The Intermountain West Joint Venture (IWJV) is happy to announce that it has entered into a five-year agreement with the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) in partnership with the Wildlife Management Institute (WMI) to provide capacity for active forest management. This partnership will support collaboration among four Native American Tribes and five National Forests to ensure healthy forests, robust habitat for forest birds, and resilient rural communities. Initial funding will build Tribal partners’ capacity to participate in active management on National Forests, with the goal of reducing wildfire risk while generating timber revenue that can be re-invested into forest habitat conservation practices.
Under this agreement, the IWJV and WMI will collaborate to issue subawards to four tribes: Yakama Nation, Kalispel Tribe, Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, and the Cow Creek Band of the Umpqua Indians. The subawards will establish field-based positions to build capacity and assist in the implementation of shovel-ready, on-the-ground projects. These Tribes will recruit, hire, and manage the personnel in these positions. Projects have already been identified to support timber sales on the Colville, Gifford Pinchot, and Umpqua National Forests. The resulting timber sales will produce millions of board feet of timber and thousands of acres of fuel treatments.
“This partnership strengthens our ability to move critical forest management work from planning into action,” said Jacque Buchanan, Regional Forester for the Pacific Northwest Region. “The knowledge, expertise, and deep connection that Tribal Nations bring to these landscapes are essential to how we care for these forests. Their contributions enhance every aspect of this work, and IWJV has been a key partner in building the capacity needed to advance it.”
Dry, frequent-fire forests historically featured widely spaced large trees and low and patchy surface fuels, which made them resistant and resilient to high-intensity wildfire. Today, dense forests contain a higher density of smaller trees, which are prone to more severe, stand-replacing fire. In an era of rapid ecosystem change, forests of the Intermountain West face increasing extremes, challenging their resilience and managers’ ability to respond. The IWJV’s partnership with the USFS and the Tribes, aims to support forest managers with multiple services, including capacity, science, and communications, to address these challenges.
“It is an honor to collaborate with the IWJV and the USFS on forest stewardship, and we appreciate their trust in our ability and knowledge, while also recognizing the connection our Tribe has with the Umpqua National Forest. For many decades, the forest has been undergoing a change that the Cow Creek Umpqua Tribe has experienced first-hand, and is ready to respond to. The IWJV’s partnership will help us put more staff on the ground, and get projects done that make the land healthier while working to prevent the next catastrophic wildfire. Our people have been in these woods since time immemorial and nothing means more to us than the health of our forests.”
– Carla Keene, Chairman of the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians
“The integration of the Yakama Nation culture and values with adaptive forest management into projects at the planning level ensures continued use of forests and forest resources within Yakama ancestral lands for present and future generations.
Added capacity for Yakama means more capacity to manage lands within ceded territory and on reservation for increased stewardship opportunities across boundaries.”
– Phil Ridgon, Superintendent of Yakama Nation’s Natural Resources Department.
Under this agreement, the IWJV and partners will collaborate to expand boots-on-the-ground capacity by providing resources to create and sustain Tribal positions that support the planning, implementation, and communication of strategic active forest management practices. This includes thinning, fuels reduction, and reforestation actions.
“By supporting Tribal partners with field-based capacity, we’re helping turn shovel-ready projects into action while building a foundation for long-term collaboration,” said Adrian Leighton, IWJV’s Western Forests Conservation Coordinator. “The result will be healthier, more resilient forests supported with partnerships designed to sustain active management well into the future.”
The IWJV’s vision for western forests is to integrate wildfire risk reduction and bird habitat conservation, restore appropriate fire to the landscape, strengthen forest resilience, and prevent the expansion of invasive weeds. In these important areas of habitat work, the IWJV will apply our durable and strategic approach to collaborative conservation. Specifically, the IWJV’s work in western forests integrates current knowledge, science, and data on bird and wildlife effects of forest management into the work of forest managers and partners; provides funding and support to hire the best people to implement forest management practices that have long-term habitat benefits to birds and other wildlife; and tells the stories about the outcomes and needs of this work to relevant audiences.
