the cowboy, the outlaw, and the kid - sustainable...

T H E C O W B O Y, T H E O U T L A W, a n d T H E K I D

Three Stor ies of Cl imate Change Adaptat ion

in the Rural W e s t

In recent years the United States has

witnessed an atmosphere in constant fl ux on the topic

of climate change. Political alliances have formed and

disintegrated, legislation has passed and failed, and

productive discussions have devolved into heated contro-

versy and partisan gridlock. Today, little consensus on an

appropriate response to climate change has emerged on

Capitol Hill or in political venues across the country.

Meanwhile, regardless of their causes, the eff ects of climate

change in rural America are more real than ever: drought,

invasive species, abnormal wildfi re, and extreme weather

events (i.e. hurricanes and tornadoes) unlike any we have ever

seen. They are changes that threaten the very foundation of

natural resource-based communities that depend on the land

for their well-being. But these impacts are not exclusive to

rural America. Natural resources provide invaluable services

like clean air, water, food, and fi ber on which both rural and

urban areas depend. Failure to respond to this dilemma will

have grave repercussions for us all.

Sustainable Northwest is therefore proud to present, “The

Cowboy, The Outlaw, and The Kid”, a series of stories

profi ling individual and community actions in response to

climate change in rural America. It is, as its title implies,

somewhat of a modern western. The individuals depicted

are rooted in the epic landscapes and history of the

American West, but they are also a product of current times.

These are stories that deserve to be told, as their narratives

and characters approach this challenge in a holistic fashion

that integrates environmental, economic, and social

concerns. These snapshots portray rural leaders in a light that

unfortunately few have seen: as the creators of innovative and

feasible strategies to respond to the changes occurring in the

landscapes and communities around them.

They also demonstrate that we have greater ability to infl uence

climate change than has been implied. Rather than debating

scientifi c concepts and complex scenarios, these stories focus

on what is certain and simple: Real people, places, and com-

munities joining together and rising up to do something about

the transformations in the world around them. Their work

shows that climate change is tangible and responsive to our

reactions. Where others have depicted fear and frustration,

they have framed climate change as the art of the possible;

an opportunity where others have voiced only opposition.

Not to suggest that our nation won’t be confronted by

tremendous challenges in the years to come. Our collective

response will require unprecedented collaboration, ingenuity,

and patience. But we cannot begin this conversation until we

grasp it at a local level, understand its impacts, and defi ne a

role for ourselves. This conversation is a space for all of us to

engage. It must be held between communities, businesses,

government partners, interest groups, youth, and individuals

across the country willing to take leadership on the defi ning

issue of our time. Regardless of background, geography,

livelihood, or political preference, climate change is an issue

that intertwines us unlike any other.

One of the most promising venues where this dialogue

is taking place is within the Rural Voices for Conservation

Coalition (RVCC), which is convened by Sustainable Northwest.

RVCC is comprised of western rural and local, regional, and

national organizations that have joined together to promote

balanced conservation-based approaches to the ecological and

economic problems facing the West. The RVCC is committed

to representing the interests of the people and landscapes of

the American West in both the policy and practical arenas; to

passing on a deeper connection between our region’s bounties

and beauty; to building a legacy of opportunity and under-

standing for our children and their children; and to uniting

and enabling communities to craft enduring solutions that

can truly take root and expand. As long-time participants in

the RVCC, the individuals profi led in these stories prove that

the coalition and its partners are dedicated to taking up the

challenges posed by climate change.

These are stories that seek to inspire, inform, and perhaps

change perceptions of the character of rural America as

partners in this eff ort. We believe that rural people are the fi rst

responders to the impacts of climate change. They are those

most intimately connected to the land we all depend on, and

hold the collective knowledge to steward the resources that

sustain us. Rural Americans like those in these stories and the

Rural Voices for Conservation Coalition should be recognized

and supported for the invaluable work they have performed,

and will continue to carry out in years to come.

The time for action is now, and there is no better group to

lead the way.

T H E C O W B O Y : Jim Walls

A p r o f i l e o f T H E C O W B O Y : Jim Walls

National Forest. But in the 1980s and early 1990s, protests about environmental degradation and the endangered species listing of the Spotted Owl dramatically aff ected the whole forest economy, eff ectively shutting the forest down. Over the next decade, four of the sawmills were forced to close, over 800 jobs were lost, and the community found itself walking down the same road as countless others like it in the region. A couple of things could have happened at that point. The remaining industry could have dug in and fought to the end of a bitter war with environmental groups, most likely resulting in more economic devastation for the community and little action in the forest. Or residents could have succumbed to chronic unemployment and poverty and given up on their future.

But something diff erent happened here.

In 1998, county leadership invited Sustainable Northwest to assist them in bringing together 100 environmentalists, scientists, agency personnel, timber industry staff , and com-munity members to do what many thought was impossible: talk to each other and fi nd a solution.

Sustainable Northwest is a regional nonprofi t organization dedicated to fi nding local solutions to complex environmental and economic challenges. They worked hand in hand with local leaders to convene and facilitate dialogues over the next few years, ultimately resulting in the formation of the Lakeview Stewardship Group, a forest collaborative dedicated

This is one in a series of three stories profi ling actions of adaptation to climate change in the rural West.

by Dylan Kruse, Sustainable Northwest

They call this place the Oregon Outback. You understand the name when the July wind comes sweeping over the high desert mountains and through the dry pine forests before settling in the valleys below. There it builds massive alkaline dust storms that crawl forever east into the expanse of the Great Basin. It is a location so remote that the designation of rural no longer applies. In fact, the U.S. Census Bureau calls this place something entirely diff erent: Frontier.

And deep within the heart of this frontier, 100 miles from the nearest stop light, is a giant wooden cowboy, outfi tted with a bandana and 10-gallon hat. His right knee bends casually with a foot placed atop a sign greeting those that have made the long journey. Welcome to Lakeview.

A Storied Past

The town of Lakeview, Oregon was founded in 1876. During its heyday, this was the defi nition of a timber town, housing three of the fi ve sawmills in Lake County. These mills drew much of their supply from the adjacent Fremont-Winema

to restoring and maintaining the ecological well-being of the Fremont-Winema National Forest, while deriving sustainable economic benefi ts from its resources. The common ground that was found set the stage for forest restoration to occur and the remaining mill to keep its doors open.

Starting Over

Lake County is set in a fi re adapted landscape, where managing and preparing for the constant possibility of wildfi re impacts all decision-making. The community, therefore, sought to revitalize its forest industry through the creation of jobs driven by the need for restoration, especially in the face of emerging landscape-level threats such as climate change.

However, the diffi cult forest health and economic circumstances that faced Lake County would not be relieved with remnants of its traditional natural resource economy; something else had to fi ll the gap. As the convening organization of the Lakeview Stewardship Group, Lake County Resources Initiative set out to defi ne a diff erent vision for the region. LCRI recognized and valued that their county has been bestowed with natural resources well beyond the trees and grasslands that supported its traditional forest products and ranching industries. Sitting atop the Abert Fault Line, geothermal energy is prevalent across the landscape, and the regional climate provides for some of the most consistent sunlight in the nation. Furthermore, fuels reduction in the forest and residue byproducts from the local mill resulted in tremendous amounts of waste wood that served no immediate purpose, but grew in size each year.

