GPNF Collaboration
The Gifford Pinchot Task Force is working to find common ground solutions that allow us to move away from the controversy that has surrounded the management of our National Forests for decades.
- The GP Task Force works with the Pinchot Partners to restore watershed health while creating quality local jobs.
To achieve this goal we are working collaboratively with three separate collaborative groups across southwest Washington. We first started working collaboratively on the north end of the forest in Cowlitz Valley by helping to fuel the formation of the Pinchot Partners in 2003, which brought together interest groups including conservationists, rural community leaders, economic development interests, union leaders, tribal representatives, local loggers and others to identify practical and action-oriented forest management strategies that would restore ecosystems while creating quality, local jobs. To learn more about the Pinchot Partners and recent projects visit their website at www.pinchotpartners.org.
In the fall of 2008, the GP Task Force started working with key community leaders and the Forest Service in both the Lewis River Basin on the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument District and the Mt. Adams Ranger District to form two additional collaborative groups. The Mt. Adams District Collaborative is focusing on developing projects that enhance economic vitality, forest ecosystem health, and public safety on the Mt. Adams District of the GPNF. The Lewis River Collaborative is focused on prioritizing and developing restoration projects within the Lewis River Basin of the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument District. We believe that by coming together with diverse interests we can find common ground and innovative solutions to revitalize rural communities.
The GP Task Force is working with local communities to:
• Create and support restoration projects that provide rural family-wage jobs,
• Advocate for dependable levels of funding for restoration projects and other national policies through the federal government each year, and
• Promote improved Forest Service contracting to benefit local businesses.
