NWTF and NRCS Host Western Forestry Joint Training

FORT COLLINS, CO ― Coinciding with the NFI agreement’s five-year anniversary was an inaugural joint forestry training hosted in Fort Collins, Colorado. The Western Forestry Joint Training, which centered on the theme, “Ecological and Functional Based Forestry,” brought NWTF, NRCS, USDA Forest Service, Colorado conservation districts and several other partner organizations together for three days of establishing connections, learning and collaborating.

Petra Popiel and the NRCS Colorado Public Affairs Staff •October 12, 20234 min read

Importantly, Colorado was an ideal location to host the training. The Rocky Mountain region, specifically Colorado, was selected as pilot for a larger collaborative effort deemed the Rocky Mountain Restoration Initiative, an initiative that was co-convened by the NWTF and Forest Service but has since gathered over 40 key partners. The RMRI mission is to increase the resilience of the forests, wildlife habitats, communities, recreation opportunities and water resources across all lands in the Rocky Mountains. This mélange of cooperation and conservation planning on a regional scale served as a useful backdrop for the conversations had at the training.

“We are excited to share the opportunity to see what it looks like when NRCS and conservation partners – such as NWTF and the conservation districts – in Colorado partner up to do conservation forest stewardship work,” Clint Evans, NRCS Colorado State conservationist, said to training attendees. “You’ll get to see what it looks like on the ground and what ecology-based forestry work looks like along the front range in Colorado, as well as see how that can interface with public lands on USFS, as well as state lands and BLM lands in the West.”

forest restoration work near Estes park, Colorado — Situated at the foot of the Twin Sisters Peaks of Rocky Mountain National Park and adjacent to the populated town of Estes Park, the Cheley Camps of Colorado has worked closely with the Larimer Conservation District and the Natural Resources Conservation Service to implement nearly 400 acres of forest restoration through the EQIP program. Photo courtesy of Petra Popiel and the NRCS Colorado Public Affairs Staff.

Situated at the foot of the Twin Sisters Peaks of Rocky Mountain National Park and adjacent to the populated town of Estes Park, the Cheley Camps of Colorado has worked closely with the Larimer Conservation District and the Natural Resources Conservation Service to implement nearly 400 acres of forest restoration through the EQIP program. Photo courtesy of Petra Popiel and the NRCS Colorado Public Affairs Staff.

The training included topics and discussions such as: systematic and consistent framework for forest conservation planning; how to adaptively manage and monitor for ecologically complex objectives; adaptive silviculture for climate change; western wildfire and water issues; and updates from regional foresters.

Many of the NWTF National Forestry Initiative foresters from across the country were in attendance, including Laura Prevatte, a conservation forester in southeastern North Carolina. Throughout her 35-year forestry career, Prevatte has always worked with private landowners and noted that most landowners she has worked with own their land for two reasons: family legacy and to improve wildlife.

“Working with the NWTF and through the technical expertise we offer, you really have that option to help manage private properties for wildlife,” she said. “NWTF gives landowners really great options that work for them and their property.”

From New York, NWTF NFI forester Jim Bagley echoed similar sentiments. Working in the northern hardwood forests where oak and maple trees abound, Bagley works to maintain and improve these areas while also accommodating wildlife.

“The NWTF emphasizes improving habitat and preserving hunting heritage,” Bagley said. “These two goals are complementary; good management for the forest and the landscape is good wildlife management.”

The work NFI foresters have completed, thanks to the cooperative agreement between NRCS and NWTF, highlights the possibilities of on-the-ground private lands conservation work and the commitment the two organizations have for helping people improve the land.

NWTF and NRCS Partnership at Work in Colorado

Significantly, the close partnership between the NWTF and NRCS showcases itself in a two-fold manner in the state of Colorado; the first intangibly, as key relationships are built with private landowners and partners through conservation conversations. The second is much more tangible, as it can physically be seen on the landscape of the state through key forestry projects.

The RMRI sought to use the USDA’s Shared Stewardship Strategy – a national effort to both plan and implement work across public and private lands.

“By focusing on three priority watersheds, we are trying to pool all our resources, which ranges between capacity building, availability of funds, outreach and working with private landowners, as well as that public lands-private lands interface,” Evans said. “The initial three landscapes designated for the RMRI efforts included Southwest Colorado (750,000-acre project area), the Upper Arkansas (900,000-acre project area) and the Upper South Platte (885,000-acre watershed area). All three landscapes include projects that span both public and private lands.”

Additionally, the NWTF and NRCS partnership is at work in Colorado through two designated NFI foresters for the state. Ian Hopkins, NFI conservation forester out of the Durango NRCS office, works directly with Montezuma, La Plata and Archuleta counties. Encompassing a vast square acreage within this geographic region, Hopkins’ work primarily focuses on wildfire mitigation, wildlife habitat restoration and forest health.

Aligning with the shared stewardship mentality from above, a significant portion of Hopkins’ work is also devoted to working across landscapes and boundaries with different interdisciplinary groups.

“Something really essential to these projects being successful is being able to communicate and work with other groups of people across boundaries and figure out ways in which we can make a mark on these forests at larger landscape scales,” he said. “And that’s the state of things now; we’re all dedicated to working together, better.”

With this mindset, Hopkins also realizes that every project, no matter the size, matters.

“Even the smallest project can turn into and be leveraged into bigger ones,” he said. “Take every project seriously, because even if it’s 1 acre, that person may tell their neighbor who tells a landowner down the road, who may have an 80-acre plot they are interested in working on.”

A current project, located in Archuleta County, pinpoints not only the complexity but also the multipurpose benefits that can come from working with NFI foresters and having a forest management plan for a property. Taking both a site’s natural resources concerns into consideration, while also balancing a landowner’s personal objectives, can be a difficult task.

“Projects start with convincing and education,” Hopkins said. “This site (in Archuleta County) is now well spaced and has older growth trees. The older growth trees provide habitat space for wild turkey and other species, but they are also the trees that mast and produce seeds for the next generation. And the property now has the habitat space and cover and the basal area that we are looking for. Plus, there’s a willingness to keep working with us.”

It is projects such as these that are integral to the work and mission of both NWTF and NRCS. In looking forward to the next five years of the National Forestry Initiative 2.0, Mark Hatfield, NWTF national director of Conservation Services, said, “It’s all about better, healthier forests on the landscape and building upon the complementary relationship between NRCS and NWTF.”

To find out more about the NRCS, visit their website, here.

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