Forest Service Announces Region 6 Economic Recovery Projects
The first round USFS R6 Stimulus projects have been announced:
Pacific Northwest Region 6 News Release, 04 March 2009 [here]
PORTLAND, OR – Chief Abigail Kimbell has announced the first set of U.S. Forest Service projects to be funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The first two projects in the Pacific Northwest are the Oregon Youth Employment Initiative Phase 1 and the Olympic Peninsula Structure Restoration.
“I am honored that the Forest Service will play a vital role in providing jobs for Pacific Northwest communities and performing important natural resource conservation work in our Forests,” Regional Forester Mary Wagner said.
The Oregon Youth Employment Initiative Phase 1 is a partnership delivering a state-wide youth employment program focused on natural resource conservation and restoration on public and private lands. The first phase will begin within seven days and will spend $3,250,000 in existing school programs followed by a summer employment program.
The Olympic Peninsula Structure Restoration project includes painting, re-roofing and minor building repairs on four administrative sites and several recreational facilities on the Olympic National Forest. The work will provide jobs for the various communities around the Olympic Peninsula in Clallam, Jefferson, Mason and Grays Harbor counties.
More projects are expected to be announced in the coming days and weeks. Information on the overall U.S. Forest Service role in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act can be found at: http://fs.usda.gov/recovery/
By the way, we agitated successfully for the web posting of this announcement:
Enquiry submitted by Mike Dubrasich on March 7th, 2009 at 04:31PM (EST).
I’ve been hunting but cannot locate R6 News Releases.
Reply from Dennis Lapcewich, US Forest Service Webmaster, on March 9, 2009 at 10:51AM (PDT).
Mike,
The Pacific Northwest Region generally has not issued news releases for publication on the web. Since Forest Service activities within the Pacific Northwest traditionally occur at the local level within individual Forests, news information may be found at the local Forest level.
With the introduction of stimulus information coming from the White House, we are now starting up a new regional news releases area. I just received information this morning and the new site should be available shortly from here —> http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/ The actual news release about Region 6 stimulus plans under ARRA should be available now from here —> http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/pdx/news/20090304-arra-projects.shtml
by Mike De L.
Indeed, other Regions do issue news releases on their websites. And from now on, so will Region 6. The problem is fixed for now, and should it develop again, we will pursue likely solutions again.
The USFS is aware of who it is that owns the land, and their office buildings, and their computer system, and who it is that pays their salaries. I have no doubt about that.
by Tallac
Is a portion of ARRA also funding SNAP and other assorted alphabet soup agencies?
After a quick research of whatever info is available, this is not the kind of “stimulus” that will be beneficial in any forest region.
It sounds like the latest government logic and misrepresentation that’s almost understandable:
You need nutritionally fed servants, or kids, before they wander in the woods to paint a USFS shed that will probably burn to the ground in the next catastrophic fire.
Did I get that right? Call me skeptical on this solution. Please, someone tell me I misread, or I’m just a misinformed critic of this form of socialism.
(No offense to struggling families in our forests that need and want REAL work, or whatever is now available, thanks to foresight of our “leaders”)
This is how the radical enviros (and their patsy, the USFS) define “restoration”: tearing out roads.
From “Wildlands CPR” [here]
Congress Passes $50 Million for Watershed Restoration
At long last, the Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2009 was signed into law today. … We’re very happy to report that the final bill included $50 million in funding for the Legacy Roads and Trails Remediation Initiative, an increase of $10 million over FY08 funding levels. …
Nationally, the Forest Service estimates that they need to remove an estimated 186,000 miles of roads to bring the road system down… A 2003 Wildlands CPR study found that it would cost approximately $93 million per year for about 20 years to implement a national road removal plan.
No roads, no stewardship, and no firefighting equals catastrophic destruction of forests and watersheds by holocaust.
That’s what Obama and the Far Left call “stimulus.”
The comment from Dennis Lapcewich, US Forest Service Webmaster seems odd. Given that the forests belong to all of the people of the US. At least that is what is said when discussing projects that involve the role of local people.