|
The Good Neighbor Authority (GNA) is providing opportunities to increase fish & wildlife habitat restoration across a significant portion of Oregon’s landscapes, build collaborative relationships with federal and state agency staff, improve forest health, build climate resiliency, and enhance water resources while providing jobs for rural communities.
GNA is a federal partnership program that allows state agencies, like ODFW, to enter into partnership agreements to perform forest, rangeland, and watershed restoration activities on US Forest Service (USFS) and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands.
The overarching goal of GNA is to improve forest and watershed health by increasing the pace, scale, and quality of restoration activities on federal lands. GNA is intended as an additive program; by providing funding through the GNA, partners like ODFW will exceed what would be accomplished by federal land management agencies alone.
Since 2016, ODFW has been collaborating with the USFS and the BLM on GNA projects to improve fish and wildlife habitats on forest and rangelands across Oregon. ODFW has developed projects with 10 National Forests, with USFS Region 6, and with the BLM’s Oregon-Washington office.
GNA Habitat Restoration Projects
Most activities to restore or improve forest, rangeland, and watershed ecosystem health can be funded through the GNA. ODFW focuses on work that will improve the suitability of the federal land to provide habitat for fish and wildlife. The most common GNA projects that ODFW leads include:
- Habitat improvement (e.g. fish passage, invasive plant removal)
- Forest thinning to improve ecosystem health;
- Road decommissioning and gates;
- Hazardous fuel reduction;
- Surveys/monitoring related to restoration;
- Engineering and planning;
- Road construction needed for restoration work.
Why Does ODFW Pursue the GNA?
52% of Oregon is in federal ownership. The US Forest Service and BLM owns 60% of Oregon’s forests. BLM also owns 13 million acres of rangeland. GNA offers the opportunity to restore fish and wildlife habitats on a significant portion of the Oregon’s forest and range lands. Restoring these critical habitats are imperative to recovering and sustaining fish and wildlife populations. GNA gives ODFW a chance to bring our resources to these solutions.
Forest thinning and restoration projects bring jobs to rural communities. These projects also reduce the risk of wildland fire to communities in the Wildland Urban Interface. GNA habitat projects improve fish & wildlife populations providing an increase in hunting & fishing opportunities to rural residents as well as increased tourism.
GNA provides the opportunity for ODFW to work with the USFS and BLM on projects of mutual interest, building better communication, collaboration, and relationships between agency staff, especially at the District levels.
Funding
While many USFS GNA projects have been funded by timber sale revenues, a variety of other federal funding sources can also be used for GNA projects. These funds can include:
- Bipartisan Infrastructure Legislation (BIL) & Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which allocated billions of dollars to the USFS and BLM over the next 10 years for projects to improve forest ecosystem health, reduce wildfire risks to rural communities, and build climate resiliency.
- Third party contributions from individuals, foundations, and from organizations such as Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and Trout Unlimited
- Grants funds from Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board and Department of Environmental Quality
- Mitigation funds
Adding all these funds together in an agreement can greatly expand the projects scope. GNA funds can also be used as match for state or private foundation grants.
Oregon Dept of Forestry
ODFW also collaborates with the Oregon Dept of Forestry (ODF) on GNA projects. Through GNA ODF administers timber sales and oversees restoration projects to improve forest ecosystem health. Surplus revenue from the timber sales can fund restoration projects led by ODF or ODFW. This can include restoration projects such as planting native shrubs in riparian areas and adding large wood to stream.
Visit the Oregon Dept. of Forestry website.
ODFW Public Private Partnerships
ODFW partners with private organizations by adding their funds to agreements with the USFS or BLM to enhance and expand the restoration projects. For example, the Mule Deer Foundation provided funds to purchase a guzzler destroyed in the Bootleg Fire on the Fremont Winema National Forest. The funds were added to a GNA agreement between the Fremont Winema National Forest and ODFW to implement the project.
In some circumstances, GNA funds can be used for restoration and survey projects on private lands when there is a Federal Nexus to those lands. For example, if there are prime salmon spawning grounds on USFS or BLM lands but a culvert downstream on private property is blocking fish passage, federal funds can be used to upgrade the culvert.
Also, if mule deer are migrating between summer range on BLM lands and winter range on private lands, BLM funds can be used for improving winter habitats on the private parcel. When there is a Federal Nexus, ODFW can use a GNA agreement with the USFS or BLM to fund the restoration projects on the private lands.
ODFW GNA Projects
Between 2016 and 2023, ODFW entered into 25 GNA agreements with 10 of the 11 National Forests in Oregon and the Region 6 Office. ODFW also has grant agreements with the BLM that fund 20 projects. ODFW’s GNA agreements with the US Forest Service and BLM have resulted in range of activities including aspen restoration, forest thinning, sage steppe restoration, road decommissioning, gate installations, early seral and meadow habitat enhancement, aquatic organism passage, instream habitat structures, steelhead and salmon spawning habitat improvements, white-nose syndrome monitoring, and western pond turtle surveys.
|
