Adam Caulkins, Kemmerer District Ranger with the Bridger-Teton National Forest, called into the Weekday Wake-Up on Tuesday, June 23 to report on an increased partnership between the U.S. Forest Service and the Wyoming State Forestry Division. The partnership has created the Good Neighbor Authority and Shared Stewardship programs which are being piloted in Lincoln County. The programs are expected to increase forest health through a large increase in lumber sales and logging operations, both in small and large timber sales, in the Greys River and Kemmerer Ranger Districts.

(0:00) Rolling into another guest interview segment this morning and joining me live over the phone is Adam (0:05) Calkins, the Kemmerer District Ranger with the Bridger-Teton National Forest, Kemmerer Ranger (0:09) District, and discussing a couple of new programs taking place in partnership between the U.S. (0:15) Forest Service and the Wyoming State Forestry Division that I think a lot of our listeners (0:19) will have some interest in for the Grays River and Kemmerer Ranger District. Adams, good morning, (0:24) how are you doing today? I’m doing great, thanks for having me on again, Duke. Absolutely, (0:29) appreciate the update.

Of course, you and I and some other members of the State Forestry Division (0:35) and the Bridger-Teton National Forest had a chance to all meet in Star Valley in Kemmerer (0:40) last week with the Chambers of Commerce and Kelly Norris, the Wyoming State Forester, was there and (0:45) gave a presentation on these new programs that are really rolling out the Good Neighbor Authority (0:50) and shared stewardship programs. So Adam, let’s start right there. Tell us what these are and (0:57) this partnership looks like.

Yeah, absolutely. So we’re really excited about this partnership. (1:05) So first to begin with is the Good Neighbor Authority.

And so what the Good Neighbor (1:10) Authority does is it allows the federal government, so the Forest Service as an example, (1:16) to work much closer with the state, specifically in this case state forestry, where we are able to (1:24) give the state funds to help get a lot of our timber sales out the door. That we are really (1:32) limited on staff, we’re limited on our ability to just make a lot of these timber sales happen. (1:39) And so with the Good Neighbor Authority, we’re able to work closer with the state to make those (1:45) those timber sales a reality.

And so with that, we then have coupled with the shared stewardship (1:52) program. We are able to, again, that the shared stewardship program is an agreement that was (2:00) signed between Governor Gordon and the Chief of the Forest Service, Chief Schultz, back in February. (2:07) And the shared stewardship agreement really just says that both the state of Wyoming and the United (2:13) States Forest Service are going to work closer together, more hand in hand, if you will, (2:19) to create healthy landscapes out here on the Bridge of Teton and across the state of Wyoming.

(2:24) And so we were fortunate down here in Kemmer to be selected, the Kemmer Ranger District, (2:31) as one of two pilot programs across the state to really start showcasing how the United States (2:41) Forest Service and how Wyoming State Forestry Division can work together to create healthy (2:47) landscapes, to do more timber sales, and really just to see a lot more active management take (2:55) place across the landscape. Yeah, absolutely. And I look at this partnership, and of course, (3:00) the new office that’s going in Kemmer, we’ve heard from you and some others in the Forest Service (3:04) about this.

But one thing that really stood out to me during the presentations last week on this (3:09) was the amount of lumber harvests that the Forest Service is pushing for. I mean, (3:16) we’ve talked about some small timber sales and some things like that, but I mean, we’re really (3:21) talking about kind of going back to maybe the way things were if people remember 20, 30, 40 years ago (3:27) on these district rangers, ranger districts in Kemmer and Grays River. I mean, it’s going to be (3:32) a big difference, right? It is going to be a big difference.

And the underlying thing that all of (3:40) this is about is just to make our forest healthy. We’re seeing some insects and disease (3:47) and infestations in some of our local areas. And so we’re really focused on how can we make (3:55) our forest healthy again.

And that is a large part of the shared stewardship agreement. And (4:01) to get back to your earlier point, Duke, about just how much timber we’re proposing to start (4:07) moving, that our big focus with the shared stewardship agreement right now is going to (4:13) be up the LaBarge and drainage. And what we are proposing is about 17 million board feet (4:22) that we are proposing of work that we’re hopefully going to start doing next year up LaBarge.

(4:28) And just to kind of give a frame of reference for folks, on a typical log truck, you get between (4:35) 4,000 and 5,000 board feet for a log truck. And so we’re proposing 17 million board feet (4:45) of work just up the LaBarge drainage alone. And then coupled with that, we have more projects (4:52) up the Hams Fork down here in Kemmer that are proposed.

