Please submit a proposal according to the specifications outlined in the RFP via email to coordinator@clearwaterbasincollaborative.org by June 1st, 2012.

View RFP Cover Letter | View RFP

Please submit a proposal according to the specifications outlined in the RFP via email to
coordinator@clearwaterbasincollaborative.org by June 15th, 2012.

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U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell offered an alternative to selling off public land or transferring management to states as three Republican presidential candidates proposed in Boise last week.

Tidwell, a Capital High School graduate who calls Idaho home, came to Boise on Monday at the invitation of Republican Sen. Mike Crapo to talk about how the process of collaboration is changing the management of national forests.

They spoke to the Idaho Environmental Forum at the Hoff Building and met with the press at the Capitol.

The Forest Service, which manages 20 million acres in Idaho, has just proposed new planning rules that Tidwell said will save time, save money and make it easier for people to work together.

GOP candidates Rick Santorum and Ron Paul proposed selling or transferring federal land like national forests to private interests or to the state. Mitt Romney proposed transferring management of national forests to states to increase the revenues they generate.

But on Monday in Boise, Tidwell and Crapo pointed to the success of groups like the Clearwater Basin Collaborative, in which timber executives, local officials, environmentalists, sportsmen and motorized recreation advocates have been sitting down together to develop plans for restoring the national forests.

The collaborative’s approach includes a package of logging, thinning, stream restoration and road removal that proponents say not only improves conditions but creates jobs.

“There’s no magic formula, but this concept of collaboration is the solution,” Tidwell said.

Crapo said he doubted most Idahoans would support selling off the land where they hunt, fish and camp. But he does like the idea of states managing some federal land.

“I have always been a supporter of states having a larger role in public land management,” Crapo said.

The U.S. Forest Service’s Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program recently approved another $3.5 million for the Clearwater projects and $2.4 million for collaborative projects on Payette National Forest. North Idaho projects in the Kootenai Valley got $324,000.

These projects developed by local people working with local Forest Service managers provide better environmental and economic outcomes, Crapo said.

The grants and the support from Tidwell and others at the top of the Forest Service have dramatically improved the ability of local people to find common ground, Crapo said.

“The Forest Service has become a strong and reliable partner in this process,” Crapo said.

Contrast that with the harsh assessment Santorum offered in Boise last week about federal agencies.

“The federal government doesn’t care about it, they don’t care about this land,” Santorum told 3,000 people at a rally at Tidwell’s old high school. “They don’t live here, they don’t care about it, we don’t care about it in Washington. It’s just fly-over country for most of the bureaucrats in Washington, D.C.”

The Forest Service is writing its planning rules in a manner that seeks to bring people together early so there is less conflict at the end of the process. Crapo said the more successful projects like the collaboratives are, the more trust there will be on all sides for giving managers more flexibility. Not everyone is on board in Idaho. Gary Macfarlane of the Friends of the Clearwater environmental group in North Idaho fears that local collaborative groups will make the decisions and leave out the rest of the public.

“I oppose agency efforts to limit democratic public involvement,” Macfarlane said.

Macfarlane was in Boise to drum up opposition to a Forest Service plan to trade national forest land for 39,000 acres of private forest checkerboarded into the Clearwater National Forest. But he’s one among many people from all political persuasions opposed to that exchange.

When Crapo talks about Idahoans not wanting to lose their federal lands, he’s talking about people like Kathy Judson of De Smet.

She said her North Idaho family depends on the game they shoot during hunting season for food and opposes efforts to even trade it away.

“Nobody wants to lose this land,” Judson said.

Rocky Barker: 377-6484

Read more here: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2012/02/21/2002982/collaboration-builds-workable.html#storylink=cpy

In Aesop’s fable of the North Wind and the Sun, the wind and sun try to settle a dispute regarding who was more powerful through two different techniques to remove a passing traveler’s cloak.  The North Wind chose the unsuccessful approach of blowing as hard as it could at the traveler.  This caused the traveler to wrap the cloak more tightly around him.  The sun, on the other hand, shined warmly on the traveler, and the traveler quickly shed his cloak.

Aesop’s lesson is one that applies today, particularly when we look at policies directed at our environment and public lands.  Rather than forcing one’s will on others, which often causes conflicting sides to entrench, collaboration achieving locally-driven solutions is a far more effective means of persuasion and problem-solving.  Collaboration does not mean compromising principles.  It does, however, require earnest negotiation with respect for ideas from all perspectives and openness in moving forward.

One of the greatest benefits of collaboration is that it enables the achievement of win-win solutions that are better than the status quo for all stakeholders.  Such solutions are better for the environment and the economy.  These improved solutions are achieved because collaboration provides a forum to utilize local creativity and abilities to identify and institute lasting and successful objectives that do not forfeit individual values, but build on them.  Through collaboration, participants can actually better achieve their objectives and in ways that benefit the entire community.

Collaboration is neither easy nor quick.  Successful resolutions often require crafting local solutions to problems by including the full diversity of sentiments on the issues in any community or region.  Through bringing all interests to the table and facing the contentious issues head on, productive relationships develop, common ground can be found and solutions are discovered.  I am committed to collaborative problem-solving, because even though it is difficult, it works.

The Owyhee Initiative, started by the Owyhee County Commissioners approximately ten years ago, utilized a collaborative model to address a variety of challenges in Owyhee County.  Those challenges included access issues, land and species conservation, grazing and other matters.  What resulted was a landmark legislative compromise, and work continues with the Owyhee Initiative Board of Directors to implement all facets of the agreement.  This year, the Boise City Club honored the Owyhee Initiative and the considerable work that went into it with the 2011 Dottie and Ed Stimpson Award for exemplifying the spirit of civil discourse by bringing together people with diverse viewpoints to discuss complex issues in a civil manner, with the intent of finding mutually agreeable solutions.  Work also continues to advance the efforts of the Clearwater Basin Collaborative (CBC), an advisory group I helped establish more than three years ago to find solutions to contentious land management and wildlife issues in Idaho’s Clearwater Basin.  The CBC has spawned new discussions of job creation through timber harvesting and landscape improvements, which could benefit habitat for elk, fish and other wildlife.

I am honored to be part of these collaborative processes, through which I have gained a broader understanding of successful collaboration.  These lessons and examples are instrumental as we consider the natural resources challenges met and those yet to address.  Collaboration can also be helpful in solving a variety of other challenges involving endangered species preservation, water conflicts, land usage and much more.  Working together we can create long-lasting, workable solutions to environmental and public lands management challenges.

To directly link to this guest column, please use the following address:  http://crapo.senate.gov/media/newsreleases/release_full.cfm?id=334963

It was a trust forced on the West more than 100 years ago, one that has defined us ever since: our public lands. They are a playground for many, the source of our water and wildlife. But there is a price to be paid when more than 60% of your state is federally owned.

Watch “The People’s Land” Now!

Projects in nine states restore forested landscapes across boundaries

WASHINGTON, June 9, 2011 – Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced nearly $22 million in funding for Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration projects that promote healthier, safer and more productive public lands through partnership efforts which will reduce wildfire risk, enhance fish and wildlife habitats, and maintain and improve water quality across all lands.

“The best way to improve the health of our nation’s forests is to work across boundaries with an all-lands approach,” said Vilsack. “We’re pleased to support projects that are actively encouraging the restoration of our priority forest landscapes while creating green jobs and economic opportunity in rural communities.”

Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration projects accomplish a variety of U.S. Forest Service priorities including watershed restoration while supporting sustainable and fire-adapted communities through partnerships at the state, local and private level. The President’s 2012 budget includes funding for these projects as part of the broader Integrated Resource Restoration approach to restoring the nation’s forests and grasslands.

“Working together is how we do business,” said Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell. “We will continue to encourage greater public involvement to maintain and restore healthy landscapes. We not only are taking care of the ecosystem, but also supporting healthy, thriving communities through collaborative forest restoration.”

The 10-year restoration projects were selected and began to receive funding in 2010. Projects are located in nine states:

Four Forest Restoration Initiative: Arizona – $3.5 million
This initiative, located on the Apache-Sitgraeves, Kaibab, Coconino and Tonto National Forests, focuses on the restoration of the southwestern ponderosa pine ecosystem and will treat up to 50,000 acres per year. The project will engage new industry to insure that nearly all of the cost of removal of the thinning byproducts is covered by the value of the products.

The Dinkey Landscape Restoration Project: California – $415,500
The Dinkey Project includes 130,000 acres on the Sierra National Forest and 20,000 acres of private land. Targeted ecosystems include coniferous forest, foothill hardwood and chaparral vegetation, meadows and riparian forests. The project aims to create resilient ecosystems and enhance the ability to adapt to wildfire

Colorado Front Range Restoration Initiative: Colorado –$3.5 million
The Colorado Front Range Landscape Restoration Initiative, located in the Arapaho, Roosevelt, Pike and San Isabel National Forests, seeks to increase resilience to insects and lower wildfire risk in a ponderosa pine forest ecosystem. These more resilient forests will also have increased capacity to adapt to the impacts of a changing climate.

Uncompahgre Plateau Restoration Initiative: Colorado – $930,500
The Uncompahgre Plateau includes restoration of several plant types on 160,000 treatment acres and includes key watersheds that feed the Colorado River. Multiple techniques to control the spread of invasive noxious weeds will be used, including chemical and biological control measures critical to restoration and preventive measures to control invasive species.

The Accelerating Longleaf Pine Restoration Project: Florida –$1.3 million
This project in Northeast Florida is comprised of over 230,000 acres in the Osceola National Forest. The project seeks to restore forest ecosystems that have been significantly altered by fire exclusion and hydrologic alteration.

The Selway-Middle Fork Clearwater Project: Idaho – $3.5 million
The Selway-Middle Fork Clearwater Project is a joint effort between the Clearwater Basin Collaborative and the Nez Perce and Clearwater National Forests. The restoration project protects communities from wildfire and restores land and water ecosystems.

Southwestern Crown of the Continent Restoration Initiative: Montana – $3.5 million
The Southwestern Crown covers 1,449,670 acres, 70 percent of which is public land including the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness. Restoration will focus on stream and forest habitats using prescribed fire and natural ignitions as tools to restore species composition and structure.

Southwest Jemez Mountains Restoration Initiative: New Mexico – $2.4 million
The Southwest Jemez Mountains area is 210,000 acres, 93 percent of which is divided between the Santa Fe National Forest and the Valles Caldera Trust-Valles National Preserve. The project will improve the resilience of ecosystems to recover from wildfires and other natural disturbance and sustain healthy forests and watersheds.

The Deschutes Skyline Restoration Project: Oregon – $720,500
This project is located on 97,000 acres in the Deschutes National Forest. The majority of the landscape is ponderosa pine and dry mixed conifer forest types. The goal of the project is to restore forest ecosystems and help to achieve a variety of community goals such as job creation.

The Tapash Sustainable Forest Collaborative: Washington – $2.2 million
The Tapash Sustainable Forest Collaborative aims to enhance the resilience and sustainability of forests by treating over 168,000 acres over ten years. The Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest restoration strategy uses treatment methods including pre-commercial and commercial thinning including biomass removal, prescribed fire of natural and activity fuels, and trail management activities.

The U.S. Forest Service mission is to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the Nation’s forests and grasslands to meet the needs of present and future generations. The agency manages 193 million acres of public land and is the world’s largest forestry research organization.

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