Willamette 

National Forest

2010 Annual Report

United States 

Department of Agriculture

Forest Service

Pacific Northwest Region

Gems of the High Cascades
Dear Friends,

2010! What a year! I have now worked on the Willamette for a full year and am 

enjoying the cycle of seasons and the many issues and opportunities that arise as 

we strive to manage this land for the “greatest good for the greatest number, in 

the long run”. I am privileged to be a part of this great story.

The year began as it should, with our organization working to get out as many 

job-creating, forest-sustaining projects as possible. As a federal agency, we embraced the American 

Recovery and Reinvestment Act, or Stimulus program. Using those funds and others, we improved 

many miles of roads, built facilities, cleared brush, removed invasive weeds, improved campgrounds 

and day use sites – all activities utilized a non-federal workforce to complete. Our employees put 

together the contracts and in many cases administered the work, but our focus was on creating jobs for 

others while accomplishing important forest work. 

We initiated a new approach to fire management. The Scott Mountain fire, located in the Mt 

Washington Wilderness, and the Pyramid Butte fire, located in the Mt. Jefferson Wilderness, presented 

unique situations and some opportunities for innovation. We had two fast-growing incidents in 

difficult terrain that eluded our early attempts to put the fires out while they were small. We could 

have chosen a traditional path – order up lots of firefighters and ask them to take managed risks to 

aggressively suppress the fires. Instead, we saved dollars, reduced risk to firefighters and carefully 

watched as the fire did great ecological work in our wilderness areas. We had a contingency plan in 

place, but Mother Nature cooperated and the onset of fall rains did the final job.

We are also preparing for the future. Our climate change team is exploring how a changing climate 

will alter our forest management options. Our outreach folks are looking for new ways to get kids and 

families out in the woods, and grow the stewardship ethic of all our visitors. Our employees are helping 

me define the right mix of work we need to achieve a forest that serves society’s economic, social and 

resource values in the best possible way. I’d like to have that conversation with others – might you have 

some time? Please call, and I’ll look forward to working with you as we move forward together.

Meg Mitchell

Forest Supervisor

3106 Pierce Parkway, Suite D

Springfield, OR 97477

Phone: 541-225-6312

email: mmitchell01@fs.fed.us

Welcome to Our 2010 Annual Report

We are excited to share with you the tangible 

benefits made with funding from the American 

Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The 

Willamette National Forest put contractors to 

work in several Oregon counties repairing roads, 

building facilities, preserving recreation sites, 

clearing brush and removing invasive weeds. The 

Forest overlaps portions of Lane, Linn, Marion, 

Douglas, Clackamas and Jefferson counties. The 

work accomplished with ARRA dollars supports 

communities and forest health now and for 

future generations.

Putting People to Work in Construction 

Approximately $3 million of ARRA funds 

created 35 jobs and helped remodel the 

McKenzie River Ranger District administrative 

office located on Highway 126. Contractors 

remodeled the deteriorating administrative 

office creating a new environmentally green 

building. The project consisted of tearing down 

the deteriorating back sections of the old office 

and building a new office that compliments the 

visitor center front entrance built in 2001. Crews 

recycled a large percentage of the materials 

torn down. 

Now, more than 25,000 visitors annually 

enjoy the state of the art interpretative 

visitor information center. The new “green” 

administrative offices are “LEED Silver” and 

have an estimated increase of 50 years life 

expectancy. LEED stands for “Leadership in 

Energy and Environmental Design. 

Improving Roads

Across the Willamette National Forest, $677,156 

of ARRA funds helped improve roads. Of those 

ARRA dollars, $635,496 provided contract jobs 

for deferred maintenance work on bridges and 

roads used by passenger vehicles and maintained 

for high clearance vehicles. If left unmaintained, 

the water runoff and sediment from degrading 

road beds poses a threat to water quality and fish 

habitat and creates public safety concerns. Crews 

replaced road structures and improved drainage 

systems. They also replaced culverts to reduce the 

risk of future storm damage. 

