About the Dry Forest Zone
The Dry Forest Zone (DFZ) project fosters sustainable forest stewardship at a regional scale across 15 counties in central and eastern Oregon and northern California. This area has challenging market conditions, high levels of poverty and unemployment, and dry forests with fire regimes departed from historical range of variability. Project goals are to:
- Create multiple value streams from land management and incentives for forest restoration and stewardship;
- Develop integrated biomass utilization and renewable energy;
- Build strong local nonprofit organizations and collaborative processes to achieve forest and economic resilience;
- Create the policy conditions to support sustainable forest stewardship on public and private lands; and
- Document and communicate lessons locally, regionally, and nationally.
To learn more about the DFZ, please visit the project page at: http://dryforestzone.org/
Project partners:
Sustainable Northwest (project leaders)
Wallowa Resources
Watershed Research and Training Center
DFZ-supported projects
EWP faculty responsibility on this project includes assessment, monitoring, and capacity and policy-related work.
Final Monitoring Report
Final map packet of DFZ conditions (for previous years, see "mapping" below)
- 2014 map packet of conditions in the DFZ (15.1 mb)
Midterm Monitoring Report
Community-based natural resource management and capacity
- EWP Working Paper #39: Community-Based Natural Resource Management in Oregon: a Profile of Organizational Capacity
- Read the associated briefing paper here.
- EWP Working Paper #38: The Social and Livelihood Benefits of USDA Forest Service Agreements with Community-Based Organizations
- Read the associated briefing paper here.
- EWP Working Paper #28: Economic Development Capacity in Public Lands Communities
- Read the associated briefing paper here.
- EWP Working Paper #27: Community-Based Natural Resource Management in the Western United States: A Pilot Study of Capacity
- Read the associated briefing paper here.
Federal investment in natural resource management and economic development
- EWP Working Paper #40: Federal Investments in Natural Resource-Based Economic Development in Oregon
- Read the associated briefing paper here.
Biomass utilization and community benefits
- EWP Working Paper #29: Forest Restoration and Biomass Utilization for Multiple Benefits: A Case Study From Wallowa County, Oregon
- Read the associated briefing paper here.
Assessment and monitoring
Mapping
- Map packet of 2014 conditions in the DFZ (15.1 mb)
- Map packet of 2013 conditions in the DFZ (7.6 mb)
- Map packet of 2012 conditions in the DFZ (14.9 mb)
Assessment
EWP used its monitoring information to develop a mid-term report on the DFZ project. This report reviews trends, learning, and challenges associated with implementing DFZ strategies from 2009-2012. Read the mid-term report here.
To better understand conditions at the start of the project and create a baseline for future monitoring, EWP led a team assessment between October 2009 and January 2010.
Download The State of the Dry Forest Zone briefing paper here (688 KB)
Download the full report here (9.5 mb) or select a section below:
Executive Summary and Introduction (373 kb)
Chapter One: The Context of the Dry Forest Zone (3.4 mb)
Chapter Two: Land Management (956 kb)
Chapter Three: Woody Biomass Utilization (888 kb)
Chapter Four: Community and Organizational Capacity (804 kb)
Chapter Six: Subregional Perspectives (2.3 mb)
- Northeastern Oregon (424 kb): Union, Baker and Wallowa Counties
- Northern California (612 kb): Trinity, Siskiyou and Modoc Counties
- Eastern central Oregon (424 kb): Wheeler, Grant and Harney Counties
- Central Oregon (380 kb): Deschutes and Crook Counties
- Southern central Oregon (376 kb): Klamath and Lake Counties
- Southern Oregon (384 kb): Jackson and Josephine Counties