So within the Oregon desert, this relentless community built the foundation for a new natural resource economy; and set an audacious goal. Lake County is attempting to become the nation’s fi rst county to off set all of its fossil fuel emissions with renewable energy. And if Jim Walls has anything to say about it, you better believe that they’re going to get there.

Leading the Charge

Jim Walls is a cowboy, and not metaphorically or like the wooden caricature that greets you as you enter town. When you add up the boots and hat, he’s seven solid feet of booming voice that will be happy to talk to you about the local timber market right after he feeds his horses. But ask him about recent advance-ments in solar panel technology and watch his eyes really light up. This may be surprising to many, but Jim Walls is also the Executive Director of Lake County Resources Initiative (LCRI), and the man who many would call the shepherd of Lakeview’s bold new future. Jim was born 100 miles outside of Lakeview

and worked several ranches in the region in his youth before leaving to make his name far across the country for 33 years with the Natural Resource Conservation Service. However, time and distance weren’t enough to silence the calls of crisis. The chosen son who returned home, at the invitation of local leaders and with support from Sustainable Northwest, he took the helm at Lake County Resources Initiative in 2001 to help lead the community out of its darkest hour.

Jim Walls leads a forest tour in Lake County, Oregon

Under Jim’s watch, LCRI emerged from the previous decade’s confl icts with the goal of promoting local workforce training and sustainable economic development in the county. They’ve worked with environmental groups, timber businesses, and non-profi ts to preserve the ecological and economic func-tions of the Fremont-Winema National Forest, assisted local contractors in doing business with the federal government, developed creative landscape monitoring to measure their progress, and are the driving force behind Lake County’s renewable energy push. Without on-the-ground technical assistance and guidance from LCRI, it is improbable that Lake County would have made such tremendous progress in the last decade. But it’s also the intangible benefi ts that make LCRI, and other community-based organizations, so critical to rural community resiliency. Change is about more than project management and politics; it’s also about generating a spirit of entrepreneurship and open-mindedness to catalyze innovation at the most fundamental level. That is the feeling that resonates so strongly when you walk down the streets of Lakeview, making it is easy to believe they will reach their goals.

More than the Trees are Green

They don’t have a big red bus in Lakeview, but these days Jim

fi nds himself playing tour guide in his white truck quite a bit. He’s spent the day showing me projects that have already been implemented and detailing plans to off set 93% of Lake County’s fossil fuel emissions. I packed up expecting a long ride but had barely fi nished asking where the fi rst facility was located when we pulled up to the local hospital. Jim smiled at the puzzled look on my face and pointed to the ground, “right under your feet”.

In rural areas that lack access to natural gas like Lake County, more expensive sources of energy like heating oil and electric heat are used in facilities and homes. As a result, the cost of thermal energy (i.e. heating and cooling buildings) is well above average. Institutional facilities like hospitals, schools, and prisons are especially vulnerable to rising fuel costs, as they consume signifi cant amounts of energy. So when Lake District Hospital conducted a massive renovation in 2011, the addition of a geothermal heating system for the facility was an obvious choice. Similar work has been done down the street at Warner Creek Correctional Facility, which also uses a geothermal system, and the next stage of this process will be a retrofi t of the outdated boilers at four local schools. This work is possible due to a $1 million geothermal energy retrofi t grant available through President Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and a unique venture between the town of Lakeview, the school district, and the hospital. This project has created a district heating system that is already saving the hospital $100,000 a year in reduced heating costs. By fall of 2013, the town hopes to have geothermal energy supplying the heating and cooling needs of the school district, estimat-ing additional annual savings of $50,000. These savings are nearly enough to hire two teachers, a substantial diff erence in a school district of 700 students facing potential budget cuts.

After touring the hospital’s state of the art geothermal system, we headed to the outskirts of town, where construction crews were gathering and unloading supplies in a large open fi eld. East of Oregon’s Cascade Mountains, Lake County boasts 300 sunny days annually, and the largest solar project in the state will be built in Lakeview in the next year. This installation will provide clean renewable electricity to 400 surrounding homes, and upcoming projects in the area also include solar panels on barns and existing structures, as well as large scale electricity installations. But solar energy, like many renewable technolo-gies, also has the power to generate more than electricity; it can also produce heat. This is being demonstrated at the Playa Retreat Center, located north of Lakeview near Summer Lake. Here, solar vacuum tubes have been placed on the roof of the facility to generate thermal energy for the building.

The county is also exploring woody biomass projects to not only fulfi ll its energy needs, but also to improve forest health. Forest restoration treatments in Lake County have resulted in massive amounts of small diameter wood byproducts that have no immediate value. Without an alternative purpose, they are often burned in the forest or simply left in piles, exacerbating the risk of uncharacteristically negative wildfi re. However, this material can be burned to generate both electricity and heat, and the added value can help off set the costs of restoration treatments to conduct more work. The local sawmill also produces massive amounts of wood residue that could feed a biomass facility. To date, political and fi nancing hurdles have prohibited biomass energy developments in the county, but the desire to pursue them has not waned. Long-term goals may include a district energy system to supply the electricity and heating needs of downtown Lakeview.

The potential for cost-savings, job creation, and energy security from reduced fossil fuel demand in the county are tremendous. So when I ask Jim about how he responds to climate change skeptics, his response covers everything else. “Regardless of climate change, if what we’re doing is good for the country, and it’s good for the economy, how can you fi ght that?”

Change Starts at Home

Lake County has many opportunities to install large scale renewable energy; however, residential and business proj-ects must also play a critical component in reaching its goal. Recognizing this, Jim has taken the time to conduct outreach and provide technical assistance to many homeowners and local businesses, making it possible for them to convert to

Tubes convert solar energy into heat for a Playa Retreat Center building.

renewable energy sources. For example, geothermal heat is used in residential and commercial buildings across the county. For those lucky enough to visit Hunter’s Hot Springs outside of downtown Lakeview, you can relax in the lodge that is heated with geothermal, and enjoy the tomatoes grow-ing in the greenhouse next door. This is how business and people survive the long winter months, when temperatures can drop to 18°F for days at a time. Additionally, homes that dot the county roads often tap directly into the geothermal resource or have installed ground source heat pumps at a fraction of the cost of purchasing heating oil.

Another emerging trend is a growing inter-est among residents to move “off the grid” with their homes and ranches; fulfi lling their energy needs with individual units installed directly to their homes. These include small solar panels and wind turbines for electricity, ground source heat pumps for warmth, and energy effi ciency measures as part of the county’s culture of sustainability. And nearly every one of these residents smiles and shakes the hand of Jim when he approaches on our visit. That’s because LCRI’s technical as-sistance eff orts since 2008 will save homes, businesses, and ranches in Lake County nearly $2 million in reduced energy costs over the next 30 years. In a town reeling from economic decline, these simple actions are home-grown solutions that help make a rural livelihood possible.