Building Sustainable Facilities

$1.2 million in ARRA funds put approximately 

18 contractors to work building bunkhouses at 

the Middle Fork and McKenzie River Ranger 

Districts. Crews built four sustainable and 

energy-efficient bunkhouses to provide summerRecovery Dollars at Work in Our Communities

Continued on back of Annual Report
Expenditures, Receipts, Goods and Services

Recreation visits (2007 survey) 1,685,180

Hosted recreation events & other permits 275

Trails improved and reconstructed (miles) 503

Trails maintained to standard (miles) 489

Trail bridges reconstructed 4

Mining & Geology activities administered 25

Mineral Proposals processed 25

Newly recorded or discovered heritage sites 34

Heritage acres surveyed 4,000

Natural Resource hikes 32

Heritage expeditions 1

Heritage expedition receipts $8,090

The Forest implemented the Travel Management Rule. This decision 

designates what roads and trails are open to which types of wheeledvehicle motorized use throughout the year. We completed the entire 

Forest. Motor Vehicle Use Map is now available free to the public. 

RECREATION, LANDS, AND MINERALS

American Recovery 

and Reinvestment Act, FY 2010

$ 8,162,151 

Secure Rural Schools (Title II) $2,538,517

Other programs 

(excludes fire suppression)

$ 27,780,127 

2010 EXPENDITURES

Water/Wildlife/Botany/Conservation Education

Restore wildlife habitat - prescribed burns, planting trees, 

native seeding, monitoring bird nest sites, & other work 

(acres)

3,413

Acres inventoried for Threatened/Endangered Species 9,010

Stream habitat improvement for aquatic species - added 

large wood, planted riparian species, & removed invasive 

species (miles)

214

Stream monitoring of temperature & fish population (miles) 206

Watershed, restore soils & hydrologic areas (acres) 3,464

Watershed monitoring of soil & watershed condition (acres) 382

Restore lake habitat - added large wood & dispersed site 

restoration (acres) 202

Invasive plant treatment (acres) 5,164

Conservation education presentations 1,416

Conservation education programs/products 21

People reached with conservation education messages 71,000

Conservation education partner contributions 

(in-kind & cash) $277,935

Forest Products

Million board feet timber offered for sale 72.880

Acres reforested 316

Timber stand improvement (acres) 4,166

Christmas tree tags sold 3,738 

Firewood (cords) sold 3,314

NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Willamette National Forest Title II Dollars for Projects on National Forest Lands 

Types of projects for 2010

66 total projects

$1,560,924 $738,259 $277,520 $665,345 $250,111

$379,665 $121,193

$1,406,758

$609,278

Thirteen students help restore fish habitat 

in side channels of the McKenzie River. The 

project is a partnership with the Willamette 

National Forest Service, McKenzie Watershed 

Council, Freshwater Trust, and McKenzie and 

Cottage Grove High schools.

Middle Fork Ranger District fire personnel 

conduct a prescribed burn at Jim’s Creek 

located about 18 miles south of Oakridge. 

Prescribed burns help improve forest health 

for plants and wildlife.

The Willamette National Forest used an 

innovative approach on the Scott Mountain 

Fire in Mt. Washington Wilderness that saved 

dollars, reduced risk to firefighters, and 

supported forest ecology.

Volunteers remove fallen trees and debris 

after fire to make trails safe and accessible 

in the Waldo Lake Wilderness area.

FIRE AND ENGINEERING

Number of wildland fires 167

Wildfires (acres) 3,875

Fire hazard reduction (acres) 182

Number of days on fire assignments 6,794

Administrative facilities maintained to standard 103

Miles of roads maintained for high clearance vehicles 589

Miles of roads maintained for passenger cars 325

$34,341

$73,424

$66,172

FY

10

FY

11

FY

12

Lane Linn Marion Douglas

FY

10

FY

11

FY

12

FY

10

FY

11

FY

12

FY

10

FY

11

FY

12

Restore wildlife habitat $13,355

Conservation education $19,000

Re-establish native species $38,005

Control noxious weeds $112,730

Fuels management and fire prevention $118,060

Restore fish habitat $126,000

Other project types $158,600

Trail maintenance $234,220

Infrastructure maintenance $256,290

Forest health improvement $319,790

Road maintenance $483,817

Watershed, restore and maintenance $749,260

{
Cultivating Environmental Stewards 

The Youth Watershed Council, a partnership between the Sweet Home Ranger District of the 

Willamette National Forest and the South Santiam Watershed Council is a prime example of 

conservation education on the Willamette National Forest in 2010. Conservation education is an 

important part of our Forest Service mission and a key component of the array of services that we 

provide. The Youth Watershed Council engages youth from Sweet Home High School in watershed 

restoration activities. The Council focuses on planting native plants in degraded riparian areas to 

improve soil infiltration and reduce sedimentation into nearby rivers and streams, and removing nonnative invasive weeds to enhance riparian diversity and improve bank stability. The program teaches 

youth about the importance of watershed health and provides exceptional hands-on experiences in 

natural resource management. It is the first active youth council of its kind in the state of Oregon.

