Forest Service Proposes Plan To Restore Indian Creek Watershed

The Siuslaw National Forest is proposing a plan to improve habitat and stream surroundings. Proposed actions include commercially thinning about 53 hundred acres; create snags to promote nesting cavities for wildlife, and placing wood in streams to improve Coho salmon spawning. Casey Hawes is with the Siuslaw National Forest. He says the area is located about 14 miles northeast of Florence.

Hawes: "So about 82% of the project area is national forest system lands, and about 18% of that area is privately owned. So there are interested landowners within the watershed itself. And we're encouraging the public to become involved in the planning process."

The Indian Creek Landscape Management Project encompasses about 30,000 acres within the forest. The project is part of the Northwest Forest Plan. Implementation could start as early as spring, 2017.

There is a community meeting in Mapleton, Thursday, January 21^st.

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