Getting There: Overcoming Challenges

Despite these impressive accomplishments and plans, the adage about Rome not being built in a day certainly applies here. Redefi ning and rebuilding rural economies in the western U.S. involves many hurdles. One of the largest challenges for Lake County is that its land is 78% government owned and

has a limited tax base to fi nance new projects. That’s why in Lakeview, as in rural communities across the West, innovative public-private partnerships that leverage state and federal fi nanc-ing with private sector support are essential to constructing renewable energy facilities. Many of Lake County’s operational renewable energy sites were initiated with grants, loans, and tax-credits available through state and federal sources, and additional contributions in the future will be key to unlocking the county’s full potential. Jim will be the fi rst to tell you that the

county is fi lled with “independent people with a rugged spirit, but the government is still an important partner.”

Another issue is scale. The dream of many project developers is to go big, but without substantial renewable market opportuni-ties, it often isn’t fi nancially feasible to construct large installations. However,

smaller community-scaled projects still benefi t isolated rural communities experiencing expensive energy costs. That’s the direction that Lakeview is going in, and one that continues to provide opportunity even as large renewable markets fl uctuate. Like anyone else, Jim worries about the economy, but doesn’t let it slow him down. “The big export markets will come back, in the meantime, we’ll adapt. There is plenty of opportunity right in our own backyard”.

Changes on the Land

Jim brags about developing just about every form of renewable energy in Lake County except for ocean wave technology. And with a touch of black humor, he adds “but I tell people that because of global warming I wouldn’t rule it out”. The specter of climate change in Lakeview is one that is very real, and coupled with existing stressors, presents a profound threat to the long-term health of the landscape and the communities

If what we’re doing is good for the country, and it’s good for the economy, how can you fi ght that?

“”

Hunter’s Hot Springs geyser (left) is popular with residents, and pipes at Lake District Hospital carry hot water from underground to heat the building.

that steward it. An active response has been demonstrated in the commitment to renewable energy generation, but actions to off set carbon emissions aren’t enough to help the landscape adapt to transformations that have already occurred. These include drought, invasive species, increased tree mortality, and uncertainty about the future of the forest’s expansion or recession in response to these variations. All of these add up to the potential for more frequent high-intensity fi res, where just one severe event could fundamentally alter the future of Lake County. In a community setting its sights on a future of sustainably derived benefi t from natural resources, these risks are too profound to be ignored.

Partners in Restoration

This means coming together once more to fi nd a solution to what many see as an intractable problem. But this time, the setting is very diff erent. Jim has helped the Lakeview Steward-ship Group mature into a strong entity capable of reacting in unison where only tensions used to arise. The group has bound together diverse stakeholders to adapt to stressors and changes by pursuing active management for forest health and resilience. And a key ally in this battle is one of the unlikeliest of all. In a community with adjacent public and private lands, action on Federal land alone will not be suffi cient to improve the well-being of the landscape. These activities can also be expensive to conduct without a source of revenue from the byproducts of restoration to off set costs. All this means keep-ing a place at the table for Collins Pine Company, the lone sawmill that survived the great transformation of the 1990s. Jim is well aware of how critical maintaining this relationship is, and has made a concerted eff ort to ensure Collins actively participates in the collaborative group and is supported to keep their doors open.

Collins has held up their end of the deal as well. In 2007, the company built a small diameter mill to utilize material from restoration, and is working with LCRI to explore renewable energy generated from woody biomass from the surrounding forests and mill operations. Collins has even had its private forest holdings in Lake County certifi ed by the Forest Stew-ardship Council, a program designed to promote responsible management of forests. This includes removing overcrowded and unhealthy trees at risk of abnormal wildfi re and disease, and selective harvesting, where only certain trees in a particular stand are removed to maintain biodiversity. These eff orts have allowed the company to stay economically competitive, saved 100 jobs, and supported restoration work on both public and private lands. As Paul Harlan, Vice President of Resources at

the Collins Companies stated, “I truly believe that the world has to come to grips with the idea of sustainability, and I very strongly believe that this is the perfect place to talk to folks about how you work and fi t in your local environment.” The Lakeview Stewardship Group has thus forged a public-private partnership that cares for the land, maintains infrastructure for economic opportunity, and is prepared to adapt to future challenges like climate change.

Looking Ahead

This is the story of a community that not only survived, but has come together and is determined, destined if you will, to thrive. They’ve adapted to each challenge before them and displayed remarkable ingenuity to develop new markets in a place that many thought would wither away in the Oregon Outback. Like the giant wooden cowboy on the edge of town, it’s helped to have a larger than life fi gure to guide the process. But Jim Walls is humble about his role and knows that the responsibility for the future belongs to everyone. He looks beyond the county line and says, “What if 100 communities did this, what if 1,000 communities did this? They say the problem before us is huge, but I say let’s take it a step at a time. Either way, doing nothing is not an excuse anymore”.

They call this place the frontier for a lot of reasons. These are people defi ned by perseverance who refuse to be denied the path they choose in life. But perhaps the greatest reason is because of the unique place their ambition is taking them, and the course they are charting to get there. Signifi cant challenges face the health of the landscapes of the western U.S., and this work will become more complex due to the anticipated eff ects of climate change, energy demand, and competition for natural resources in coming years. However, this visionary community has shown time and again that regardless of land ownership, fi nancial obstacles, or value systems, common ground solu-tions can always be found if you are willing to build a new future together. With that commitment in hand, no place is too bold to go, and no goal is too large to achieve.

Jim Walls is the Executive Director of Lake County Resources Initiative and the convener of the Lakeview Stewardship Group. He is also a longtime member of the Rural Voices for Conservation Coalition (RVCC), a network comprised of western rural and local, regional, and national organizations that have joined together to promote balanced conservation-based approaches to the ecological and economic problems facing the West. The RVCC is a policy initiative managed by Sustainable Northwest.

Recommendations

• Prioritize funding to programs and activities that

strengthen community capacity, including community-

based and regional organizations.

• Fund state and federal grant and guaranteed loan

programs that support retrofi ts of institutional facilities

that currently use petroleum-based fuels to generate

thermal energy.

• Provide state and federal grant programs and tax incen-

tives to assist low income and rural communities with

energy effi ciency upgrades and residential-scale renewable

energy installations.

• Support collaborative groups by providing fi nancial

assistance to their organizational infrastructure to promote

community and landowner engagement.

• Encourage the development of climate change adaptation

plans and integrate them with existing land management

plans on both public and private lands.

813 SW Alder Street, Ste 500

Portland, Oregon 97205

MAIN LINE (503) 221-6911

SustainableNorthwest.org

For more information contact:

Dylan Kruse, Program Associate

Sustainable Northwest

[email protected], (503) 221-6911 x115

Jim Walls, Executive Director

Lake County Resources Initiative

[email protected], (541) 947-5461

Sustainable Northwest brings people, ideas, and innovation together so that nature, local economies, and rural communities can thrive.

