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Home My WebLink AboutUPDATE re 10,000 Years Institute - Pulling Together JEFFERSON COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS AGENDA REQUEST TO: Board of County Commissioners FROM: Heather Dudley-Nollette, County Commissioner Jill Silver, Director, 10,000 Years Institute DATE: March 16, 2026 RE: UPDATE: 10,000 Years Institute's Pulling Together In Restoration (PTIR) Program STATEMENT OF ISSUE: 10,000 Years Institute's director wishes to provide an update on the Pulling Together in Restoration program (PTIR), the continuing coastal watershed invasive plant prevention and watershed restoration program. Currently in the sixth biennium under grant funding through the WA State Recreation Office (RCO)from the WA Coast Restoration and Resiliency Initiative (WCRRI),the PTIR program supports 25 local staff including restoration technicians, crew leads, project coordinator, data manager, GIS specialist, and office administrator. 10KYI conducts restoration operations from the office in Forks to cover non-native and invasive plant prevention and control in west Jefferson County watersheds including Goodman Creek, and the Hoh, Queets, and Quinault rivers and along coastal beaches. This work supports forestry, fisheries, recreation and restoration projects across the landscape, and teaches stewardship practices and jobs skills to local youth. A proposal to continue the intensive work and jobs in the 7th biennial phase (2027 to 2029) is in process of review through June.The 2027 proposal includes development of a coastal conservation crew who will be trained and deployed to transform waste biomass from invasive flammable Scotch broom into beneficial biochar. FISCAL IMPACT: There is no fiscal impact related to this update. RECOMMENDATION: Listen to the presentation, ask questions and provide comments, as appropriate. REVIEWED BY: Jo h eters, County Administrator Date Your Logo or Name Here Pulling Together in Restoration West Jefferson County’s Local Conservation Job Corps WCRRI Grant #s 24-1602 and 25-1386 Update to the Jefferson County Commissioners March 16, 2026 Jill Silver, 10,000 Years Institute Your Logo or Name Here 210,000 Years Institute Invasive Plant Focus for Future-Proofing Watersheds -Scotch broom – Climate, carbon, forest health, wildfire impacts -Reed canarygrass – Cold water and fish habitat protection -Spotted jewelweed – All above & responding to new invasions -Everlasting peavine – All above & prevention in Jefferson County Building Workforce -15 to 25 Local FTEs working under PTIR -Climate Conservation Corps (Requesting $30M/Biennium) -Washington Conservation Corps Natural Climate Solutions -Scotch Broom and Upland Thinning Biomass to Biochar -Floodplain Thinning & Interplanting Education and Outreach Tours, workshops, presentations, curricula, trainings, and protocols -Peninsula and Grays Harbor Colleges, WWU, TESC, UW -Clallam, Jefferson, Grays Harbor Conservation Districts -WSU Streamkeepers, Riparian Working Groups, RFEGs - NOSC -Lead Entities and MRCs - Restoration Project Integration –Olympic National Forest, OFC Collaborative, WA DNR -Quileute and Quinault Elementary and High Schools 10KYI 2024-26 Invasives Program Highlights Your Logo or Name Here 310,000 Years Institute WRIA Partners Species 20 ONP, ONF, DNR, Clallam County NWB & CD, Jefferson County CD. City of Forks, Quileute Tribe, Hoh Indian Tribe, TNC, Trout Unlimited,EFMI, private residential and forestland owners Scotch Broom, Knotweed, Reed Canarygrass, Herb Robert, Jewelweed, Tansy Ragwort,English Laurel, Holly,Yellow-Flag Iris, Canada Thistle, Bull Thistle Blackberry, Everlasting Peavine, St. John's Wort, Queen Anne's Lace 21 ONP, ONF, DNR, WA State Parks, Grays Harbor County NWB, GHC CD, Jefferson County Roads, Quinault Indian Nation, City of Ocean Shores, TNC, Trout Unlimited, private residential and forestland owners Scotch Broom, Reed Canarygrass, Knotweed, Tansy Ragwort, English Laurel,English Holly, Yellow-Flag Iris,Herb Robert, Canada Thistle, Bull Thistle, Blackberry 22 WA State Parks, GHC NWB, GHC Conservation District, ONF,TNC,Quinault Nation Scotch Broom, Knotweed, Reed Canarygrass, Gorse, Jewelweed, Herb Robert 10,000 YEARS INSTITUTE Your Logo or Name Here 5 Workforce Development and Training 10,000 Years Institute Coastal/Carbon/Climate Conservation Corps Permanent place-based conservation corps 26 Matching local skilled experience with local youth-in-training in work that supports coastal economies. 