SUCCESS STORIES

Project name: Arizona Sustainable Forestry Partnership

Point of contact: Herbert A. Hopper III, Project Director, Little ColoradoRiver Plateau RC&D, 51 West Vista, #4, Holbrook, AZ 86025, 928/524-6063 x5.

Location: The project principally serves the RC&D service area of Navajoand Apache Counties of Arizona, but stakeholders from neighboring CoconinoCounty participate as well.

Partners:

Little Colorado River Plateau RC&D Cocopai RC&D

Navajo County Apache County

Apache/Sitgreaves National Forest Arizona Fish and Game

Apache County Economic Security Corporation

Natural Resources Working Group White Mountain Conservation league

Little Colorado River Watershed group Natural Resource Conservation Service

University of Arizona Cooperative Extension

Economic Environmental Communities Organization

Project focus: To establish an environmentally and economically sustainableforestry industry in Arizona utilizing small-diameter Ponderosa Pine and otherunder-utilized wood species requiring thinning and restoration. To unite thepublic in addressing issues facing southwestern forests and communities for acommon purpose promoting ecological-based forest initiatives enhancingsustainable forests and employment opportunities.

Past and present funders of the Partnership include:

USFS Rural Community Assistance Program

Arizona Department of Commerce

Arizona Community Foundation

Four Corners Sustainable Forests Partnership

USDA Rural Development-rural business enterprise grant program

USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service-capacity building grant

National Partnership for Reinventing Government Laboratory

Project description and achievements: The Arizona Sustainable ForestryPartnership (ASFP) continues to serve a myriad of interests in Northern Arizona.As an Action Team of the Little Colorado River Plateau RC&D, it meets once amonth in various locations throughout the White Mountain region of Arizona. Itscurrent active team membership is 107 people. They represent diverseorganizations and interested parties, that include; county and municipalplanners, public officials, land managers, forest practitioners, business andcommerce, conservationists and academia. Mr. Bill Greenwood, manager for theTown of Eagar, AZ, serves as the chairperson for the Action Team. Achievementsduring the past year include:

The ASFP hosted a number of meetings wherein university outreach instructorslectured on the art and science of forest thinning. These lectures were thenreported in several newspaper articles, wherein the local populace was providedwith an education into the threats of forest fuels and catastrophic fires.

The ASFP worked closely with other Partnerships to promote an environmentallyand economically sustainable forestry industry in AZ. Project Director HerbHopper also serves as the state coordinator to the Four Corners SustainableForests Partnership, which among its many projects has grant funds available forpilot projects that propose to develop value to small-diameter Ponderosa Pineproducts. The ASFP was instrumental in providing business and grant writingcounselling to a large number of potential applicants; last year 14 applicantsapplied from Northern AZ. Five were eventually selected, bringing in $447,500 ingrants funds to the region. The ASFP also has worked closely with the GrandCanyon Forest Partnership. This Partnership, based in nearby Flagstaff, AZ,brings into the discussion a different community of interested parties andmembers. Finally, the ASFP interfaces routinely with the Natural ResourcesWorking Group, an Action Team focused on the wildland urban-interface communityof Pinetop-Lakeside, AZ. This group has been involved in a series of projectsdesigned to educate the public on he merits of thinning the surrounding forestsin order to create defensible landscape around homes.

The ASFP hosted a number of short workshops to educate the public or promoteparticular aspects of our focus. For example, workshops included presentationsby the AZ Department of Commerce that briefed Team members about many businessincentives available in rural AZ. Other workshops focused on accessing lowinterest loans, writing business plans, marketing products, accessing differentgrant sources and touring forest projects to see the effects of forest thinning.

Project name: The Four Corners Sustainable Forests Partnership

Point of contact: Herbert A. Hopper III, Project Director, Little ColoradoRiver Plateau RC&D, 51 West Vista #4, Holbrook, Arizona 86025, 928/524-6063x5.

Location: Arizona

Partners:

Little Colorado River Plateau RC&D

US Department of Agriculture

US Forest Service

Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest

State of Arizona

Project focus: The Four Corners Sustainable Forests Partnership seeks toencourage forest restoration, maintenance and risk reduction through sustainablecommunity-based forest enterprises. The wildfires of the summer of 2000devastated millions of acres of forests in the West and more forests are likelyto be burned to the ground unless steps are taken by forest managers to changethe characteristics of these forests. "In good faith, for generations, thiscountry has undertaken an aggressive fire suppression policy, but we havelearned that extinguishing wildfires is not always the most practicalapproach," said Toby Martinez, state forester for the New Mexico Divisionof Forestry and founder of the Four Corners Sustainable Forests Partnership. ThePartnership was formed by the state foresters for New Mexico, Arizona, Coloradoand Utah with the support of the U. S. Forest Service and many otherorganizations. "The Philosophy for many years was to extinguish fires asfast as we could, because we thought we were protecting forests," Martinezsaid. "Instead, we have set the stage for wildfires that not only devastatethe forests, but contribute to the destruction of private property." TheFour Corners Sustainable Forests partnership was formed in 1997 with athree-piece mission, Martinez said. "The Partnership is working to generateenvironmentally-sound economic development opportunities in small rural forestcommunities which, in the past, were supported by forest-related industry. Asecond part of that mission is to promote healthy forest management policies,and the third part is to reduce wildfire hazards." The Partnership isexploring new opportunities for converting small-diameter timber from theforests into marketing products, while at the same time thinning forests toprevent unmanageable wildfires.

