The Forest Restoration Partnership is looking for landowners interested in collaborating to enhance oak habitats on their property. Forest Restoration Partnership is a 501 non-profit organization that works with landowners to protect and enhance rare forest habitats in the Pacific Northwest. Our organization provides a full range of options for landowners including securing funding, and developing and implementing ecological restoration strategies.

We have funding to assist landowners with oak habitat restoration. If interested please contact before August 20.

Darin Stringer
Forest Restoration Partnership
1420 E. 22nd Avenue
Eugene, Oregon 97403

541.517-3875 office
775.368.2877 fax

darin@forestpartners.org
www.forestpartners.org

The Oregon Parks & Recreation Department (OPRD) has scheduled the next public meeting to discuss a revised draft master plan for the Luckiamute River Confluence Park (Luckiamute Landing). The meeting will be Wednesday, June 21, 2006 from 6:00 to 8:00 pm in the Monmouth Volunteer Hall at 144 S. Warren (directly behind (south of) City Hall. The purpose of the meeting is to discuss the revised draft master plan and to discuss park operational issues and management practices appropriate to address neighborhood concerns. Written comments will be accepted through July 14 and OPRD will present the plan to the State Parks & Recreation Commission on August 17.

Copies of the draft plan are available at the Dallas, Independence and OSU libraries or on the OPRD website.

Questions or comments may be directed to Ron Campbell, Master Planning Coordinator; OPRD; 725 Summer St., St. C; Salem, OR 97301-1271; (503) 986-0743; ron.campbell@state.or.us.

LWC members are participating in the planning process by the Oregon Department of Parks and Recreation for state-owned lands near the mouth of the Luckiamute River. Known as Luckiamute Landing, the area has been acquired by the state and a draft master plan for its future management has been released. Kirk Lewis, an LWC member, has attended several public meetings as a member of the OPRD steering committee for the Luckiamute Landing project. Contact Ron Campbell for more details about the planning process.

The Luckiamute Watershed Council, in partnership with the Rickreal and Glenn-Gibson Watershed Councils, has published the first issue of The Heron, a quarterly newsletter. The Heron is available for download.

Dam removal and stream restoration will open miles of new habitat

The Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board has agreed to fund a portion of a project that includes removing an old mill pond in Independence. Removal of the pond’s dam will open access for juvenile steelhead and Chinook salmon to several miles of the South Fork Ash Creek for the first time in 50 years.
 
The $20,625 grant will fund part of a two-year project coordinated by the Luckiamute Watershed Council in cooperation with numerous local and state agencies and the City of Independence, who owns the property along the stream. When the dam at the former Mt. Fir mill began breaking apart in the winter of 2004-05, the Luckiamute Watershed Council saw an opportunity to open up miles of winter refuge habitat that was blocked by the dam. This project will remove the dam and place 50 boulder structures in the new stream to create small pools that can be used for shelter by salmon and steelhead. The newly exposed riparian habitat will be planted with native trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants.
 
The City of Independence, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Natural Resources Conservation Service – Plant Materials Center, and Cascade Pacific Resource Conservation and Development also helped develop the project. Other funding for this $56,000 project comes from the Oregon Wildlife Heritage Foundation, the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board Small Grant program, and the Ash Creek Water Control District. Other partners include Central High School, Western Oregon University, and the Polk Soil and Water Conservation District. Work on the project will begin this summer.