THE COALITION
The Coos Bay Wagon Road Coalition is a locally-driven effort to improve management of our federal forests, create jobs and provide sustainable funding for county government.
The Coalition has crafted a creative and realistic solution to our County’s funding crisis — a solution that lies within our own community. A partnership between Coos County and the Coquille Indian Tribe will:
- create local jobs;
- create a long term, sustainable source of county funding;
- maintain environmental protections and restore fish and wildlife habitat.
No other proposed solution can boast of such benefits.
COOS BAY WAGON ROAD LANDS
- Origin: Congress originally set aside these lands to help develop a military wagon road along an historic Indian trail between Roseburg and Coos Bay. The Coos Bay Wagon Road Lands were later revested to federal ownership and are currently managed by the Bureau of Land Management.
- Management: In 1937, Public Law 75-405 directed that both the O&C and CBWR lands be managed “for permanent forest production, and the timber thereon shall be sold, cut, and removed in conformity with the principal of sustained yield for the purpose of providing a permanent source of timber supply, protecting watersheds, regulating stream flow, and contributing to the economic stability of local communities and industries, and providing recreational facilities.”
- Revenue sharing: For the O&C, the county is owed 50% of its proportionate share of timber receipts from the BLM. On the CBWR, the BLM provides Coos County a payment roughly equivalent to the property and timber severance taxes that would apply if these were private lands. Since 1994, these payments have been replaced by federal “safety net” payments, such as the “Secure Rural Schools” program. This funding expires in 2011 and the Federal government must re-initiate these tax-like payments in 2012.
See more at: Coos Bay Wagon Road Coalition
The Coquille Forest has been certified by the Forest Stewardship Council as an ecologically sustainable forest.
High Conservation Value Forest (HCVF) Management Plan
Integrated Vegetation Management Plan
The Coquille Indian Tribe was actively involved with the process of the expansion and restoration of the Bandon Marsh Reserve. AFS Award Final
The Coquille Indian Tribe and the Coquille Forest are the subjects of a recent article featured in the November, 2011 edition of Solutions journal. The article offers a broad overview of the Tribe’s efforts to manage its forests in a sustainable manner and discusses how the Tribe’s forestry management practices fit into the Tribe’s traditions, history and present day workings.
The Coquille and the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians are working with the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board (OWEB) on OWEB’s small grant program. Landowners can submit grant applications to receive funding for projects on their property demonstrating a direct benefit to improving in-stream process and function, fish passage, wetland and riparian process and function, road impact reduction, and water quantity/irrigation efficiency.
Please read the attachment for more information: CCSGT Flyer 2011
The Water Quality 101 articles are a series of articles written by the Tribe’s Water Quality Manager that discuss and explain the basic water quality parameters of temperature, turbidity, conductivity, and dissolved oxygen.
The Coquille Indian Tribe monitors these parameters within all tribal water bodies to assess the quality of the waters for basic systemic functionality and health. They explain why these seemingly simple physical attributes are important within an aquatic ecosystem for maintaining life, supporting beneficial uses, and supporting an abundant aquatic community. There is also an article explaining the Clean Water Act, an important piece of legislation which supports the regulation of pollutant discharge and provides the means by which States and Tribes can protect water resources.
