- June 13. 2012 VouR COMMUNITV Page 5
From page 1
she said.
Participants represented the
U.S. Forest Service, the Governor's
Office, various state agencies deal-
ing with the environment, forestry
and recreation. Linn County, Sweet
Home, Oregon State University, the
University of Oregon. the Cascades
West Council of Governments. and
Portland State University-based
Oregon Solutions, a program that
helps communities build collabo-
ration to solve problems.
Steve Bryant, former Albany
planning director and city manag-
er. now a project manager for Or-
egon Solutions. said the program,
which is also connected with the
governor's office, seeks to connect
communities with state agencies in
ways that will help all the players
achieve the same goals.
"We wanted to bring in the
governor's staff and say, 'What is
going on in Sweet Home? What do
you think?'" he said.
Sweet Home City Manager
Craig Martin outlined the city's
2020 Vision, a strategic plan that
has been revised over time.
The plan projects a destina-
tion community with a diversified.
healthy, resilient economy that can
absorb fluctuations from external
forces, with strong entrepreneurial
~pirit that plays out in numerous
small businesses employing 20-30
people as the foundation of local
economy.
"These new and expanded
businesses are compatible with
the beauty and purity of our riv-
ers. lakes, forests and air," he said.
"Visitors and prospective busi-
nesses are drawn to Sweet Home's
Cascades setting, enjoying the full
range of high-quality restaurants
and motels. Events such as the
Oregon Jamboree have grown and
yield a substantial financial return
to our community. A well-designed
amphitheater and convention cen-
ter provide siting for the Jamboree,
conferences, fairs, rodeo, trade
shows and retreats."
The city has been a primary
player in early talks about estab-
lishing an All-Lands approach to
the Cool Soda. Cascadia Cave and
forest products economy establish-
ment projects.
Martin said the response to the
city's strategic plan was enthusias-
tic.
"Everybody was going, "right
on, this thing is right on." he said.
pointing out that the vision, though
created in 1993, has been "updated
and validated" over the years.
He said the projects being con-
templated by the group would pro-
duce "multiple benefits" for Sweet
Home tourism playing an increas-
ing role in the local economy, the
harvesting and processing of forest
products, and more - such as a way
to engage the local youth in their
environment, particularly with the
four-dav school week beginning in
the fall.
"The concept like this seen
elsewhere provides an opportunity
for education and stewardship and
getting the youth involved in ac-
tivities centering around the forest
- whether it be learning job skills
or running a small micro-enterprise
or business." he said.
Glick said the "All Lands"
approach has been backed, heav-
ily by the Secretary of Agriculture
and "we're taking that statement to
meeti
continue
Meetings are scheduled
through October to enable the
public to learn and comment
about the joint effort between
the Sweet Home Ranger Dis-
trict, Cascade Timber COn-
suiting and the Santiam Wa-
tershed Council to develop a
plan for some 10.000 acres of
public and privately owned
forest in the Cool Soda area.
The cooperative effort
seeks to lower stream temper-
ature and improve big game
habitat, while creating more
family wage jobs in the com-
munity. The effort is seen as
a possible precursor to other
such projects in the area, if it
is successful.
The next meetings will be .
on Thursday, June 14, from 1
to 3 p.m. at the Sweet home
Ranger District and from 7 to
9 p.m. at Sweet Home Police
Department. The meetings
will include an overview of
the planning area and provide
participants with a chance to
discuss the key benefits they
associate with it.
Topics will be the exist-
ing conditions in the area,
what the key benefits are and
identifying problems associ-
ated with those benefits, and
what's important for the area.
More meetings are sched-
uled, on Aug. 7 and Aug. 21,
at the same times and loca-
tions; for further discuss, fop
lowed by a final event at San-
key Park on Oct. 20.
Two meetings are being
held each day to make it easi-
er for interested individuals to
attend.
For more information,
contact the Sweet
Home District Office
at (541) 367-5168 or e-mail
Anita Leach at agleach@
fs,fed.us.
the ground level right here in the
ranger district."
She said the approach is a pro-
cess "that recognizes the public
benefits as well as forest threats
across boundaries and are best ad-
dressed through integrated partner-
ships and infrastructure (markets.
resource professionals and infor-
mation)."
The two projects most promi-
nently on the drawing board fight
now are Cool Soda and Cascadia
Ca~e
The cave drew the most atten-
tion at Thursday's meeting. Ac-
cording to Glick. the county has
become the lead agency in an ef-
fort to procure a U.S. Forest Ser-
vice grant to transfer the cave. and
a surrounding'55 acres of land di-
rectly east of Cascadia State Park.
along the South Santiam River. to
public ownership.
