Stewards all

The Siuslaw Stewardship Group turns 10.

They are unlikely partners. Timber companies, forest-ers, loggers, tribes, watershed councils and private landowners are just some of the players that have come together to make it happen.

Twenty years ago, the thought of saving a northern spotted owl could be met with derision in some circles. Now all parties are working for a common cause: restoration of forest and streams.

The hope is to create a more natural habitat for, yes, the spotted owl, but also the marbled murrelet, wild coho salmon and other species while keeping timber sale money in the area and creating sustainable jobs.

This group of diverse stakeholders is the Siuslaw Stewardship Group. In the 10 years since the group’s inception, it has, in the words of U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell, “implement(ed) a rapidly expanding, world-class program for forest and watershed restoration.”

Wednesday night the group received the Two Chiefs Award, so named because the chiefs of both the Forest Service and the Natural Resources Conservation Service select the honorees.

Nationwide only four groups and one individual received the award.

In 1994 the Northwest Forest Plan called for preservation of more old-growth forest and riparian habitat and a change in forest management. Four years later, the Wyden Amendment authorized the Forest Service to enter into cooperative agreements to restore watersheds.