Dr. Wallace Covington, Northern Arizona University professor of forestecology, explains that studies show that an area of the Kaibab National Forestwhich had 36 to 81 large trees per acre in 1876 has grown to a density of 692 to1,801 trees per acre by 1994, along with dense underbrush. Regular firesresulting from lightning in the 19^th Century burned grasses and smalltrees on the forest floor in what are called "cool" fires withoutigniting the mature taller trees. After the fire, the forest floor easilystarted growing again with grasses and small trees from seeds until another firecleared it, leaving the water and nutrients to nuture the larger trees. Coupledwith increased risk of catastrophic fire is increased insect outbreaks.

The Partnership is motivated by the need to focus attention and resources onforest restoration and community issues common throughout the region. ThePartnership continues to receive funding from the U. S. Congress to supportseveral program areas. The Partnership hopes that these programs will create alasting momentum within several key areas: consensus around forest restorationprinciples and needs, progress toward forest restoration, communityinfrastructure to utilize small diameter material, and a region-wide network oninterests and specialists working on sustainable forestry issues. ThePartnership currently supports four programs: the community-based forestrestoration demonstration program; the region-wide utilization and marketingtechnical assistance program; the public information campaign linking communitywell-being to ecosystem health; and the regional education and network program.

Twenty-three projects received approximately $1.2 million in grants from theFour Corners Sustainable Forests Partnership in 2001 under their community-basedforest restoration program. This grant program was generated to address theproblems of declining forest-based economic activity in communities in the FourCorners region, coupled with increasingly severe wildfire hazards anddeteriorating forest health. In concert with local governments, businesses,state and federal agencies, tribal organizations, non-profit groups and others,the Partnership has made significant progress toward its goals. "Manypeople in the Four Corners region lost their jobs and once thriving communitiesstruggled to stay alive, " said Herb Hopper, Partnership state coordinatorfor Arizona. "At the same time, aggressive fire suppression has allowed ourforests to deteriorate in health and present hazards for wildfires and reducedwildlife habitat. Thinning small-diameter trees from overgrown forests canreduce wildfire hazard and also provide a marketable resource forcommunity-based forest products businesses, creating new jobs. We hope thesedemonstration projects will motivate other communities to develop their ownprojects and move toward both healthier forests and healthier localeconomies." The projects revolve around funding new uses and applicationsfor small-diameter trees.

Description of projects: The Little Colorado River Plateau RC&D serves asthe Arizona host for the Four Corners Sustainable Forests Partnership. TheRC&D project director, Herb Hopper, is the state coordinator for thePartnership. The RC&D provides Herb with many of the means and resources toperform his duties as the state coordinator. Herbs duties includeadministering to the five projects that received grant funding from thePartnership. This is in addition to the three projects funded in 2000. The fiveprojects in Arizona collectively were awarded $447,500 in funds. The currentfive funded projects include:

Navajo Hogan Roundwood Manufacturing project. Awarded $132,400. This is ademonstration project sponsored by the Indigenous Community Enterprises ofCameron, AZ, on the Navajo Nation. The first product will be development ofaffordable, yet traditional, hogan-shaped housing for families on the NavajoNation. Other products under study include small log cabins, gazebos, utilitybuildings, furniture and trail and recreational structures. The prototype hoganwas unveiled in August, 2001.

Integrated Fuel Treatment Using a Community-Based Forest Approach. Awarded$130,000. The Partnership chose to fund one component, a chain-flail chipper, ofa proposed larger effort sponsored by the Town of Eagar, AZ, to thin forests inthe urban interface and then process the materials at a local processing center.The equipment was purchased in July, 2001, and is currently engaged in thinningforests around Pinetop-Lakeside, AZ and on the Apache Indian Reservation of theWhite Mountains.

Restoring the Forests of Northern Arizona. Awarded $48,500. The Grand CanyonForests Foundations, based in Flagstaff, AZ, has the goal of restoring theforests around Flagstaff. This project will develop, test and demonstrate sound,economically sustainable and socially acceptable approaches in the developmentof new uses, products and markets associated with small-diameter harvesting andprocessing. In close coordination with other partners, such as the Grand CanyonTrust, the City of Flagstaff, Coconino County and Northern Arizona University,this project is engaged at several thinning sites and exploring a host ofinnovative approaches for processing the material into value-added products.

Pinetop-Lakeside Slash Restoration Project. Awarded $49,000. The Town ofPinetop-Lakeside is partnering with Mountain Top Wood Products of Show Low toencourage homeowners to make their property fire prevention friendly by thinningthe forest in the area. Mountain Top will process the materials by chipping orusing the material in posts, fencing and construction materials. The funds havebeen used to lease additional equipment and hire more employees. A workshop forhomeowners in Pinetop-Lakeside is slated for the spring of 2002.

Chip Reload Facility Upgrade. Awarded $88,000. The Fort Apache Timber Companyis sponsoring a project to upgrade a chip reloading facility on land leased bythe White Mountain Apache Tribe. The land is actually a railhead adjacent toSnowflake-Taylor, AZ, located about 50 miles from the forests. Once upgrades arecomplete, the Tribe will make the facility available to private contractorsworking the forests of the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests.