Overview: More than 80 percent of the Methow Valley’s remarkably biodiverse watershed is publicly owned and managed. Nearly one million visitors per year come to the Methow to enjoy the sun, snow, and rural environment, contributing more than $150 million to Okanogan County’s economy.
Public lands support a diverse array of wildlife species. In a single day, you may witness a member of the largest mule deer herd in the continental US grazing in the Winthrop town limits and then see Endangered Salmon spawning in the Methow River. This valley and the wider county depend on our public lands for the ecosystem services they provide and the visitors they attract.
Unfortunately, the public lands we depend on are being threatened at every level – from Congressional attempts to defund and deregulate National Parks and Forests, to local efforts by private companies to block access to public rights of way, to proposals for industrial-scale mining in the Methow Headwaters.
MVCC is proactively engaged with numerous collective efforts to ensure that our public lands remain in public hands, and that management decisions support healthy wildlife, watersheds, and communities. We provide comments on proposed land management activities and engage our community’s strong voice to influence public land decisions on all scales.
If you would like to learn more about the US Forest Service’s Twisp River Restoration Project please click, here.
MVCC staff, volunteers and partner organizations work to track and engage our members in public processes to positively influence forest health initiatives and restoration projects on state and federal lands in the Methow Valley.
North Central Washington Forest Health Collaborative:
MVCC closely follows the work of this group, which includes a diverse membership of timber industry representatives, conservationists, tribal government, elected officials, and local, state, and federal land managers working together to restore the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest (OWNF) in Chelan and Okanogan Counties. MVCC is tuned in to provide feedback on restoration proposals in the Methow valley.
MVCC is very excited to be a part of the team working on this effort! For over 20 years, old-growth and other forests on U.S. Forest Service (USFS) and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands (excluding wilderness and other protected areas) in Washington, Oregon, and northwestern California have been governed by the Northwest Forest Plan (NWFP), a Clinton-era agreement that has been hailed as one of the landmark conservation plans of the 20th century. Much, but not all, of the wild forests in the Pacific Northwest have been largely protected as old-growth reserves through the NWFP. The Plan includes a number of land use categories and an aquatic conservation strategy, each with associated standards and guidelines for management activities – including recreation.
The Forest Service has begun the process of revising and updating the Plan. Through that process we risk losing the protection afforded by the Plan – unless a strong voice exists to improve and uphold the strong scientific foundation the Plan is built on. MVCC is partnering with several organizations on a joint regional organizing effort to educate the broader public on the forthcoming Northwest Forest Plan Revision Process (NWFP). These partners include Western Environmental Law Center, The Wilderness Society, the Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center, The Sierra Club, Conservation Northwest, Pacific Rivers, and Methow Valley Citizens Council.
At the heart of this effort is a grassroots community organizing effort that will encourage active civic engagement in national forest planning. This campaign will track the NWFP revision process led by the U.S. Forest Service within the range of the northern spotted owl (western WA, western OR, northern CA) – which is slated to begin in earnest in 2021.
Our goal for the coming year is to lay the groundwork and cultivate relationships with influential moderates in key communities throughout the range of the plan. Additionally, we are building outreach tools to help the public understand the importance and value of protecting these forests. The foundation for our approach is built on collaborating with scientists and policy experts to ensure that any future plan is credible, science-based, and implementable. We look forward to touching base with many of you in the near future to hear your thoughts on forest management in the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest.
If successful, this effort will result in a collective vision of how an updated NWFP could support 21st century public lands values and rural economic development. When the first formal phase of forest plan revision begins in 2021, we will be prepared to hit the ground running by bringing important voices to the table with the Forest Service and elevating them to steer the revision effort in a positive direction.
MVCC is a supporter of the OORC, a campaign formed of Okanogan County’s dirt road users (families, hunters, anglers, business owners and taxpayers) who are fighting to prevent privatization of important public rights of way that access public lands and provide escape routes during natural disasters. Learn more about OORC here.
Methow Headwaters was a coalition of local residents, business owners, and organizations working to make federal lands in the upper watershed of the Methow Valley “off limits” to industrial-scale mining. In March 2019 the Methow Headwaters Protection Act was signed into law as part of the John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management and Recreation Act. This act permanently protected over 340k acres in the upper Methow from mining.
MVCC’s Role: MVCC played a leadership role in the Methow Headwaters campaign. In particular, we supported the outstanding outreach to local businesses and organizations which was at the heart of the campaign’s success.
Learn more about the campaign that protected this beautiful green valley and clean waterways – www.methowheadwaters.org!
MVCC participates in this Network, organized and facilitated by Conservation Northwest since 2017. Comprised of local, state, regional and national conservation organizations, the network tracks, shares and communicates strategically to influence national-level legislation affecting public lands in Washington State.