Agreement Narrative: Project Planning Support for the George Washington & Jefferson National Forest
Primary Funder: USDA Forest Service (Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funds)
Location: Clinch Ranger District, George Washington & Jefferson National Forest (GWJEFF)
Innovation: This project increase capacity for planning active forest management projects to restore forest habitat conditions at large landscape scales on National Forest System lands in Virginia. RGS & AWS will collaborate with the GWJEFF to have our Forest Wildlife Specialists and Forest Wildlife Technicians develop a pipeline of active forest management projects to feed into the Forest Service’s National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) planning process. RGS & AWS foresters will identify and assess forest stands, complete GPS data collection and mapping, collect field data to inform decision making, utilize software applications to model conditions, and prepare habitat enhancement recommendations. In addition, RGS & AWS will provide a subaward to contractors to complete NEPA writing and analysis for environmental assessments.
Impact: The project will fund our Forest Wildlife Specialist position in Virginia and enable RGS & AWS to hire two seasonal Forest Wildlife Technicians to assist with field work. RGS & AWS staff will develop three active forest management project proposals on National Forest System lands, assess 90,000 acres of forestland, implement 3,000 acres of forest measurements, and complete one 35,000-acre watershed-scaled environmental assessment through the NEPA process.
Partners and Chapter Contributions: We will collaborate closely with GW-Jeff staff on implementation.
A specific logo is not needed to recognize funders or partners.
Deliverables:
- 90,000 acres of forest matrix assessed (required activity; 30,000- to 60,000-acres assessed per year)
- 3,000 acres of common stand exams completed (required activity; 1,000- to 2,000-acres surveyed per year)
- 3,000 acres of old growth surveys completed (required activity; 1,000- to 2,000-acres surveyed per year)
- One 25,000-40,000-acre watershed-EA completed (required activity)
