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Draft Approach for Managing Forested Watershed Lands Page 3 Strategic Initiative 6 of the Board of Directors’ Strategic Plan is to develop a plan and policy framework for long-term management of OWASA lands. One action identified is to develop a long-term plan for sustainable management of OWASA forest lands; management could range from no active management to comprehensive management that includes a variety of forest management activities. As a first step in addressing this initiative, staff presented the Board of Directors with an overview of OWASA’s land holdings and past discussions on May 25, 2017. At that meeting, the Board requested that staff draft a Community Engagement Plan (CEP) for forest management and present that draft plan by the end of fiscal year 2018. Staff began drafting a CEP to present to the Board, but determined that it was important to discuss an overall approach for managing our forested land prior to developing a detailed CEP. The Board supported this suggestion; staff presented a draft approach to manage our forested land at the May 10, 2018 work session. The Board requested that staff work with the Natural Resources and Technical Services Committee to develop a process for OWASA’s forest management program. Staff heard the following comments during the Board meeting to consider when drafting a framework: • OWASA should develop draft guiding principles and then provide the public an opportunity to comment on them. OWASA staff concurs with this. • OWASA should prioritize its lands for management and provide opportunities for feedback on plans developed for smaller areas rather than the entire remaining 1,900 acres in need of management (Plans for the entire 1,900 acres were presented to the public in one meeting in 2010). OWASA staff agrees that presenting plans for smaller areas would provide opportunities for more meaningful input from the public. A disadvantage of this approach is that it does not provide a comprehensive picture of what is planned for all 1,900 acres. • OWASA should evaluate the existing Forest Stewardship Plans against the final guiding principles to determine whether the existing Plans meet the guiding principles or are in need of change. Staff concurs with this suggestion. • OWASA should use the expertise of other land management agencies and groups as well as forester expertise in developing our program. Staff concurs with this suggestion. Proposed Framework to Develop a Sustainable Program to Manage OWASA’s Forested Watershed Lands Staff’s proposed framework is illustrated in Figure 2. It is important to note that Figure 2 does not include details on how we would engage the community. Once the overall process is agreed upon, we anticipate working with the Board to develop a complementary CEP. In addition, each of these steps would likely include substeps to include draft and final versions of documents. As we develop the CEP and apply what we learn as we move through the process in an adaptive management approach, staff could modify or include additional details in Figure 2. The following basic steps are identified: 1. Develop Purpose and Guiding Principles for sustainable management of OWASA’s forested watershed lands – The purpose and guiding principles would serve as the