Willamette National Forest 

Supervisor’s Office

3106 Pierce Parkway, Suite D

Springfield, OR 97477

Phone: 541.225.6300

Website: www.fs.fed.us/r6/willamette

R6-WILL-004-10

Degrading Roads; Difficult Decisions

include road stabilization and storm protection in the Upper McKenzie watershed and Upper Middle 

Fork of the Willamette River watersheds. 

Our work in the Upper Middle Fork is one example of road management challenges and problem 

solving. Within the Upper Middle Fork Willamette River watershed we have over 1,300 miles 

of roads. These roads serve many purposes, including access for public recreation, timber 

management and fire suppression. The roads have a significant impact on resources such 

as watershed, wildlife, and vegetation management. In the Upper Middle Fork Willamette 

Watershed Action Plan, we have identified restoration needs that include culvert replacement, 

road maintenance, road stabilization and decommissioning. We have received $504 million in 

road funding and are working with partners to leverage dollars and with the public to implement 

reasonable solutions. 

Across the entire Willamette National Forest, given public needs, projected costs, and resource 

impacts, we will continue evaluating our road system to decide which roads make sense to maintain 

and which roads we can no longer afford. As we make these road management decisions, the 

public will have an opportunity to help us shape the Willamette National Forest road system. 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and 

activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, and where applicable, sex, 

marital status, familial status, parental status, religion, sexual orientation, genetic information, 

political beliefs, reprisal, or because all or part of an individual’s income is derived from any 

public assistance program. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Persons with 

disabilities who require alternative means for communication of program information (Braille, 

large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA’s TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and 

TDD). To file a complaint of discrimination, write to USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, 1400 

Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20250-9410, or call (800) 795-3272 (voice) or 

(202) 720-6382 (TDD). USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer. 

Contact Judith McHugh our Outreach Specialist at www.jmchugh@fs.fed.us or by phone 

541.225.6305 to learn more about any of the information in this Annual Report. For visitor service 

and recreation questions call 541.225.6300.

Working together to care for the land and serve people.

Willamette National Forest

2009 Annual Report

Forest Service

Pacific Northwest Region

United States 

Department of Agriculture

Willamette National Forest

Continued from page three
2 7

I am excited to be serving as Forest Supervisor on the 

Willamette National Forest (NF). I come with 20 years of service 

in the agency, most recently as Forest Supervisor on the Green 

Mountain and Finger Lakes National Forests in Vermont. 

The Willamette NF had several events and accomplishments 

in 2009. Forest Supervisor Dallas Emch retired after 31 years 

with the Forest Service, leading the Willamette NF since 2002. 

We fought the third largest fire on the Willamette since the late 

1800’s. We protected watersheds and forests, offered conservation education programs for youth 

and adults, maintained recreation sites, and managed our roads and infrastructure. Our work with 

partners from a variety of organizations led to the first Youth Watershed Council in Oregon. We 

put together a comprehensive plan for aquatic and terrestrial restoration in the Upper Middle Fork 

Willamette River above Oakridge, Oregon.

We put people to work using funds designated under American Recovery and Reinvestment 

Act. Our roads and facilities work benefits our communities in providing jobs and protecting the 

investments taxpayers have made in their National Forests. 

What’s next for the Willamette NF? We are engaging youth and working in communities to find 

sustainable solutions. We will look at climate change and large scale landscape restoration. 

Invasive species, climate changes, and social changes demand that we work across boundaries 

like never before with private Forest and State lands, and communities, as we build coalitions to 

meet the needs of future generations. 

It’s a privilege to be on the Willamette NF with such a dedicated and highly motivated group 

of employees, volunteers, contractors, and partners. Our local citizens, communities, nongovernmental organizations, and other cooperating agencies are key to our success of serving the 

public and managing natural resources for sustainable forests. 

Thank you for the warm welcome and I look forward to our work together.

Meg Mitchell

Forest Supervisor

3106 Pierce Parkway, Suite D

Springfield, OR 97477

Phone: 541-225-6312

email: mmitchell01@fs.fed.us

Restoring the Land

Volunteers and botanists worked side by 

side to restore several important meadows, 

including Browder Ridge in Linn County. 

They collected 27 types of native seeds, 

removed the invasive weed St. John’s wort 

as well as encroaching conifers. 

