Oregon Public Broadcasting

A federal advisory committee is recommending a $500,000 grant for the Deschutes National Forest. If it's approved, it could mean millions of dollars for forest restoration over the next decade. 

Congress set up the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program to encourage collaborative, science-based forest restoration. The committee ranked the Deschutes Skyline project first among the five submissions from Oregon and Washington. 

Deschutes Country Commissioner, Alan Unger went to Washington D.C. to advocate for the proposal.

Alan Unger: "So I told the committee it's important to us in this region that we protect this forest. I told them it was our western landscape of Central Oregon. We look at it every day."

The plan would restore more than 100,000 acres of forest between Bend and Black Butte Ranch. Forest debris from the project would be used for biomass energy.

Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack will make the final decision on the grant.

The program seeks to add $1 million each year for the next 10 years.