip, or contact Jim Spear, District Conservationist, or Tiffany Riess, Soil Conservationist at the USDA-NRCS Weaverville Service Center located at #3 Horseshoe Lane in Weaverville. Phone: (530) 623-3991.
EQIP funding of forest stand improvement results in improved forest health and reduction of forest fuels.
Trinity River Watershed Group is being formed to address environmental issues that exist within the Trinity River watershed. The underlying principle of the group will be to coordinate existing programs and undertake a holistic approach to resource management that will focus on the overall ecological health and economic well being of the Trinity River system. Initial formation has begun with members of public agencies, who have been working on resource related issues along the Trinity River for over 20 years. These partner agencies include Trinity County, Trinity River Restoration Program (TRRP), Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) Bureau of Land Management, US Forest Service, and the RCD. Others to be included are private landowners, commercial timber operators, local community service districts and other state and federal agencies. In the last couple of months, the watershed group has drafted a preliminary mission statement that will provide guidance for the work to be accomplished within the watershed. The goal will be to develop management objectives that complement the TRRP program, but that go beyond the scope of restoration of the naturallyspawning populations of salmon and steelhead in the mainstem of the Trinity River. It is envisioned that this watershed group will evaluate the natural processes that occur in the upslope areas of the mainstem Trinity and address the concerns of landowners and land managers in the tributaries of the watershed. The group is currently developing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the purpose of dening the roles and responsibilities of each of the entities involved. The MOU will focus on a commitment to cooperation and common interest in gathering and sharing information, project development and implementation, and public education. One of the rst objectives will be to combine existing data and reports to provide an updated assessment of the watershed conditions. The Trinity River Watershed group would like the input, ideas and participation from the general public for projects that will contribute to the restoration of the watershed. For information on the watershed groups next meeting (Sept. 26) or to get on the mailing list, contact the District at 623-6004 or email us at [email protected].
Earlier this summer the Districts Board of Directors adopted an update to its Strategic Plan. This gave me the opportunity to think about some broad themes to help light our path as we move forward. Our quarterly Conservation Almanac also is a tool. I use the articles in the newsletter to measure how we are doing right now to meet those long range goals in the Strategic Plan and, more importantly, how we are meeting the needs of all of you. This issue is about community needs issues that you have brought to the District and asked for help. The District got involved in the Weaverville Community Forest at the request of residents in the community and BLM back in 2003. Today our community, through the Community Forest, is being used around the country as an example of locally led land management and stewardship on federal lands. Landowners along the Trinity River and on streams up and down its length call on us. Sometimes they just have a quick question that we can answer, but sometimes they have bigger concerns about their stream or their land. That has been especially true this year a very wet year. The newly forming Trinity River Watershed Council is an effort to provide a forum for exchanging information, sharing concerns and offering solutions to landowners throughout the watershed. We have just completed our second year of our very successful Summer Day Camp. The District took up the summer camp program last year, because a number of parents mentioned to us that they really needed some organized programs for their children during the summer. We scratched our heads, thought about it and came up with the idea of a camp that gave children outdoors and nature-based activities. Attendance this summer is double that of last year, but the true sign of success has been the smiling, laughing faces of children nding tree frogs on the banks of East Weaver Creek and seeing them run to the Childrens Garden to be the rst ones to get dirt under their ngernails. See the photo-essay in the center of the newsletter for a sample of the fun activities the children took part in.
Trinity County Resource Conservation District P.O. Box 1450 Weaverville, CA 96093
Established 1956
District Board Meetings Third Wednesday 5:30 PM Open to the Public TCRCD Ofce Number One Horseshoe Lane PO Box 1450 Weaverville, CA 96093 Telephone (530) 623-6004 FAX 623-6006 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.tcrcd.net
The Trinity County Resource Conservation District (TCRCD) is a special district set up under state law to carry out conservation work and education. It is a not-for-prot, self-governing district whose board of directors volunteer their time.
TCRCD envisions a balance between utilization and conservation of our natural resources. Through economic diversity and ecosystem management our communities will achieve and sustain a quality environment and healthy economy. To assist people in protecting, managing, conserving and restoring the natural resources of Trinity County through information, education, technical assistance and project implementation programs.
TCRCD Board of Directors are Mike Rourke, Rose Owens, Patrick Truman, Colleen O'Sullivan, and Greg Lowden. The RCD is landowners assisting landowners with conservation work. The RCD can guide the private landowner in dealings with state and federal agencies. The RCD provides information on the following topics: Forest Land Productivity Erosion/Sediment Control Watershed Improvement Wildlife Habitat Water Supply and Storage Soil and Plant Types Educational Programs Fuels Reduction This issue of the Conservation Almanac is funded in part by grants from the Trinity River Restoration Program, U.S. EPA, Weaverville Community Forest (BLM)