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Two large-scale and job-creating forest restoration projects in southern and eastern Oregon won approval from the USDA, Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.) today announced. A third project in central Oregon, approved in 2010, will continue to receive funding.

In early January, Rep. Walden organized a bipartisan letter to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack that urged him to fund the Lakeview Stewardship Landscape project and the Southern Blues Restoration Coalition project, which were ranked as the top proposals of their kind in the country. The letter, dated January 4, was signed by Walden, Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, and U.S. Reps. Peter DeFazio, Kurt Schrader, and Earl Blumenauer.

The Deschutes Skyline project in central Oregon, approved in 2010, will continue to receive funding in 2012, according to the USDA.

The Lakeview proposal, which will receive $3.5 million, includes 150,000 acres to be treated, and estimates it will create about 88 jobs. The Southern Blues proposal, which will receive $2.5 million, includes 271,980 acres to be treated, and estimates it will create about 154 jobs.

Oregon Business estimates every job created in rural Oregon is equivalent to about 100 jobs in the Portland Metropolitan area.

Rep. Walden was an original co-sponsor of the legislation—signed into law in 2009—that authorizes large-scale forest landscape restoration projects.

“Most importantly, these are areas with unacceptably high unemployment,” Rep. Walden said. “Any additional work is welcome in our rural communities. I am pleased that Secretary Vilsack made the correct decision to support these highly rated Oregon projects.”

“The Lakeview and Southern Blues proposals were the top rated and among the largest projects in the country. They will help reduce wildfire management costs and create a predictable supply of forest byproducts that will help stabilize local economies and their infrastructure,” Rep. Walden said.