Kilmer coming to town for Olympic Peninsula Forest Collaborative meeting
Congressman Derek Kilmer will be in Aberdeen on Monday at the Rotary Log Pavilion for a public meeting with local leaders from the Olympia Peninsula Forest Collaborative.
Members of the collaborative will give presentations on the group’s governance, structure, stated goals and progress to date. The public is invited and will have a chance to ask questions and provide feedback to the collaborative.
Last year the collaborative announced a proposed pilot project on the Olympic National Forest, which will feature forest restoration silvicultural treatments that benefit the ecosystem and provide for additional harvest in the region. The project will require approval by the Forest Service and other federal agencies.
The project will be in compliance with both the Olympic National Forest Plan and the Northwest Forest Plan, and the volume produced from the proposed project will be in addition to the United States Forest Service budgeted timber sale outputs for the year.
Last May Kilmer joined regional leaders from the National Forest Service, local governments, the local timber industry and environmental advocacy groups in Port Angeles to launch the Olympic Peninsula Forest Collaborative. The group is focused on increasing habitat restoration thinning and aquatic restoration projects under the Northwest Forest Plan on Olympic National Forest that will create economic opportunities on the Olympic Peninsula.
The Collaborative is modeled on similar partnerships in Washington state like the Northeast Washington Forestry Coalition. It is the first of its kind on the Peninsula solely dedicated to creating environmentally sound forests while increasing sustainable timber harvests within the bounds of the Northwest Forest Plan.
The meeting will take at 11 a.m. at the Rotary Log Pavilion, located at 1401 Sargent Blvd. in Aberdeen.
Source: The Daily World