County Commissioner Will
Tucker said he's particularly con-
vinced that it's time to ensure that
the cave. an ancient site where the
Photos by Scott Swanson
Steve Bryant, top left, a project manager for Oregon Solutions, speaks to participants at a meeting last week to
discuss using an "All Lands" approach tO advance cultural, environmental and economic efforts in the Sweet
Home-area.
Calapuya Indians once congregat-
ed. be protected, ideally through a
land swap between the Hill Family
interests managed by Cascade Tim-
ber Consulting, and. preferably,
Linn County Parks Department.
He said the three native Amer-
ican nations that trace their roots
back to the Calapuya tribes, which
once inhabited the local area are
now situated on three different res-
ervations, and have not been able
to agree on how to handle the cave.
Plus, Hill Family members, who
make up to $12 million annually
each off the forest resources in the
area. need to be given enough of an
economic incentive that they will
want to buy into the ide~, be said.
"They've talked about devel-
oping a hotel there." he said.
"Oregon Solutions can help,"
he said. noting that permitting and
other issues remain to be resolved
before such a swap could occur.
"I've been after that cave for
dozens of years." he said. "I can
tell you I will find a way to bring
that cave into public ownership."
He noted other "'assets" that
Linn County needs to develop
- the Santiam Wagon Road - "one
of the best off-road bicycle experi-
ences you could want" and a great
opportunity for equestrians as well.
he said. Others are the Cool Soda
area and the some 450 acres fore-
closed by the county from West-
ern States Land Reliance Trust in
Sweet Home that borders the South
Santiam River.
Glick said progress is being
made but nothing is sure.
"This is all a possibility. There
is nothing in writing," she said.
"Who knows if everything will
work? But something everyone
seems to agree on is the need to get
an important cultural heritage site
into public ownership."
Martin said that he's seeing
"increased energy" that makes him
optimistic that projects like the
Cascadia Cave. the redevelopment
of the WSLRT property could be-
come realities and, eventually, they
could be linked with River Bend
County Park and the Foster Lake
Trail.
"We have this natural opportu-
nity to link a bt of thes~ current fa-
cilities together and create a com-
munity forest corridor." he said.
"It takes time. Individuals and
organizations and the community
in general have to be ready to em-
brace some of these ideas. You've
got to look at these'things from the
Sweet Home District Ranger Cindy Glick, third from left, speaks to a
group of representatives from a wide range of government and nonprofit
agencies during a tour of the Moose Creek drainage area..
long-haul perspective. We may not
be able to do it today, or tomorrow,
but we may be able to do it next
year."
Bryant and Pete Dalke, also a
project manager for Oregon Solu-
tions, said that collaboration is in-
creasingly recognized as a key to
making things happen around the
state, particularly in the forests.
"What we're realizing as Or-
egonians is maybe we need to work
more closely with our federal part-
ners." Dalke said. He cited several
examples, most from eastern Or-
egon where, he said. environmen-
talists .and local citizens have been
particularly willing to work togeth-
er to figure out how to solve prob-
lems and build programs involving
their forests.
"The landscapes you have
here are fraught with conflicts,
so you don't have the scale here
that you have in Eastern Oregon,
where there are tens of thousands
of acres.
He cited the example of a proj-
ect in the Applegate Valley in the
Southern Oregon Siskiyou Moun-
tains, where a community-based
plan is being developed, in con-
junction with private landowners
and the BLM.
He said Oregon Solutions is
helping the players get organized
and determine who will be collabo-
rating in the effort.
Several participants at the
meeting suggested that the group's
aims need to be organized in a
manageable portions.
"A lot of things have been
talked about here." said Gover-
nor's Regional Solutions Coordi-
nator Bobby Lee. "What I think
I'm hearing is that you are trying to
establish a sustainable community
from an economic and ecological
standpoint. You can go only so
far. You need to break those down.
There are a lot of turf issues."
Bryant said later that if the
governor assigns Oregon Solutions
to work with the local players, it
will help them organize and de-
termine who is going to play what
role.
"What impresses me about
Sweet Home and the players I've
met are that a lot of people have
been involved with this for some
time," he said. "There's a real can-
do spirit. These people are pointed
in the same direction. We've rec-
ognized a lot of needs in Sweet
Home, given what the community
has gone through with the econom-
ic cycles. The stars now seem to be
aligned."
He said he's optimistic that the
effort can move forward.
"All we're saying here is that
there are real opportunities for
collaboration to improve the lo-
cal economy, hunting and fishing,
and focus on environmental issues
that will be important to the wa-
tershedl We can make the forest
more economical for the commu-
nity. We can find common areas of
agreement that have benefit for the
economy."
He said the next step is for the
governor to decide that the project
is qualified for Oregon Solutions'
assistance and issue a directive to
that end, then assign individuals to
lead the effort - likely people who
are not currently major players.
If all goes well, those steps
would be completed this summer.
"I'm fairly optimistic," Bryant
said.
