NOTICE: The NRCS is accepting EQIP applications through 2/15/13 for the THOMPSON CREEK WATERSHED. This program is for forest health and fuels reduction projects. Cost-share is available for eligible practices including thinning, pruning & slash treatments.
Contact the Jackson NRCS @ 541-776-4270.
MISSION STATEMENT: The Applegate Partnership is a community-based non-profit, non-government 501 (c) (3) voluntary organization involving industry, conservation groups, natural resource agencies, and residents cooperating to encourage and facilitate the use of natural resource principles that promote ecosystem health and diversity. Through community involvement and education, this partnership supports management of all land within the watershed in a matter that sustains natural resources and that will, in turn, contribute to economic and community well-being and resilience.
The Applegate Partnership had its beginning in October 1992 when a group of concerned people gathered to seek solutions to the "lizards vs. logs" conflict on U.S. Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service lands. We had grown weary of the constant conflict and battles that had degraded community life over the previous decade. It was generally concluded that natural resource management and environmental quality were not mutually exclusive and that common ground solutions could be found if everyone rolled up their sleeves and worked together. We soon discovered that the ecological concerns were not limited to timber harvest on public lands, but included housing expansion, land use laws, agriculture, road maintenance, traffic, water quality, air quality, private land habitat loss, restoration needs, community well-being, neighbor relations and many other social issues.
The Applegate Partnership was approached in 1994 by the State of Oregon to act as the Watershed Council for the Applegate Valley in support of the Oregon Plan for Salmon and Watersheds. The Applegate River Watershed Council (ARWC) became the implementing group for restoration projects primarily on private lands in the Applegate. The Partnership and the ARWC have been successful in helping shift the management approaches taken by private landowners as well as public land managers in the Applegate Valley . Our federal partners moved to landscape level planning with broader ecological restoration activities and discontinued clear cutting as their primary harvest method. Strong leadership and collaboration with agency partners helped us to develop an extensive water quality monitoring program throughout the Applegate. Publication and distribution of the Applegator newspaper to all Applegate households and many agency partners has helped broaden the community's understanding of ecological restoration in our watershed.