Camas Prairie, an important Native 

American cultural site located along the 

Santiam River, was burned for the sixth 

time in 12 years to stimulate the production 

of the camas bulbs. Since the Camas 

Prairie Restoration Project began in 1998, 

monitoring shows that Camas plants have 

nearly tripled in number, invasive plants 

have decreased by half, and other native 

species have been restored to the site. 

Timber Volume Awarded 

The Forest products program sold 77 million 

board feet of timber in fiscal year 2009. These 

awarded sales will contribute to achieving 

specific land management objectives including 

timber stand growth and yield, development 

of late successional stand characteristics, 

restoration, and long term stand health.

Recreation

The Forest, in partnership with the Oregon 

Parks and Recreation Department began 

implementation of the Santiam Pass Summer 

Motorized Recreation Area decision, which 

included development of an educational 

brochure, rehabilitation of the historic Santiam 

Wagon Road, and other motorized trail 

improvements. We replaced and repaired 

five failing trailbridges on popular hiking and 

equestrian trails, including Salt Creek Falls and 

the Pacific Crest Trail. The Forest continues 

to grow and invest in the Respect the River 

Program, managing additional dispersed 

recreation sites and public access within 

sensitive riparian areas.

Engaging Youth 

Twelve Girl Scouts from all around Oregon 

connected with the sights, sounds, and scents 

of the forests in a three day camping adventure 

“Girls in the Woods” at Roaring River Campground 

southeast of Blue River, Oregon. The girls learned 

about natural sciences, outdoor safety, Native 

American history and culture, and careers in the 

Forest Service. Forest Service women from various 

backgrounds shared their work experiences in 

natural resources and land management. This 

program teaches young girls about the environment 

and plants the seeds for future career choices.

From the Forest Supervisor 

Forest Highlights
6 3

The Willamette National Forest manages roads 

for many purposes. Visitors will find that those 

roads fall broadly into two categories: (1) roads 

that are easily and safely used by passenger 

vehicles and (2) roads maintained for highclearance vehicles. Over the last decade, as part 

of our attempt to keep our most popular roads as 

safe as possible, more of our ‘spur’ roads have 

become brushed in, marred by potholes and are 

now suitable only for high-clearance vehicles. 

Fewer miles of road are available for use by 

passenger vehicles. 

On some roads, water runoff and sediment 

from degrading road beds poses a threat to 

water quality and fish habitat and impairs 

passenger safety. The Forest is working with 

partners, and would like to hear from everyone, 

about the difficult road system management 

choices that must be made – how should we 

balance the need for public access, fire-fighting 

responsiveness, management of vegetation, 

wildlife, fisheries, invasive species and other 

concerns? Where can we find a reasoned, logical 

middle ground that protects natural resources 

and the investments made by past generations? 

Where should we spend our finite financial 

resources?

One thing we can’t do is nothing. This year we 

have heavily invested in our roads using funds 

from the American Recovery and Reinvestment 

Act (ARRA) 2009. We repaired Forest Highway 

46, a scenic route that runs between the 

Willamette and Mount Hood National Forests. 

This $1.4 million federal stimulus project allowed 

us to put people to work and improve a popular 

route. Other projects planned under ARRA 

Degrading Roads; Difficult Decisions

This Sweet Home road 

storage project retains 

investment and protects 

aquatic resources by 

removing the stream fill. 

The road bed is left intact, 

but the fills and culverts 

in stream crossings are 

removed where stream 

crossings pose a threat to 

aquatic resources.

Continued on back of Annual Report

Focus on People 

Conservation Education – Connecting People to the Land

Conservation education is an important part of our Forest Service mission and a key component 

of the array of services that we provide here on the Willamette National Forest. Our natural 

resource specialists work with schools, special interest groups, community organizations, and other 

environmental education providers to provide a variety of education opportunities for youth and 

adults. We want to help the public learn about natural resources and understand the importance of 

conserving them for future generations. Conservation education programs offered in 2009 included:

• Heritage and Natural Resource Hikes – guided hikes that focus on exploring the cultural 

and natural history of the western Cascades featuring topics such as bird watching, edible 

mushrooms, wildflowers, and cultural history.

