Justin Laycock, Greys River District Ranger with the Bridger-Teton National Forest, and Brett Storey with the Greys River Collaborative, spoke with SVI Media’s Dan Dockstader with an update on future plans between the forest service and collaborative.

(0:00) Today, SVI Media and the Grays River District Offices of the Bridger-Teton National Forest (0:04) here in Afton, visiting with us Justin Laycock, District Ranger, and Brett Storey. He’s been (0:10) overseeing the Grays River Collaborative, a big task. Gentlemen, thanks for joining us.

We’re (0:15) going to jump right into this now and have you, Brett, tell us and remind us what the (0:19) Grays River Collaborative is all about. Sure, thanks, Dan. The Grays River Collaborative (0:23) is a group of local citizens that have interest and some expertise in and around the forest, (0:29) working sort of as an extension of the Grays River Ranger District.

Justin and I work together (0:36) to kind of figure out what the collaborative can do that makes sense to help offset all of (0:42) the items that Justin has to worry about. And then we have a variety of people that show up (0:47) that are part of it and have expertise, whether it’s in timber sales or recreation or anything (0:54) else to do with the forest. And it’s sort of a, it’s an open idea how to improve on projects (1:01) and how to look for future projects.

Grays River Collaborative helps bring everybody to the table (1:06) and get something done hopefully a little faster. Would that be a good summary? That’s a great (1:11) summary. And as I always say to you, Dan, you have to deal with patience when you deal with (1:16) the government.

And I think we’re trying to be making strides and we’re coming together now. (1:22) So hopefully in the next several years, you’ll see many projects. And I know for those listening, (1:27) you have extensive experience in this industry.

Just a few highlights. Why we have you at the (1:33) table, fortunate to have you at the table in your retirement. I feel fortunate to be here in Star (1:38) Valley, this beautiful, beautiful area.

Yeah, I have about 20 years of experience working. (1:45) This is my fifth forest that I’ve worked on. I’ve been fortunate to work with some agencies (1:52) that truly believe in it, public agencies, to work with the Forest Service.

My largest project (1:58) was a 28,000 acre project, the French Meadows Project, which helped protect a reservoir near (2:05) Lake Tahoe on the American River. And we were fortunate. We won the Region 5 Project of the (2:12) Year Award for our partnership with the Forest Service.

It was the first time they had ever gone (2:18) out to work with industry and allowed them to actually run the project from the beginning of the (2:24) planning all the way through the implementations. Pretty proud of that. I’m on my second large one (2:29) now.

This one is a 25,000 acre nearby in that same, it’s the forest next door to it, but it’s (2:36) still in there and we’re really excited about it. So it’s not work when you’re having fun, (2:42) right? So that’s the way I view this. We’re fortunate to have your experience with the (2:46) Grays River Collaborative.

Speaking of that collaborative, Cheston Laycock, District Ranger, (2:51) where does the collaborative fit in with the district tasks and plans and tie it all (2:57) together for us, if you would, please. Yeah, you bet. We’ve been working with the collaborative closely for (3:02) many years and right now we’re working really closely and doing some really great things.

(3:09) We’ve been working on a 10-year vegetation plan for the forest with the collaborative. This is a (3:15) collaborative idea that came to the forest and instead of a five-year plan, we extended that to (3:21) 10 years for vegetation treatments and initially it was timber cells and we added in vegetation (3:27) treatments as well. And the purpose of that 10-year plan is so we can plan and offer and show industry (3:36) what we’re planning and what we’re going to be offering.

And the beauty of that is that we’re (3:42) able to offer a more consistent product and industry can plan around that and hopefully (3:48) be able to sustain the operation that we have going on with timber industry and wood products. (3:57) Now as part of that 10-year plan, we’ve been working closely with industry and trying (4:06) to understand what their needs are. And we’ve put together several meetings where we’ve got them (4:12) together to try to hear them.

And I call it a little bit of some calibrating. You know, we have (4:18) this 10-year plan. Now we want to see if that’s going to match the needs of the industry and the (4:25) purchasers.

So several of those meetings, we had one meeting with everybody all together in a group (4:31) with all of those in the area that are interested in wood products. And then we kind of went (4:39) out and visited each one of those individually on site at the mills. You’ve been busy.

Yeah, we did. (4:48) And it was really good. And we got some really valuable information that we’re going to be able (4:54) to use to make some adjustments to our 10-year plan.

And so we’re offering that product which (5:01) they’re most interested in. We’ve also been working on looking at offering a variety of (5:09) different timber products. You know, and some of those might be firewood.