We have a project at Nugent Park (4:58) with, again, several million board feet that are also proposed. And so we’re really going to be (5:05) seeing a lot of timber coming off of the Kemmer District here in the next five to 10 years. (5:11) And up in the Graze River District as well, they have a lot of projects up the Graze River (5:17) that are proposed, some stuff up in Grover Park that they’re planning and working on.

(5:22) And so we’re really hopeful that with these agreements that we’re going to be able to start (5:27) doing a lot of this work that is really needed on our landscape. (5:31) You know, the trickle-down effect between this partnership between (5:36) the state and the U.S. Forest Service. I mean, we’re talking about, of course, (5:41) the forest health that you mentioned, which is primary concern and appropriate management of (5:47) the forest, which has been a big concern for the locals here for years and years.

(5:51) Fire mitigation. We’re talking road maintenance. We’re talking revitalizing an industry.

I mean, (5:57) the trickle-down effects of this just continue to go on and on and on. (6:01) And the nice thing about it with the state collaboration between the U.S. Forest Service (6:06) and the State Forestry Department at the state level is it doesn’t really matter who’s in the (6:11) White House in D.C., right? I mean, it sounds like this is kind of putting something in place that, (6:15) no matter whether it’s a red or a blue administration in Washington, that this (6:19) is something that can continue, right? Yes, absolutely. So I want to hit two (6:27) points, and then I’ll come back to that last point, Duke.

And so on your wildfire mitigation, (6:34) that fuels reduction along our roadside, so one of the things that we’re doing is these fuels (6:40) reduction projects. And this is the first year we’re actually doing one of those in conjunction (6:45) with the state, and this is taking place up on the Great River District. And we did one of these (6:52) projects through the Forest Service contracting last year, or over the last couple of years, (6:59) right off Salt Pass, and that actually helped with the fire behavior for the Willow Creek fire, (7:06) if folks remember that last year, and is one of the main reasons we were able to contain and (7:13) control that fire right there along the highway was this fuels reduction project.

And so we are (7:19) working, something I forgot to mention earlier, is what we’re calling our small timber sales idea. (7:26) And we’re going to be working these through the state, where we’re thinking about two to five (7:31) acre timber sale, and a lot of these are going to be along the roadside, because we see the bulk of (7:37) our wildfires started along the roads. And so, or it will allow us to catch these wildfires in good (7:47) holding locations, which roads provide a good holding location there.

But these small timber (7:52) sales, we really want to, we’re trying to better reach out to the public for these small sales, (7:59) that we know, because we have people coming into our offices and asking about an opportunity like (8:05) this to have two to five acres that would be their own to go and cut on, that would, so they could (8:11) get more wood than would normally be in, say, their firewood permit, or they run a front yard (8:18) sawmill, and they just need a little more volume. They like to make furniture and, you know, bunk (8:24) beds or whatnot. And so these small sales in our first two should hopefully be going up for (8:31) going up for sale this year, both one in Grays River and one in Kemmerer.

And so we’re really (8:37) hopeful that the public is going to latch on to this idea of a small five acre sale that they can (8:42) kind of call their own. And so if you’re curious about that, or want more information on that, (8:47) please call or stop into the Kemmerer office or the Grays River Ranger District office. But (8:52) you’re right, back on your other point, Duke, we support whoever’s in the White House.

(8:58) But we are hoping that this will create a program that will have some longevity, (9:05) and that we will be able to, like I said, over the next five to 10 years, (9:09) we will be able to really see a lot of work and a lot of forest health and forest restoration (9:15) coming out of, off of these districts. That’s Adam Calkins, Kemmerer District Ranger with the (9:23) Bridger-Teton National Forest. Adam, appreciate your update and your time on this.

We are going to (9:28) have more members of both the state and U.S. Forest Service on on a regular basis to kind (9:33) of keep us posted and updated on this process. And so anything we missed that you’d like to (9:37) mention today? No, I don’t think so. I really appreciate you letting me come on and spend a (9:42) few minutes with you today.

We are just really excited about this program. We’re really excited (9:47) about the shared stewardship and the Good Neighbor Authority, our local legislators that have done a (9:53) lot to help move these four programs forward. And we’re just going to see a lot of good things (9:58) coming over the next couple years.

So we look forward to continuing to update you. Adam Calkins, (10:04) Kemmerer District Ranger with the Bridger-Teton National Forest. It’s all part of the weekday (10:07) wake-up on SVI Radio.