Members of the Youth Watershed Council work together to help prevent erosion in riparian areas by planting native shrubs.

A student takes a 

water sample from the 

South Santiam River 

as part of a hands-on 

activity to learn about 

water quality.

A student takes a 

water sample from the 

South Santiam River 

as part of a hands-on 

activity to learn about 

water quality.

Secure Rule Schools Funds Support Youth & Forest

The Willamette National Forest used Secure Rule School funding and a partnership with Lane 

County’s MLK Education Center to build four new trail bridges on the McKenzie River Ranger 

District. The partnership saved approximately $100,000 in costs. “We’ve partnered with the 

student horticulture crews since 2000, and they truly make a huge difference in how much 

trail work gets done on the McKenzie River Ranger District, says Trail Crew Foreman Wayne 

Chevalier. The work on the Forest gives students opportunities to gain confidence, learn new 

skills and give back to their community.

Bountiful Service

The Willamette National Forest is proud, and grateful, to host a dynamic group known as the High 

Cascades Volunteers. Under the leadership of Judy Mitchell, a retired Forest Service Wilderness 

Ranger, the group has completed over 21,000 hours of work, across 5 National Forests in 2010 – over 

half of that work was accomplished on the Willamette. The volunteers did all kinds of work: they 

surveyed, cleared and maintained miles of trails (in both winter and summer), did a variety of tasks 

for the seed research center in Cottage Grove, mapped locations of invasive weeds in preparation for 

treatment, adopted lakes for adjacent campsite cleanup, built and maintained facilities and signs, 

used stock to pack in equipment for trail crews, tracked volunteer efforts using a computerized 

database, picked up litter, cleaned up beaches and learned how to sharpen cross cut saws. 

Volunteering for the National Forests requires that folks are trained to operate safely in remote 

environments so each year the High Cascades volunteers put on an annual training. Volunteers 

are already preparing for 2011 training weekends. Registration for these weekends comes out in 

February, check http://www.highcascadesvolunteers.com/ if you are interested.
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-001-11

Recovery Dollars at Work Continued

time workers stable housing. This project will support local communities by enabling employees to 

live in the Oakridge and McKenzie areas.

Preserving Recreation Infrastructure

ARRA funds paved the way to preserving taxpayer investments at seven popular recreation 

sites on the McKenzie River Ranger District. Recreation sites from Ray Benson near Big Lake 

to French Pete Campground on the South Fork of the McKenzie River received $249,000 of 

ARRA funds for pavement infrastructure maintenance. Forest visitors will enjoy a smoother 

and safer ride with several repaired campground access roads, new asphalt at Ray Benson and 

Little Nash Sno-Park, and 20 new speed bumps at Coldwater Cove Campground and Paradise 

Campground. “Finding dollars to reinvest into pavement infrastructure is a challenge. This project 

was important for preserving and extending the life of these long-term investments at our most 

popular sites,” said Stacey Forson, Forest Recreation Officer. 

Maintaining Pacific Crest Trail

With funding from the ARRA, the Willamette and Deschutes National Forest identified and 

coordinated project work on the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail (PCT) as well as “feeder” 

trails onto the PCT, in partnership with the Pacific Crest Trail Association. Youth laborers helped 

through agreements with the Northwest Youth Corps and the Student Conservation Association 

complete backlog maintenance on more than 20 miles of trail and reconstruct eight miles of trail 

on the Willamette National Forest.

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. 

For visitor service and recreation questions for the Willamette National Forest call 541.225.6300. 

To learn more about the information in this Annual Report, contact Judith McHugh, Outreach 

Specialist by email jmchugh@fs.fed.us or by phone 541.225.6305. 

Willamette National Forest