Fremont-Winema National Forest hosts open houses and seeks comments on East Hills Project

Release Date: Jan 11, 2017

Contact(s): Tamara Schmidt

LAKEVIEW, Ore. – The Fremont-Winema National Forest is currently seeking public comments on the East Hills Project and will be hosting two open houses next week to discuss the project.

The East Hills Project spans approximately 169,000 acres on the Bly and Chiloquin Ranger Districts of the Fremont-Winema National Forest, including around 30,500 acres of land owned by The Nature Conservancy.

The first open house is being held Tuesday, January 17, from 5-7 p.m. at the Chiloquin Ranger Station, located at 38500 Highway 97 North in Chiloquin.

The second open house will be Tuesday, January 24, from 5-7 p.m. at the Bly Ranger Station, located at 61100 Highway 140 East in Bly.

Forest resource specialists will be at both open houses to answer questions about the East Hills Project, as well as to gather public comments.

“This is a great opportunity for community members and interested public to learn more about the East Hills Project and to provide comments so the project can reflect the needs and values of the community,” said Bly and Lakeview District Ranger Dave Brillenz.

For those unable to attend one of the open houses, but who would like more information or to provide comments on the project, please contact Interdisciplinary Team Leader Chaylon Shuffield at 541-943-4452 or cshuffield@fs.fed.us, or Environmental Coordinator Jody Perozzi at 541-353-2723 or jperozzi@fs.fed.us.

The East Hills Project is generally located between Bly and Chiloquin, north of Beatty, and includes Hamelton Butte, Sycan Marsh, Spodue Mountain, Calimus Butte and Fuego Mountain.  It is under both the Fremont and Winema National Forest Land and Resource Management Plans, as amended, and includes lands within the Klamath Tribes’ former 1954 reservation.

The project area is primarily dry coniferous forest.  However, due to past management practices, the forests, meadows and riparian areas have changed in composition, leaving the ecosystems more susceptible to sever wildfire, insect and disease outbreaks, drought and the effects of climate change.

The East Hills Project is designed to be a long-term, landscape-scale restoration project which would be implemented over the next 10 years.  It was developed in collaboration with the Klamath Tribes and The Nature Conservancy.

For more information on the Fremont-Winema National Forest, visit www.fs.usda.gov/fremont-winema or follow the Forest on Twitter @FremontWinemaNF.