• Free Fishing Day – a series of annual events across the Forest that engage youth in fishing and 

learning about the role that healthy watersheds play in providing habitat for aquatic species.

• Aquatic Invasive Species outreach – on-site education about aquatic invasive species 

prevention at popular recreation sites such as Detroit Lake and other waterbodies.

Strong Partnerships Create Success

With over $1 million dollars of in-kind and cash contributions from outside partners, the 

Willamette National Forest completed several watershed restoration projects including riparian 

planting and thinning, large wood placement in streams, road decommissioning and the 

construction of a bull trout spawning channel in 2009. The key to these successes is strong 

partnerships with community volunteers, schools, watershed councils and other state and federal 

agencies. The beneficiaries of this work include threatened fish species like bull trout and spring 

Chinook salmon as well as the thousands of children and adults that become part of these 

projects through volunteering and conservation education programs. We thank our partners for 

their support and look forward to future collaboration on this critical work. 

Forest Highlights

New Location 

In January 2009, employees packed up the 

Willamette National Forest Supervisor’s Office 

from the downtown Eugene location and settled 

into a new facility built by the Oregon Military 

Department near the corner of 28th and Marcola 

Road in Springfield, Oregon. This move cuts 

facility costs and offers Forest Service and 

Bureau of Land Management visitors one 

location to obtain information and services. 

Other occupants of the facility include the 

Oregon National Guard and recruiting offices for 

several branches of the military.

Largest Fires in 2009

Firefighters attacked the 283-acre Canal 

Creek fire located in the Elk Creek drainage 

area approximately 8 miles southwest of 

Detroit, Oregon. Firefighters fought the 

14,650-acre Tumblebug fire located 22 miles 

southeast of Oakridge. Tumblebug is the 

third largest fire on the Willamette NF since 

the late 1800’s when records are available.
4 5

Soil/Water/Wildlife/Fish/Botany

Wildlife habitat improvement (acres) 14,459

Riparian and soils restoration (acres) 2,636

Stream habitat surveys (miles) 76

Stream habitat restored (miles) 46

Fish monitoring surveys (miles) 193

Fish passage culverts replaced 2

Watershed/soils monitoring (acres) 1,074

Lakes monitored (acres) 10

Invasive plant treatment (acres) 5,633

Conservation education programs/products 177

People reached with conservation education messages 14,726

Partner investments (in-kind and cash) $1,011,600

Forest Products

Million board feet timber offered for sale 76.49

Acres reforested 761

Timber stand improvement (acres) 5,105

Christmas tree tags sold 4,566 

Firewood (cords) 3,795

NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

COUNTY PAYMENTS (Secure Rural Schools & Community Self-Determination Act of 2000)

Some of these funds are used on the Forest to help provide jobs for locals and youths. The Advisory 

Committee recommended 80 projects totaling $2,925,906 for implementation. Due to timing of 

reauthorization of the law, approximately 50% of the projects were actually completed in 2009.

Clackamas $8,958

Douglas $1,010,337

Jefferson $2,406

Lane $20,222,493

Linn $9,228,238

Marion $2,392,596

Total $32,865,029

$40,545,972 $40,502,794

$36,491,585 $32,865,029

Total

FY06

Total

FY07

Total

FY08

Total

FY09

Expenditures, Receipts, Goods and Services

Wildfires (acres) 14,875

Fire hazard reduction (acres) 723

Number of days on fire assignments 5,921

Number of wildland fires 74

Roads decommissioned (miles) 0

Roads constructed (miles) 0

Road improvements (miles) 136

Closed roads (miles) 1,060

High clearance roads (miles) 4,921

Passenger car roads (miles) 558

FIRE AND ENGINEERING

Recreation visits (2007 survey) 1,685,180

Trails maintained to standard (miles) 1,200

Trails reconstruction (miles) 2

Trailbridges reconstructed 6

Recreation special-use permits 346

Mining & Geology activities administered 137

Newly recorded or discovered heritage sites 22

Heritage acres surveyed 10,367

Heritage hikes 12

Heritage expeditions 1

Heritage expedition receipts $5,100

RECREATION, LANDS, AND MINERALS

American Recovery 

and Reinvestment Act

$1,106,799

Secure Rural Schools and 

Community Self-Determination Act

$1,536,264

Other Programs $31,652,681

2009 EXPENDITURES