03/23/09 Bend
 
As part of the first phase of USDA Forest Service economic stimulus funding in Central Oregon, two more Deschutes and Ochoco National Forest contracts have been awarded today under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 in Jefferson and Deschutes Counties.  This is in addition to the two contracts that were awarded on March 17th. 
 
The contracts will employ crews to thin and hand pile hazardous fuels in the forest.   
 
Thinning and hand piling of juniper will occur on the Crooked River Grassland of the Ochoco National Forest in Jefferson County in three project areas amounting to approximately 1,939 acres.  PatRick Contracting of Redmond, Oregon was awarded the contract for $421,960.  This will employ approximately sixty persons in Jefferson County.
 
Another award for $412,322 was made to GFP Contracting of Sisters, Oregon for work on the Sisters Area Fuels Reduction (SAFR) Project.  Work will begin on approximately 502 acres of the Deschutes National Forest near homes that have been evacuated during large wildfires in recent years.  This contract creates work for approximately forty persons in Deschutes County.
 
An additional two million dollars worth of work will be awarded in coming weeks as project areas become free of snow.
 
"Jefferson and Deschutes Counties have seen some of the highest increases in unemployment in our state over the past few months," says Deputy Forest Supervisor Mary Farnsworth.  "I am excited to be part of putting people back to work reducing hazardous fuels near our communities right here in Central Oregon."