We’ve really been looking (5:14) at some root wads, some chipboard, post and pole operations, wood pellets as some examples of, you (5:21) know, kind of expanding just from the traditional saw logs that go through the mill. And so these (5:28) are the types of things that people are interested in. And we’ll be making those adjustments as we’re (5:33) working with industry and our plan lines up with their plan.

Very good. So, Brent, let’s come back (5:42) to you. Bread Story, Grays River Collaborative.

You’re appreciative of working with that industry. (5:49) How does that tie in with the collaborative’s plans to bring it all together? Well, first of all, I have (5:55) to say the industry reached out to myself and Rich Stem who also joined us. We aren’t with the Forest (6:01) Service.

And they appreciated how much the Bridger-Teton is trying to make adjustments or recalibrate, (6:07) as Justin said. And they’re very excited about it. So that excites me, too, because that’ll get us (6:12) into more projects and into more sales, into more jobs at all.

You know, the other thing that (6:18) really excites me is the state, the state of Wyoming. And by the way, your state forester, (6:24) Kelly Norris, I used to have that kind of energy many years ago. Really stepping up, isn’t she? (6:29) She’s stepping up, as are the legislators.

Thank you, Senator Dockstader. There’s many things (6:35) happening. The state, we had a great call a couple of weeks ago.

The state’s going to come in with (6:42) their Good Neighbor Authority foresters, and they’re going to be supporting the collaborative (6:46) and Justin. We’ve got several projects that need forester support because of the lack of (6:53) funding from the current administration to have enough foresters out there. I think it’s going (6:58) work great because they’re going to provide another avenue.

The Forest Service can only (7:03) hold so many sales. And so now with the state stepping in, they’re going to be involved in both (7:10) championing these projects, but also putting them up for sale, giving more opportunities to that (7:15) industry that we just talked to. And then the other leg is the county.

I’m excited about it. I’ve had (7:20) some really good discussions with the commissioners and their chief of staff about how we get Lincoln (7:26) County involved, and not just in the Grays, but the idea is if we can get a master stewardship (7:32) agreement with the Forest Service, we can do it in the Grays River District, and we can do it in the (7:37) Kemmerer District, where the county can support more of the sales. They might take on the smaller (7:42) sales, but that’ll get a good balance to everything that needs to go on to protect everyone here and (7:49) protect these beautiful forests.

Quick reminder what a master stewardship agreement is. Oh, (7:56) a couple of ways to do work with the United States Forest Service. One of those is what (8:01) is known as a master stewardship agreement, whereby the agency takes on the responsibilities, (8:07) the fiscal and the operational responsibilities of any one or more projects.

So they effectively (8:14) become another arm for the Forest Service. The other way is the good neighbor authority, (8:19) which the state has. They do the same thing.

They sign an agreement that states they will take on (8:24) operational and financial responsibility. So it’s essentially like consulting for the Forest (8:30) Service, and that’s where the two decades of work I’ve done, I actually have four master stewardship (8:36) agreements on those other four forests, and now that I’m on my fifth forest, I’m going to get (8:40) one here. Your experience would key to this.

Gentlemen, wrap-up comments from both of you, (8:44) if we could, so that we make sure both the Grays River District Ranger’s Office, (8:49) the district is covered, and the Grays River Collaborative. A closing thought (8:53) from our district ranger, Justin Laycock. We’ve been ramping up our timber production for several (9:01) years.

We’re expanding it, and you know, the environment is right right now, where there’s (9:07) several things kind of coming together in our favor to be able to do more. And the collaborative (9:13) and the partnerships that we have involved with this, with the state and the county, are key to (9:17) that. So we have some planning that we need to finish up in the next several months and over the (9:23) summer, a little bit of field work, but we have some timber sales that are going to be offered (9:27) through the state coming up here shortly.

And by the end of this field season, we’ll have another (9:35) timber sale ready to go up in the Little Grays area, and we’re going to be working closely with (9:41) the state and the county, and we’ve found out, and we know this, that we can do more when we (9:46) work together. Very good. Closing thought, Grant.

Yeah, for me, the collaborative really has two (9:53) missions. One is to support the current projects that are being planned and implemented, which I (9:59) think we’re aggressively doing. But then the second part is, what’s the future? We have a lot (10:05) of citizens that are in the collaborative that have been here.

They understand about recreation, (10:09) about wildlife, about timber, and really it’s those ideas that will help Justin and his crew (10:16) look for the next 5-10 years. And I think that’s just as important as what’s going on now. (10:21) Thank you.

Brett Story, Grays River Collaborative, Justin Laycock, (10:24) District Ranger, Grays River District, Dan Dockstead, RSVI Media.