A variety of renewable energy projects are planned or underway in 2012

Lake County

Biomass

Geo-thermal

Wind

Solar

Hydro

Fremont-WinemaNational Forest

T H E O U T L A W : George McKinley

A p r o f i l e o f T H E O U T L A W : George McKinley

biological diversity are hindered by a history of industrial clear cuts that were replanted with monocultures of Ponderosa Pine. Generations of fi re suppression and fuel build-up have gradu-ally heightened the risk of abnormal wildfi re in the region, and short-term harvest rotations on private lands further strain the resiliency of the landscape. In recent years tree mortality rates have increased, a growing indicator that forest health is in decline. These and other changes are likely to be exacerbated by the expected eff ects of climate change in the coming decades. Warmer temperatures, drought, and probability of larger wildfi res call for immediate steps to help the forest respond to these stressors and maintain the health of vital natural resources in the region.

Conditions are uncer-tain and undeniably changing, but as a private forest landowner and the organizer of a public lands restoration collaborative group, George McKinley has not let change dismay him. Instead, he has made it his mission to adapt to these transitions and respond to the opportunities available in their wake. His story is a powerful example of the innovative solutions that rural Americans are advancing in an age of climate change adaptation.



George McKinley lives at a crossroads. His home is in the Greensprings, a small pocket of private forest land located within the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument in southwestern Oregon. The surrounding region stands at the intersection of the Klamath, Siskiyou, and Cascade mountain ranges, where their multiple infl uences result in one of the most thrilling landscapes in the nation. President Clinton’s offi cial designa-tion in 2000 lauded these lands “an ecological wonder”, and established the monument as the fi rst of its kind set aside solely for the preservation of biological diversity. Much of the landscape has since come under its protection, but existing land ownership within its boundaries remained untouched, resulting in a monument with a complex checkerboard of private family forests, industrial timberlands, and Federal lands existing in a symbiotic relationship.

The region is characterized by its tremendous natural beauty and the economic and social benefi ts it provides to its diverse residents. However, like much of the West, troubling condi-tions also exist here that threaten the health of the land and the livelihood of local communities. Land productivity and

George McKinley on his private forest land in southwestern Oregon.

Climate change can be a controversial frame-work. The bottom line is we need to make forests more resilient.

“”

McKinley’s land

Keene Creek Ridge

66

Lincoln

Little Chinquapin Mountain

X

Oregon Gulch Research

Natural Area

Rosebud MountainX

Chinquapin Mountain

X

Parsnip Lakes

Hyatt Lake

Pacifi

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rest

Tra

il

Responding to Change

The 1977 Ford Bronco is built for a place like this: a solid steel shell with two doors and reinforced tires to crawl over the snowy and cragged inclines of the Greensprings’ dirt roads. It’s April and George has to fl oor the vehicle to build up enough momentum to make it through the remaining snow drifts. We skid up the mountain to the edge of his property to see one of his most recent projects. At 51 years of age with wild black hair, sunglasses, and a skateboard hat, George more closely resembles a motorcycle rebel than the stereotypical cowboy of the great western novels. This is a man with an advanced degree in Religious Studies who owns 600 acres of treasured forest land, and was named the 2008 Jackson County tree farmer of the year. He represents a new genera-tion of landowners.

George has spent the day showing us examples of changes that he has witnessed on his land: an increase in tree mortality rates, the presence of invasive species, a stream that no longer fl ows year round and dries up in the summer. He has also shown us simple but impactful steps he and his wife Maria Kelly have taken to respond to these issues and improve the health of the land, including forest fuels reduction and thinning, oak

habitat restoration, tree planting, and use of prescribed fi re. These actions help restore the character of the landscape and reduce competition for resources like water and soil nutrients that are predicted to be impacted by climate change in the future. Many outcomes of his work are already noticeable, and will eventually result in improved species diversity, increased tree age, and reduced fi re risk.

Keep the Focus on Forest Resilience

In George’s community, discussions about climate change are minimal at best, and it’s a topic that he prefers to avoid. George takes a diff erent angle; “the bottom line is that we need to make forests more resilient.” Active management to promote healthy forests and resources is a decision that all landowners should make to adapt to stressors. When you approach a conversation from this angle it isn’t tainted by politics; the changes are evident all around us and unclouded by skepticism. George is quick to point out that a management plan is not only a smart thing to have in place to promote forest health, it can make you eligible for a variety of federal and state land management and cost-share programs. Adapta-tion actions aren’t only about responding to risk, they’re also about taking advantage of opportunity.

We fi nally reach the apex of the hill where George points out a uniform stand of trees, even-aged and more closely resembling row crops than a forest. This isn’t an anomaly of nature; it’s a Ponderosa Pine plantation. The former industrial timber-land owner clear cut this stand and replanted it with a single species that would grow and be harvested every 50 years. This activity is common across the forested landscapes of the northwest, where varying land ownership types create a patchwork of stands, some largely untouched, others planted directly adjacent for short-term rotations. These practices

Tree mortality is a visible marker of the eff ects of climate change.

Prescribed burns help prevent abnormal wildfi re by removing excess fuel.

have monetary value, but they also threaten the ecological connectivity of the landscape, which has impacts well beyond the individual stands where trees are cut. George cites this as one of the major contributing factors to degradation and declining forest health on the landscape. In a clear cut, wildlife is displaced, soil productivity decreases, and natural regenera-tion is stymied. In search of a more sustainable path, where the timber industry saw board feet, George sees something else: potential carbon markets.

Markets of the Future

Using a Conservation Innovation Grant (CIG) from the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), George de-veloped a project to promote ecosystem health and landowner strategies that integrate forest adaptation needs with economic return. On the previously clear-cut plantation, George and lo-cal NRCS staff began implementing a plan to promote stand resilience and carbon sequestration in response to current stressors and the projected eff ects of climate change. Where trees were dense and too close together, crews thinned out small diameter material to retain and encourage the growth of larger trees that capture (or sequester) more carbon. Every ten years, thinning will occur to promote natural regeneration. George will also plant a diverse mix of tree species to better refl ect the historical composition of the landscape, bringing back the ecological function of the stand.

By engaging in these actions, and promoting the growth of larger trees and harvesting on a longer rotation, the amount of carbon sequestered in their limbs and trunks will off set 242,000 miles of car travel per year for the next 20 years. Additional benefi ts are expected to occur from these actions as well, including improved wildlife habitat, reduced risk

of fi re, enhanced stream and water fl ow, and general foresthealth. These actions also present the potential for economic return. Although we lack national climate change policy or mandatory carbon markets, George and other landowners like him may have several opportunities to promote this carbon sequestration function and receive income from voluntary pur-chasers. In fact, McKinley has already received interest from a local business looking to purchase credits to off set its carbon emissions. Moreover, should carbon markets become regulated by state or national policy in the future, George and other land-owners like him will be well positioned to be the fi rst recipients of fi nancial rewards that help supplement long term management.

