The Methow Valley needs your input on the Twisp River Restoration Project!

You’re invited to a webinar on the Twisp Restoration Project on 11/11!
November 5, 2020
Healthy Forests Mean Healthier Lungs for You and Me
December 1, 2020

The Methow Valley needs your input on the Twisp River Restoration Project!

The Forest Service is requesting comments on the Twisp River Restoration proposal by December 18th*.
*Note new extended deadline for comments

MVCC strongly encourages YOU to comment!

What it is: The Twisp River Restoration Project is a massive (77,000 acre) forest treatment plan in Twisp River drainages. It will determine forest practices there for well over a decade and dramatically alter the landscape. It is a complex and multifaceted proposal being implemented in five separate phases. Simplifying, it includes:

  • Fire risk reduction (commercial and non-commercial thinning, prescribed burns, and fuel breaks)
  • Habitat improvement through commercial and non-commercial thinning, and other projects
  • Salvage logging (really, commercial logging of burned trees)
  • Stream projects to improve habitat for fish, and creation of some human-made beaver dams
  • Opening ATV access on 22 miles of roads
  • Building new roads and decommissioning 3x as many old roads

As you can see, there is something in the plan for everyone. There’s a lot to be interested in and a lot to be concerned about. This forest treatment plan’s unprecedented scale requires some time to fully understand how this will affect the ecological and recreation values we all cherish. To that end, MVCC has several concerns that have been highlighted in our commenting guidelines document, which you can view here. 

Important Links:

We encourage you to draft personalized comments that include how the work would affect you and your direct on-the-ground knowledge and experience.

Comments can be submitted in the following ways:

Submit electronically by https://cara.ecosystem-management.org/Public//CommentInput?Project=56554.

Or by U.S. Mail to Eireann Pederson, Project Leader, Methow Valley Ranger District, 24 West Chewuch Rd., Winthrop, WA 98862