Lomakatsi is a forest restoration nonprofit organization based in Ashland. On the eve of its 30-year anniversary it received , which is the largest award in its young history.
, Executive Director of the Lomakatsi Restoration Project, joins the Exchange to provide details of the funding and the projects it will support. Lomakatsi collaborates with other organizations in building forest and community resilience in the Rogue Valley, including a new 83,000-acre project area spanning the wildland urban interface and adjacent woodlands west of Medford and north of Jacksonville, within and around the communities of Gold Hill, Rogue River, and Jacksonville.
The project aims to implement ecological thinning and prescribed fire to reduce wildfire risk and improve forest health on 8,500 to 10,000 acres of private land, building on complementary efforts on private, municipal, and federal lands. Collaborations include the connecting West Bear All-Lands Restoration Project and the Ashland Forest Resiliency Stewardship Project to the southeast.
Lomakatsi will work closely with the NRCS, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Oregon Department of Forestry and others鈥攊ncluding Rogue Forest Partners鈥攖o plan and implement the project, building on nearly two decades of collaboration.