Spreading theWord

McKinley has been

exploring alternative

value streams from

small woodlands for

nearly 20 years. In

addition to his re-

cent foray in carbon

markets, he operates

a small sawmill that

produces custom

wood products from trees on his property. Generating

revenue from timber used to be easier here, but with

declining timber prices and a loss of regional mill

infrastructure, it has become even more imperative that

private landowners explore other options to provide income

and off set the costs to care for their land. In the 1990s when

log prices were high you could thin a stand and come out

even or make a profi t. In current markets, you have to pay

to thin and take out trees. Eventually timber prices will rise,

but George refuses to be dependent on market swings. His

ideals are forward looking: progressive, entrepreneurial, and

unafraid to take risk and adapt to change.

More community members would likely follow George’s

lead, but a lack of assistance from increasingly understaff ed

agencies and dwindling fi nancial incentives have hampered

their eff orts. “The retirement of experienced agency personnel The mill where George McKinley creates custom wood products from restored forest land near the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument.

Overall, the goal is to build public support for active management. How-ever, every acre treated as we continue that process generates a range of goods and services, some we can value quantitatively, others more qualitatively. We also strengthen and maintain our workforce and utiliza-tion capacity, and build a framework for future forest stewardship.

“

”

and skilled forest workers means that it’s become increasingly challenging to carry out necessary restoration work in the area,” says George. Logging and restoration experts often have to travel far distances to reach rural areas where work is available, which increases costs and makes it diffi cult for private landowners to conduct necessary management on their land. But the successes and strategies that George has pioneered can be replicated with community outreach and partnerships to develop management plans and leverage limited resources. In coming years, stewardship of places like the Greensprings will increasingly require innovative collaboration between community members and agency staff .

Crossing the Divide

The edge of George’s property line is a partially open fi eld where he has worked to thin overcrowded trees. The land inches up a gradual slope until it encounters a wall; a solid structure, dense and dark, that is separated by only a few light breaks. This land belongs to his neighbor, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM); and the dividing line, although made of trees instead of concrete or steel, is just as apparent. Like George’s private land, past management and fi re suppres-sion eff orts have transformed the forest, resulting in crowded stands increasingly vulnerable to invasive species, disease, and abnormal wildfi re.

This transition isn’t due to apathy, the BLM has proposed work here and potential projects have been explored. Some have had support and others have been more controversial, but these are public lands, and the public doesn’t always see eye to eye. What do you cut? What do you leave? What is the role of the forest and how should it be cared for? These are common questions that confront the management of public lands in the western U.S.

and have made decision making especially challenging in this sensitive ecosystem.

A Collaborative Approach

Because of these diff ering opinions, since 2005 George has been dedicated to development of the Southern Oregon For-est Restoration Collaborative, formerly known as the “Knitting Circle”. The group is comprised of foresters, loggers, agency representatives, environmentalists, and interested community members that are pursuing an alternative path for management of Federal lands in the Rogue Basin of southwestern Oregon. Years of litigation and confl ict between the environmental com-munity and industrial interests were fi nally taking a toll on the land and impacting the regional economy, and it was time for a diff erent approach. The group identifi ed a common goal: the removal of small diameter trees from uncharacteristically dense forests in the Rogue Basin. And a peace has been found, albeit a fragile one. To date, the collaborative has achieved national recognition for its innovative pilot projects on Federal lands designed to improve forest health, protect endangered species

habitat and large trees, reduce abnormal wildfi re, and produce wood for local mills and job creation. The models and acreage for the projects have also expanded, and will inform future Resource Management Plans for the BLM.

Much of the group’s success can be attributed to engagement with multiple agencies, including the Bureau of Land

Management, Forest Service, Natural Resource Conservation Service, Fish and Wildlife Service and regional fi re planning eff orts. Rather than taking a segmented approach to restora-tion, the collaborative sees the lands where these agencies work as integrated and mutually dependent, and they should be managed as such to achieve landscape-scale outcomes.

Adaptation isn’t only about responding to risk, it’s also about taking advantage of opportunity.

“”

Before (left), and after thinning work was completed with a Natural Resources Conservation Service Conservation Innovation Grant, and Environmental Quality Incentives Program support to restore forest health and explore carbon markets.

Furthermore, as George’s experience as a landowner has shown, Federal agencies in the region are strained for human and fi nancial resources and challenged to complete the neces-sary restoration work. Not only is it diffi cult to achieve social agreement on land management decisions, but the agencies have very limited resources to plan or disseminate information on critical future cross-cutting topics such as climate change. The work of the collaborative and other community-based organizations has been, and will increasingly be instrumental in promoting landscape-scale restoration and adaptation on public lands in the future.

Neighbors in Forest Stewardship

So why did George step into the public realm and leave the freedom of private land ownership to engage in controversy? The reality of the situation is that changes on the landscape don’t discriminate based on land ownership. Decades of confl ict prevented Federal land managers from accomplishing much restoration on public lands, which is problematic in itself, but also of concern to nearby landowners. Forest health condi-tions and stressors on public lands quickly and easily spread to nearby private land. George points out, “What aff ects you aff ects your neighbor, and the health of the region’s forested landscapes is the ultimate shared relationship.” Furthermore, if regional timber infrastructure and expertise continues to decline due to lack of management on public lands, this diminished capacity will reduce the cost-eff ectiveness of management on private lands. If maximum value is to be achieved, it will take participation and action from both private landowners and the Federal government.

George guides the collaborative from the perspective of a private landowner, but believes that individuals with diff erent perspectives working together to achieve shared goals will have an aggregate impact much greater than disconnected eff orts. It is this recognition of mutual benefi t that defi nes an all lands approach to management and restoration, and will set the stage for how landowners, agency managers, and the public work together to ensure private and public lands are prepared to respond to the eff ects of even greater change in the future.

Looking ahead

Like the landscape of the Greensprings, our nation stands at a crossroads about how we value our natural resources and the individuals and communities that steward them. Signifi cant challenges already face the health and management of the landscapes of the western U.S., and this work will become more

complex due to the anticipated eff ects of climate change and other stressors in coming years. Overcoming these obstacles will require that we erase the lines in the sand of politics and land ownership, and realize that landscapes are intercon-nected and voices from all levels must collaborate to pursue shared benefi t. Fortunately, rural individuals, organizations, and communities are developing innovative and sustainable solutions to adapt to these changes and prepare for the fu-ture. They are the fi rst responders to economic and ecological transformation, and their actions will have profound impacts on the food, fi ber, water, air, and other resources that we all depend on. Making sustainable choices for the land and all those who depend on it is George McKinley’s cause, and sup-porting his work and others like it is a worthwhile investment in our collective future.

