Jason Wilcox
Deschutes National Forest
Biography
Jason Wilcox is the Forest Fisheries Biologist for the Deschutes and Ochoco National Forests and the Crooked River National Grassland. Prior to moving to the Eastside, Jason served as a Forest and District-level fisheries biologist for the Umpqua and Siuslaw National Forests, where he applied his education from Humboldt State University toward extensive riparian and instream habitat management and restoration in wet temperate forests. After observing recent wildfire threats to fish populations in SW Oregon, he is interested in managing for fire resilience in riparian areas of dry forests.
Presentation Topic
Proactive Riparian Treatments and Clean Water Act Compliance
Presentation Description
The number of fuels reduction and thinning projects that include riparian area environments is increasing across the Western United States, bringing new challenges to riparian area management. Many of these project treatments are needed to maintain riparian biodiversity and restore valued functions of riparian area environments, while protecting them from catastrophic wildfire, disease and insects. Restoration is needed largely in response to legacy effects such as fire suppression, land use and other human disturbance.
Riparian areas are protected by administrative regulations, such as the Clean Water Act, but others which are largely custodial and restrict active management. In this presentation we discuss how the Deschutes and Ochoco National Forests have been working with the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality to get conditional approval letters for riparian area treatments that may reduce shade. Generally, the anti-degradation clause of the Clean Water Act does not allow for short term effects greater than 6 months. However, these conditional approval letters have recognized there may be short term effects (longer than 6 months) for long term net ecological benefits.
Workshop Schedule
Registration Opens
10:00 AMLight Lunch
11:00 AMKey Note Speaker
12:00 PMPanel: The Economics of Forest Restoration
Topics: Making Forest Restoration Economical, Contractor Logging Costs & Opportunities for Cost-savings, The Economics of Dry Forest Stewardship Projects, and Using the Land Fin Tool
Panel: From Inception to Implementation, Planning for Success
Topics: Planning at the Landscape Scale, Making Use of Good Neighbor Authority, Authorities to Maximize Restoration, and Packaging Federal Resources for All-lands Restoration
Panel: Cutting Edge Technologies for Sale Layout and Implementation (Part 1)
Topics: Virtual Boundaries and Discernable Boundaries, Integration of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in daily forest operations: from cruising to regeneration survey, Using Avenza PDF Maps in Concert with Cut-To-Length Harvesting Systems, and Planning Ground-based Harvest Operations to Limit Soil Impacts
Reception and Featured Speaker
5:30 PMBreakfast
7:00 AMFeatured Speaker
Panel: Forest Treatments for Riparian Health
Topics: Hydrology Concerns for Treatments in Riparian Areas, Riparian Thinning Using Cut-to-Length, and Riparian Thinning: An Example from the Deschutes National Forest
Panel: Managing Good Fire at the Right Place and Right Time (Part 1)
Topics: Managed Fire: A tool or a Hazard? An in-depth discussion with the Lakeview Forest Stewardship Group.
Panel: Managing Good Fire at the Right Place and Right Time (Part 2)
Topics: Prescribed Fire at Scale and Contracting Prescribed Fire
Panel: Bridges and Water Crossings: Challenges and Opportunities
Topics: Roads, Crossings and Culverts, Low-cost approaches to Low-Volume Roads and Water Crossings, Prioritizing Roads, Crossings & Culverts with NetMap.
Lunch: A View from All Sides: Perspectives on Implementation Efficiencies, Challenges, & Opportunities
Summary Statements from Forest Service Staff, Collaborative Member and Industry Representative discussed over Lunch
11:45 AMAdjourn
Have a safe trip home!
1:00 PMBreakfast
7:00 AMFeatured Speaker: Do Collaboratives Matter in Litigation?
with Susan Jane Brown
Panel: New Opportunities for Conventional Harvesting Systems and Biomass Utilization
Topics: Cut-to-Length vs Whole Tree Logging Systems, Biomass Utilization: Harvesting and Markets, and Managing Slash: Needs, Challenges, Opportunities
Panel: Steep Terrain Harvesting Systems
Topics: Skyline Logging: New Approaches to Traditional Systems, Steep Slope Logging, and Tethered Assist
Lunch
with optional practical application activity
12:30 PMFacilitated Conversations on the morning’s topics
Continue the discussion: The key elements of making forest restoration work economically viable
Panel: A Grounded Approach: Soil Considerations for Harvesting
Topics: Soil Matters: Improving Forest Landscape Planning and Management for Diverse Objectives with Soils Information and Expertise, Soil Resources Management for Logging in Steep Slopes, Interaction of Steep Slope Equipment with Soil Resources
Panel: Cutting Edge Technologies for Sale Layout and Implementation (Part 2)
Topics: Tablet applications for Implementing Silvicultural Prescriptions, Forest Restoration in the Tablet & Smart Phone era: Marking and Realtime Monitoring using the ICO APP, and Non-contact tree measurement for forest harvesting machines
Panel: Designation Methods: Lessons Learned
Topics: Alternative Contracting Methods and Implementation Strategies for Commercial Harvest, DxP and DxD
Facilitated Conversation on Afternoon Topics
or optional practical application activity
Dinner on your own
Enjoy one of the many area dining options at your leisure.
6:00 PM
