Watershed Council opens office
The non-profit Bear River Watershed Council opened its full-time office in Logan last month with the intention to coordinate groups concerned with restoration and sustainability issues inside the watershed, and to educate the public about biodiversity and ecological health.
The idea for the council came to BRWC Board Chair Tim Wagner and Vice Chair Dan Miller about a year ago, when they realized many groups had concerns about the Bear River watershed, said Sharon Falvey, executive director of the BRWC.
“We want to bring together all the other interests and present our concerns with information on a watershed basis,” Falvey said.
Groups like the Wild Utah Forest Campaign, the Logan Canyon Coalition or the Audobon Society may be involved in some issues the council works on concerning the watershed, Falvey said.
One of the goals of the council is to disseminate to the community information these interested groups have collected concerning watershed issues.
“We want to be community-based and we would like to reach some of the people in the community who haven’t ever thought about … how we as humans can sustain those things in the environment that affect us,” Falvey said.
The BRWC’s first project will be to work with the Forest Service in Wasatch-Cache and Targhee-Caribou National Forests on the 15-year management plan for that agency, which will be written soon. The BRWC intends to work with land protection and wildlife advocacy groups to support the Forest Service and make suggestions where needed, Falvey said.
The Wasatch-Cache Forest is inside the Bear River Mountain Range that lines the east side of Cache Valley. These mountains lie in the center of the Bear River watershed, which starts in the High Uintahs and winds north into Wyoming and Idaho before dropping back into the Great Salt Lake.
This area has been identified by the BRWC as a critical wildlife habitat and migratory link between the northern Rocky Mountains (the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem) and the southern Rocky Mountains (the High Uintahs Wilderness). Wildlife like the lynx and wolverine depend on this corridor, and its conservation will be a main focus of the BRWC.
“We’re not trying to take over anybody’s issue, we’re trying to support those issues,” Falvey said. “We want to find those areas that are really important for conservation and focus our efforts as a group.”
The BRWC will hold an open house April 27 from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. at its office in the Center Street Plaza, 60 E. Center Street, Ste. 210. For more information, contact the BRWC at 753-8949 or online at www.brwcouncil.org