George McKinley is a private forest landowner and Executive Director of the Southern Oregon Forest Restoration Collaborative. He is also a longtime member of the Rural Voices for Conservation Coalition (RVCC), a network comprised of western rural and local, regional, and national organizations that have joined together to promote balanced conservation-based approaches to the ecological and economic problems facing the West. The RVCC is a policy initiative managed by Sustainable Northwest.

Recommendations

• Ensure land management agencies have adequate staff

and resources to provide outreach, technical assistance

and delivery of cost share programs to private landowners.

These programs help landowners develop management

plans and innovative conservation practices that leverage

all lands restoration and health.

• Fund the Conservation Innovation Grant program

and the Conservation Title of the Farm Bill to help land-

owners become engaged in development of voluntary

and regulated payments for ecosystem service markets.



community, stakeholder, and landowner engagement.

• Encourage and fund the development of climate change

adaptation plans and integrate them with existing land

management plans on both public and private lands.



MAIN LINE (503) 221-6911






George McKinley

Mountain Millworks

george@jeff net.org, (541) 482-6220


McKinley’s land management actions from year 1998 to 2012:

• 1 mile in-stream restoration

• Over 5000 trees planted

• 85 acres of oak habitat restoration

• 100 acres of Ponderosa Pine plantation thinned

• 120 acres of mixed conifer stand restoration

• Hazardous fuels reduction on 160 acres

T H E K I D : Michelle Medley-Daniel

A p r o f i l e o f T H E K I D : Michelle Medley-Daniel

Global Botanical Signifi cance in North America,1 its diverse coniferous forests are home to numerous native species, and its rivers shelter endangered salmon. Human populations also depend on these vital resources, with Trinity County’s local economy being heavily resource dependent, and much of its abundant water resources being diverted to California’s thirsty central valley.

Despite these wonders, the land has not been untouched. Historical boom and bust cycles of mining, ranching, and log-ging, as well as a legacy of fi re suppression have signifi cantly degraded the landscape. And Trinity County is being shaped once more; this time by the forces of climate change. Increased temperatures and decreased precipitation are heightening the threat of an extended and more extreme wildfi re season. Projections of reduced snowpack in the coming years could result in diminished stream fl ows, and severe storms can end in damaging fl oods. All of these concerns threaten the plant, human, and wildlife communities that are so intertwined with the fragile ecosystem.

To speculate about the future of Trinity County in the wake of climate change is daunting but essential. Planning for climate change provides an opportunity to manage resources for resilience in the face of many cross-cutting challenges. There is no person, animal, tree, or river that will not be aff ected by its impacts. For these reasons, there is no more important task. In Trinity County, this responsibility fell upon Michelle Medley-Daniel. She was called upon to fi nd the tools to navigate the community towards their future full of new challenges and opportunities. Her duty is to bring a divided public together to build unprecedented social agreement and a new culture of engaging ordinary citizens as the stewards of their collective home. Most importantly, she would have to stand up and represent a new generation ready to face these issues head on, move beyond hardships of the past, and rise above current partisanship. This is the story of what she learned, and where the lessons are taking her and all of Trinity County.



Trinity County is like a diamond in the rough; a rugged land-scape nestled in far northern California containing invaluable treasures. At 2 million acres, it is nearly twice the size of Delaware and home to fewer than 14,000 residents. There are no traffi c lights, freeways, parking meters, or incorporated cities. But ecological marvels envelop the Klamath-Siskiyou bioregion, making the county the most striking of places. One of the few locations on earth with a Mediterranean climate, this region is characterized by hot, dry summers and cold, wet winters. The landscape is a wrinkled tapestry of peaks and valleys, with dark red clay soil and features shaped by ancient forces of fi re and water. One of just seven areas of

1 http://www.worldwildlife.org/science/ecoregions/WWFBinaryitem4810.pdf

The Genesis Story

The current story of Trinity County cannot, or at least should not be told without fi rst telling the story of the Watershed Research & Training Center (WRTC). Trinity County is one of the most resource-dependent locations in the country, where the local economy was driven by timbering for many years. The majority of the county is also federally managed public land, with 72% owned by the U.S. Forest Service. However, in the late 1980s and early 90s, concerns about the health of the Shasta-Trinity National Forest and endangered species listing of the Northern Spotted Owl eff ectively shut down forest operations. The transition in management of federal lands contributed to a severe loss of 40% of the payroll in Hayfork, Trinity County’s second largest community.

In response to this devastation, Lynn Jungwirth, a pioneer of the community-based forestry movement, chose not to look back, but forward. In 1995, she founded the Watershed Research & Training Center with the goal of rebuilding the local economy based on an ethic of land stewardship and restoration. WRTC employees have since retrained woods workers, built local contracting capacity, engaged in fuels reduction near homes and businesses, led local collaborative eff orts, and are work-ing with partners to develop and implement landscape-scale restoration strategies.

Passing the Torch

Despite WRTC’s successes over the years, there is still tremendous work to be done. Climate change complicates this mission further, with additional stressors on natural resources and the community. But Lynn Jungwirth knows that now is the time to act. “We’ve literally been on the burning edge of

climate change for 25 years in Trinity County. In 1987 we had the biggest fi re event in living memory. We didn’t know it was climate change at the time, but we can’t deny the trends we have seen since then.” Adapting to these changes requires unprecedented foresight, ingenuity, and a holistic approach to caring for the land and its people.

To prepare for that future, what Trinity County needed was a plan. Enter Michelle Medley-Daniel, who at just 25 years of age joined WRTC after obtaining a degree from Humboldt State University in English. Not a classic land management background, but hardly a limit to what she could accomplish. What Michelle does have is the county – its history, its people, and its future promise – in her blood. A native daughter of Hayfork, she returned home instilled with optimism and a fresh face in a distraught community. There is no better teacher than a creator, and under Lynn Jungwirth’s careful guidance, Michelle has been slowly groomed to inherit Trinity County’s legacy, and preserve it in the face of a changing climate. Lynn refl ects on Michelle’s role, stating, “When the opportunity came along to think about modern forest health issues, climate change presented itself as a way to engage a new generation. I selected Michelle for this work because we needed somebody whose mind was open, who knew how to communicate and approach life in an honest manner.”

Michelle holds equal passion for this work. “Climate change is the language of my generation. I want people to become stewards of these landscapes and fi nd new ways to connect to the land. Responding to climate change gives people an opportunity to achieve that goal.” In 2011, she enrolled in Climate Solutions University (CSU) to defi ne her vision. CSU is a program that guides rural communities through a process of assessing the projected impacts of climate change in their regions. Participants then develop and implement an adaptation plan in response to these expectations. Support is provided through one-on-one expert coaching, a series of webinars, and networking with other rural communities. Michelle’s task, like that of Lynn Jungwirth’s before her, would be to reconcile the past and present of Trinity County with a future vision for resilience. Twelve months later, with the support of her mentor, she fi nalized the plan that she had been tasked with developing.

Not What Was, but What Will Be

The foundation for Michelle’s plan is decision-making in anticipation of what the future might bring. The likely future for Trinity County is a dramatic contrast from its current state.