10,000 Years Institute ...affecting bar, floodplain and forest succession and diversity, ecosystem services and functions. These disturbances facilitate invasive exotic species… from gravel mines to roads, to harvest units and river bars... Disturbance: Glacial retreat, atmospheric river events, channel migration, bank erosion, sediment flux... 10,000 YEARS INSTITUTE Goal: Natural Climate Solutions implemented by Community Conservation Corps •NCS 1: Invasives Prevention to maintain regenerative forest succession and “The Large Wood Cycle” along rivers •NCS 2: Forest thinning to promote resilience •NCS 3:Scotch broom prevention and control •NCS 4: Biochar pyrolysis and production •NCS 5: Soil remediation with biochar Funding: 10% of every restoration and construction project to the CCC 10KYI’s Goals and Projects: Building Natural Climate Solutions Needed to Support Investments in Forest Health and Workforce Development Research – Carbon Stocks, Seedbank, Red Alder, Nutrients, Water, Mycorrhizae... Remote Sensing - Aerial photography in bloom and more...10,000 Years Institute Carbon, Methane, & PM Emissions CO2 Natural Climate Solutions Your Logo or Name Here Impacts to Forestry, Fires, and Climate 2021 – H-1500 Road – A rare fire in the wet Hoh watershed. Oil-rich Scotch broom likely increased wildfire intensity & severity. Most fires scarify Scotch broom seeds,promoting germination. (CNLM, 2020) Hidden under second-growth timber and forest, googols of Scotch broom seeds produce a crop of invasive shrubs that replace the services of a healthy forest including timber, carbon storage, shade, soil water, large wood, and food web resources, and produce another googol (10100) of seeds. 10,000 Years Institute Hoh River confluence with the South Fork Hoh River... 10,000 YEARS INSTITUTE 10,000 YEARS INSTITUTE Downstream of the South Fork confluence, Scotch broom seeds flow downslope from hillslope harvest units and roads into the mainstem river gravel bars and the alder floodplains. Upper Hoh Road Dolosse Project... Scotch broom transported in river flows and gravel, and introduced in road construction, is repeatedly treated on the bank and bars. 10,000 YEARS INSTITUTE Cut-stump treating the one blooming Scotch broom in the dolos, in time to stop seeds. 10,000 YEARS INSTITUTE 10KYI & Public Investment in Forest Health & Scotch Broom Treatments 10,000 Years Institute Year Species Crew Hours at Site Acres Surveyed Infested Acres Treated Condensed Acres 2021 CYSC 7,266.52 1,578.03 925.21 47.91 2022 CYSC 9,619.73 986.18 489.70 132.89 2023 CYSC 8,348.01 2,177.15 515.38 158.31 2024 CYSC 6,674.98 2,407.00 536.18 55.40 2025 CYSC 5,583.45 2,762.53 437.68 34.28 Total 37,492.69 9,910.88 2,904.16 428.79 10KYI & Public Investment in Forest Health & Scotch Broom Treatments 10,000 Years Institute Year Species Crew Hours at Site Average @ $35/hour 2021 CYSC 4,663.00 $ 163,205.00 2022 CYSC 5,392.00 $ 188,720.00 2023 CYSC 4,260.00 $ 149,100.00 2024 CYSC 4,230.00 $ 148,050.00 2025 CYSC 2,146.00 $ 75,110.00 Total 20,691.00 $ 724,185.00 PTIR #24-1602 Budget 10,000 Years Institute Category Grant Request Match Total Coordination/Supervision $180,500 $ 24,000 $204,500 Crew Fieldwork $830,000 $124,800 $954,800 GIS Services $126,000 $ 3,600 $129,600 Remote Sensing $ 32,000 -$ 32,000 Equipment/Supplies $109,600 $ 2,000 $111,600 Licensing $ 2,400 -$ 2,400 Permits $ 800 -$ 800 Education/Outreach $ 6,400 -$ 6,400 AA&E $ 52,000 $ 27,000 $ 79,000 Indirect $133,970 -$133,970 Total $1,473,670 $181,400 $1,655,070 Your Logo or Name Here 19 Working across the OP on Scotch Broom in 2025 Tribes, ONP, ONF, WA DNR & State Parks,Counties,Cities, TNC, EFMI River/Road Miles 30/45 Acres 2763 Total Treated 438 Your Logo or Name Here 20 Knotweed: Bogachiel, Hoh, Queets & Upper Quinault Jefferson County, Quileute Tribe, Hoh Tribe, Quinault Indian Nation, ONF, ONP, TNC River Miles 47 Acres 4000 Total Treated 32.5 11 Reed Canarygrass: Upper Quinault Watershed 10KI, ONP, Quinault Indian Nation, Coast Salmon Partnership, 10KYI Request: $4 million Timeframe: 4 Years Your Logo or Name Here 22 Spotted Jewelweed: Hoh ED/RR and Dickey River Quileute Tribe, Hoh Tribe, Jefferson County, ONP, EFMI, TNC River Miles 6 Acres 84 Total Treated 61.3 1 0 , 0 0 0 Y E A R S I N S T I T U T E Methods to Meet the Needs Protocol for the Prevention and Control of Spotted Jewelweed An iterative protocol for best practices, to come: •Protect uninvaded habitats •Focus on sources, vectors, and pathways •Determine site issues •Flooding and water pathways •Mowing and equipment vectors •Beaver, elk, and human vectors •Prevent seed dispersal! •Pull and remove plants before flower and seeds •Protect native species during treatment •Protect soil and water during treatment •Ensure equipment washing in projects Biochar Solid carbon produced by pyrolysis of biomass in the absence of oxygen, resulting in a highly stable carbon-carbon molecule Stores carbon for millennia, holds water in soils, and increases beneficial soil microbes for enhanced plant growth 7 10,000 Years Institute Carbon sequestration and carbon credits CO2 Beneficial soil amendment Soil water storage, filtration & purification Binding agent for asphalt & concrete Waste Biomass to Beneficial Biochar 2510,000 Years Institute Ring of Fire Kiln - https://wilsonbiochar.com/ US-IBI – Onsite Biochar Production and Use for Conservation Objectives https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYTCvVp5bZ8&ab_channel=USBiocharInitiative Ring of Fire Kiln Your Logo or Name Here Carbon Conservation Corps Conduct mobile biochar production from waste biomass – especially Scotch broom! We already employ large hand crews in the dangerous work of firefighting. We could use this labor to reduce fire danger by thinning overcrowded plantations, and improve forest soils by adding biochar, while sequestering carbon from the atmosphere. www.slideshare.net/kelpiew/a-carbon-conservation- corps-for-mobile-biochar-production PTIR Partners, Collaborators, and Project Sponsors Thank you for supporting 10KYI & PTIR!