White River NF not named in initial round of projects
By Bob Berwyn - Summit Daily News
03/13/09
MMIT COUNTY -- National forests in northern Colorado will get a $5.6 million funding boost from the stimulus package to remove hazardous trees and improve recreation sites.
The funding is part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act signed by President Obama last month. In total, the Forest Service will receive $1.15 billion, with the goal of creating 23,500 jobs around the country -- but no projects on the White River National Forest were specifically named in a March 11 press release from the agency.
More allocations will be announced during the next few months, and the White River forest is expected to be on the list at some point, especially after local officials made a lobbying trip to Washington late last month.
According to the Forest Service, the projects targeted with the initial investment in Colorado have the potential to create direct new jobs in local communities, plus numerous jobs indirectly for suppliers, material manufacturers on the Arapahoe-Roosevelt, Medicine Bow-Routt and Pike-San Isabel national forests.
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Help for our forests is long over due. Maybe the Forest Service will be allowed back in the land / water conservation preservation business. That would be real nice!