Michelle Medley-Daniel leads the next generation of land stewards.

Predictions show that temperatures are expected to increase by 2.1-3.6° F in the bioregion by mid-century. This will threaten biological diversity and impact the length of fi re and grow-ing seasons. Annual precipitation patterns are also expected to change, with larger amounts in the winter months and decreases for the remainder of the year. When coupled with increasing temperatures, this is a recipe for reduced snowpack of 37-65%; with rapid melts in the spring and drought during the summer. This is of particular concern as it relates to water access, the most precious of commodities. Trinity County’s water resources support ecological values, agriculture, recre-ation, and signifi cantly supplement the increasing demands of remote users across the state.

Current dangers of fi re suppression, water scarcity, and landscape degradation will be exacerbated by the eff ects of climate change and signal a very diff erent future for Trinity County. It is also likely that the stage has already been set and these scenarios are on a path that cannot be altered. When confronted with change, our natural inclination is to return to the familiar, to seek comfort in what once was. But climate change is a diff erent beast, an expansive force that asks us to consider what will be. That’s not to say that we are helpless in this endeavor, but we are required to push through dissonance and change the focus of conversation. For Michelle, “this meant a shift from seeking to restore resources to a historical condition, to a new paradigm aimed at managing for probable future conditions.” Institutions in the county have sought to maintain the status quo, but new eff orts are now underway by entities like the Forest Service to prescribe management that considers future conditions. To be most eff ective in climate adaptation, Trinity County’s plan and implementation eff orts will need to focus a keen eye on driving this new approach forward.

The Missing Link

The research Michelle used to frame the county’s altered future showed that climate change is frequently approached as a numbers game: increases in temperature, decreases in precipitation, an altered probability of weather events. But it can become a series of variables so overwhelming that the conversation stalls before we get to the part that matters most. Availability of data is not the issue. Scientists are building a compendium of knowledge on the probability, scale, and impact of a number of climate scenarios. What is missing, and what almost nobody is talking about, are the tools that are needed to actually do something in the face of climate change.

The tools Trinity County needed had become evident in the decades following the timber wars. Michelle watched as the bitter disagreement between community, industry, and environ-mental groups ended in distrust and decay. Under economic and social stagnation, the space for compromise that would help the community respond to change was eliminated. She realized early on that without social agreement, economic opportunity, and community support, adaptation mea-sures in a place like Trinity County would be dead on arrival. Necessary actions like thinning, prescribed fi re, and watershed restoration were easy enough to identify in the planning process, but a plan without action is a hollow exercise destined to gain dust on the shelf. Her approach would instead take projected conditions and match them with local competen-cies to prescribe activities that can actually be implemented. You need resilience in a community before you can create resilience on a landscape, and Michelle would identify the resources Trinity County needed to accomplish its climate adaptation goals.

Recipe for Success

As many rural leaders will tell you, the most important steps we can take to prepare for the future are management actions to promote landscape resilience. Contrary to popular notions about rural America’s perspectives on climate change, Michelle points out that the local community stands behind this work. “Adaptation has always been important to rural America. Cli-mate change is a loaded term that has been politicized, but if I talk to someone down the street about changes on the land, they will not deny what they see. What is causing those changes may cause debate, but this approach isn’t trying to determine a cause, it’s about acknowledging diff erences on the ground and doing something about them.”That doesn’t mean that the community and outside parties always agree on the best path forward. In Trinity County, as in

Abnormal wildfi re can devastate a small forest community.

many public lands communities, complex governance struc-tures and stakeholders with diverse viewpoints often make it diffi cult to conduct land management. Numerous entities must be consulted to plan, implement, and monitor resource management decisions. The result is often disagreement that prevents restoration at the pace and scale necessary for ecological health. That’s why WRTC has pioneered the fi eld of collaborative land management, culminating in the recent convening of a Trinity National Forest collaborative group. Under WRTC’s guidance, diverse parties from environmental-ists to loggers that have feuded for years are now coming together to fi nd common ground and develop principles for forest and watershed restoration. This approach is even more essential given diminishing federal agency experience and capacity to accomplish land management objectives. Michelle has incredibly high hopes for suc-cess, and years of paralysis have shown that a zero-sum game of winners and losers is no longer acceptable. Building social agree-ment will be the most important ingredient in helping Trinity County construct the foundation for adaptation and resilience.

Connecting the Dots

But what if local resources aren’t enough? Climate change blends boundaries and creates complexities in a way that de-mands more from all parties. The Trinity County government and Federal land management agencies need, and want to engage in adaptation planning; but lack human and fi nancial assets to do so. WRTC has been a catalyst for innovation and trust-building, but they need help to spread their message. In order to reach their goals in a remote rural location, Michelle points to the power of networks. One voice in the wilderness is silenced by distance, but connected with others, it is emboldened. For instance, reintroducing fi re on the landscape is essential to improving the well-being of Trinity County’s fi re adapted ecosystem, but it is also a source of apprehension. Through entities like The Nature Conservancy’s Fire Learning Network, WRTC is now partnering with organizations across Northern California to access the most current research on prescribed fi re. Their participation has helped them leverage resources to reintroduce fi re on the land and build agreement around this controversial, but critical tool. Given diminishing local and federal capacity, networks and their web of partnerships will be the key to a world of opportunity for Trinity County.However, Michelle has seen that even collaboration and net-works have their limits. Although common ground may be

found, implementation is frought with its own set of obstacles. What happens at the local level does not necessarily align with larger national trends. This means that stakeholders in Trinity County will also need to pursue changes to land man-agement policies that were enacted for a very diff erent time and purpose. What are needed to combat climate change are federal policies that don’t discriminate based on lines of land ownership and limited scale. Instead, work must be done that reaches from ridge top to ridge top, just like the geography of the county. WRTC has thus been instrumental in in the

development of landscape-scale projects with greater scope and impact. They have also learned from Trinity County’s com-plex web of federal ownership to promote coordination between agencies for larger projects across jurisdictions.

To advance these strategies at the national level, Lynn helped found the Rural Voices for Conservation Coalition. Convened by Sustainable Northwest, a close partner

of WRTC, RVCC is a network of local, regional, and national organizations that have banded together to fi nd solutions to environmental and economic challenges facing the rural West. Examples of RVCC’s successful eff orts include the creation of federal programs like the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program and Stewardship Contracting. These tools support collaboration between agencies and diverse stakeholders to increase restoration capacity and fl exibility to address modern challenges like climate change. No single tool will be suffi cient, but when dots from the local to the Federal level are connected, a strategy comes into focus to enact the enduring and dramatic change that Trinity County needs.

Building a Force for the Future

Michelle is a young face in Trinity County, but you won’t see many more like hers. The loss of the workforce during the mill closures in the 90s left behind an aging population that lacked skills to ease the transition towards a restoration economy. Trinity County’s adaptation plan has detailed goals and strate-gies to improve the well-being of the land. But without a new workforce, the plan will not be implemented, or potential jobs will be outsourced to distant contractors, leaving little benefi t for the local community and a long-term stewardship ethic. To build local capacity, the forest must create a consistent program of work that creates job opportunities, retains local expertise, and attracts new leaders. As social agree-ment develops and management projects are designed, local

When the opportunity came along to think about modern forest health issues, climate change presented itself as a way to engage a new generation.

