Ecosystem Workforce Program, Institute for a Sustainable Environment, University of Oregon
Abstract
94 p.The Dry Forest Zone is a region of eastern Oregon
and northern California with challenging
market conditions and high levels of poverty
and unemployment. However, local entrepreneurship,
collaboration, and commitment to integrated
economic development and natural resource management
in the zone are strong. In the past decade,
the scope of community-based nonprofits, integrated
biomass utilization businesses, and new networks
has increased, fostering sustainable forest stewardship
at an increasingly regional scale. The geography and climate of the zone support dry
forests of pine and mixed conifer with fire regimes
that are departed from their historical range of variability.
These forests are prone to wildfire hazards
and in need of active management to restore more
diverse and variable-aged structures. As 68 percent
of the land in the zone is public, the communities
of this region rely on the economic and ecological
productivity of these federal forests. The number of
sawmills that once provided high levels of primary
processing capacity and employment has shrunk to nine mills in the zone. More forest-related employment
is now forestry support work, including activities
such as firefighting, pest control, and thinning.
Poverty and unemployment have increased, with
estimated poverty levels in 2007 of over 15 percent
in ten of the fifteen counties. Through the Dry Forest
Zone project, we have an opportunity to build on
the local strengths of this region and overcome these
ecological and socioeconomic challenges.Financial support was provided the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities,
USDA Rural Development, and the Ford Foundation
