Over the past two years, the Umpqua National Forest, Bureau of Land Management Roseburg District, and the National Forest Foundation have been developing a holistic watershed restoration strategy for federal lands in the North Umpqua Watershed. Our goal has been to develop a strategy that will guide us to restore the landscape and create climate change resiliency.
Fish Creek in the Rogue-Umpqua Divide Wilderness
In this strategic planning process, we have met with Tribal, community, and agency partners to learn what they think is important in the watershed. After many conversations and rounds of edits, we have completed this planning effort and finalized the North Umpqua Watershed Holistic Restoration Strategy! We feel that the final product reflects our collective vision for the watershed.
The North Umpqua Watershed Holistic Restoration Strategy offers a comprehensive, targeted approach for restoration of the North Umpqua Watershed, from mitigating hydropower impacts to fire recovery to other watershed restoration needs. The strategy outlines our vision for the watershed and future desired conditions and then concentrates on six geographic focus areas and strategic restoration actions for each.
Interdisciplinary desired future conditions for the North Umpqua Watershed
North Umpqua Watershed geographic focus areas
However, a plan is only as good as the action that comes from it. We are now focused on ensuring that we implement projects on the ground that will help us achieve our restoration and climate change adaptation objectives.
The NFF is holding several contracts over the next two years to help the Umpqua National Forest implement a variety of projects, including:
- Road decommissioning,
- Wildlife forage regeneration,
- Post-fire riparian reforestation,
- Culvert replacement to allow sensitive fish to access additional cool water habitat, and
- Recreation projects.
But there is much more work to do. As discussed in a previous blog post (Cultivating Meaningful Partnerships on the Umpqua), working with partners is key to increasing our impact. The NFF and the land management agencies cannot do the work alone. We look forward to collaborating with our community and partners to implement projects identified in this strategy and work toward restoring the North Umpqua Watershed!
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