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professionals should be given job preference to retain existing capacity and carry out adaptive resource management. For years, local contracting capacity has deteriorated, and collec-tive resource knowledge to plan for the future has declined along with it. As Michelle states, “reconnecting people to the land is a necessary precursor before we can talk about bigger issues like climate change. This is what the social part of our plan tries to address. How do you stop the loss of jobs and encourage long-term investment and opportunities?” Much of this can be accomplished through WRTC’s Stewardship Implementation Program, which conducts hazardous fuel reduction and restoration in a sustainable and economically feasible manner. Most importantly, it trains and employs local woods workers, and develops skills for locally owned and operated natural resource-based businesses.

Another part of this strategy is generating an ethic of land stewardship among the youth of Trinity County. Limited job prospects and a culture of rural fl ight after high school limit the number of young people that choose to stay in the com-munity. Michelle comments that “doing work on the land is critical, but you must have people who understand the land to actually make it happen. Who will work the jobs that you create?” This is an eff ort that is especially close to Michelle’s heart. “The reason I came back to Trinity County is because the secret about rural America is that it’s actually a place of opportunity for youth. If you are willing to show up and engage, this is a place where you can make immediate change and be a part of a true community.” WRTC has attempted to preserve this opportunity through its youth conservation crew program. Each year, they hire local youth to do conservation work such as removing invasive species, maintaining trails, and performing fuels reduction. They are also in the process of partnering with local area high schools to encourage stu-dents to consider careers they can pursue in Trinity County.

This outreach work is cultivating a home-grown workforce to overcome the challenges that will confront the community in years to come.

Maintaining the Change

The last sawmill in Trinity County is viewed by many as a relic of the former timber industry. But when Michelle drives past the sign at Trinity River Lumber Company, she sees something very diff erent: the future of the county’s response to climate change. Without local businesses to support landscape-scale treatments, restoration activities become less economically feasible. Once this vital infrastructure is lost, it becomes incredibly diffi cult to rebuild. Not only is Trinity River Lumber the largest private employer in the county, it is a valuable resource for generating revenue to help off set the costs of restoration on the Trinity National Forest. However, a lack of log supply due to social disagreements threatens the viability of the business. That’s why Michelle recommends that restoration projects done in Trinity County must have a component that ensures material for local wood products businesses.

Given weak economic conditions and lack of demand, Trinity County has also struggled to attract entrepreneurs willing to invest in local communities and build the new restoration economy. So WRTC has taken matters into its own hands by accelerating business development via management of the Trinity County Business Incubator. The incubator provides facilities and services to entrepreneurs attempting to get new wood products and value added businesses off the ground. Cultivating entrepreneurship in Trinity County is essential to not only encourage job creation, but also expand the popula-tion and tax base to diversify the county’s economy and meet its social needs. All of this will help make the local community more self-suffi cient and independent in the face of the eff ects of climate change.

Implementation of the Plan

With a path to success in place, Michelle’s work truly begins. As intended, the plan is meant to be a springboard to action. WRTC now moves into the implementation phase of this proj-ect and will be reaching out to diverse stakeholders to acquire funding and establish new partnerships to enact the plan’s recommendations. The ultimate goal of the plan is to create an additive document that other teams and organizations can use to explore climate change in relationship to their plan-ning recommendations. Groups tasked with revising county General Plans, Forest Plans, and updating Community Plans should use this detailed assessment to inform and supplement Youth Conservation Crew members restore trails in Trinity County.

Recommendations

• Encourage and fund the development of climate change

adaptation plans and organizations that assist rural

communities in creating them. Plans should be integrated

with existing land management plans on both public and

private lands.

• Prioritize funding for programs and activities that

strengthen community capacity, including community-

based and regional organizations.



community, stakeholder, and landowner engagement.



MAIN LINE (503) 221-6911






Michelle Medley-Daniel

The Watershed Research and Training Center

[email protected], (530) 628-4206


their suggested activities. Michelle is confi dent that they’re on the right track, but she is reasonably cautious in knowing this won’t be an easy task. Just as climate change forces us to shift our approach to land management, implementa-tion will require us to change our perceptions of each other, both at the local level and beyond. This means facilitating a transformation in public opinion about the role of rural com-munities in management of public lands. As Michelle states, “Rural people are not the problem, they are the reporters and stewards. They are intimately connected to the landscape and are a resource, not an impediment.” If the nation recognizes and supports rural Americans as stewards, this work becomes more feasible, and momentum for action will build.

Looking Ahead

Trinity County may be just a single page in a narrative of grand transformation that is occurring in rural communities across the West. But its experience is a prime example of the imminent changes our natural environment faces, and the players that will adapt to that future. The environment and climate change are undeniably complex forces, but we will fi nd ourselves at their mercy if we exclude management actions to respond to these changes. Years of existing in an exclusively ecological

mindset have created confl icts that unintentionally harmed the land and community. As Lynn Jungwirth proposed many years ago, perhaps it is now time to adopt a middle path that considers the role and importance of “who tends the garden?” The reality is that rural communities are part of an integrated ecological, economic, and social ecosystem and have an opportunity to make critical choices that aff ect us all.

Where previous eff orts have been one-sided or limited in scope, Michelle Medley-Daniel sought to show that we must work at all of these levels to eff ect meaningful and resilient change. It is an approach that a place as rare and complex as Trinity County deserves, but is a template that all rural communities should embrace. The ultimate lesson is that climate change approaches vary from place to place and should be grounded in local context. No community is so simple that it can be reduced to a one size fi ts all policy. The important thing is to recognize that each community is inherently equipped with at least some of the necessary resources to approach these challenges. Like Michelle has demonstrated, great things can be accomplished when leaders emerge who are committed to engaging and making change where possible. The torch has been passed to a new era, and rural leaders are proud to be carrying it forward.

Michelle Medley-Daniel is Communications and Partnership Coordinator at the Watershed Research and Training Center in Hayfork, CA and is also a member of the Rural Voices for Conservation Coalition (RVCC), a network comprised of western rural and local, regional, and national organiza-tions that have joined together to promote balanced conservation-based approaches to the ecological and economic problems facing the West. The RVCC is a policy initiative managed by Sustainable Northwest.

Forest and Water Resources Climate Adaptation Plan can be found here:http://www.mfpp.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Trinity-County_CA_Forest-and-Water_Climate-Adaptation-Plan_2011.pdf

To learn more about the Rural Voices for Conservation Coalition please visit: http://www.sustainablenorthwest.org/rvcc/rural-voices-for-conservation-coalition

For more information about these stories please contact:Dylan Kruse, Sustainable Northwest(503) 221-6911 [email protected]

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