Forest health, especially after a wildfire season seen in 2017, is top of mind for a lot of groups. A cross-agency program aimed at forest restoration will be adding $3 million to the effort in 2018.

The Joint Chiefs’ Landscape Restoration Partnership is the work of the U.S. Forest Service and the USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service. The program aims to boost the health of forests where public forests and grasslands connect to private lands.

The partnership, which began in 2014, continues in 2018 with a range of projects and the spending of close to $3 million. There are seven new projects in six states and Puerto Rico. The agencies also will spend another $29 million to support 21 active partnership projects already underway. In total, projects are in the works in 24 states and Puerto Rico.

The new projects in 2018 include work in Florida, Hawaii, Louisiana, Montana, New Mexico, Puerto Rico and Wyoming.

In Wyoming, more than $700,000 will be invested in the Sublette County Forest Collaborative. The program will specifically address protection of the sole drinking water source of Pinedale, Wyo., which is near the Bridger-Teton National Forest.

The project area includes lands management by USFS, Bureau of Land Management, the state of Wyoming and private landowners in the county.

In addition to improving water quality, other project goals include providing fire protection for rural residents; restoring aspens; and habitat improvements for mule deer, greater sage grouse and pronghorn.

Two other projects in the region — part of the ongoing funding — include work on the Fishlake and Caribou-Targhee national forests.

Work in Montana
In Montana, the program will fund the Capital 360 Forestry Project. This project includes three counties: Jefferson, Broadwater and Lewis and Clark; the Helena micropolitan statistical area, which includes the principal city of Helena as well as Boulder, Clancy, East Helena, Montana City, Jefferson City, and five communities with a population totaling more than 60,000.

High-priority treatment areas in the Capital 360 project focus on the densely populated Upper Tenmile Creek watershed, which supplies water to more than 30,000 Helena residents; and a section of the Prickly Pear Watershed, which provides a portion of the municipal water to East Helena. The program also continues building on its successful implementation of smaller-scale fuel reduction projects by various entities in the area. For 2018, the Joint Chiefs’ funding will be near $700,000 for the Capital 360 project.

Source: U.S. Forest Service, Natural Resources Conservation Service