Save the date, Saturday, March 24, 2012 for the 33rd Annual Native Plant Workshop. Keynote speakers, small workshop presentations, lunch and a silent auction make for an interesting and educational day.

     The “Going Native” 32nd Annual Native Plant Workshop was held Saturday, March 19, 2011 from 8:30 AM to 3:00PM at the West Sedona School which was a new venue but proved to be very satisfactory.
     The two keynote speakers were Bill McDorman, President of Seeds Trust, who spoke on “The Reasonable Landscape”, and Jeff Schalau, Associate Agent for the University of AZ Cooperative Extension in Yavapai County, whose topic was “The Agriculture/Environment Connection: Producing Safe Food and Clean Water While Conserving Local Ecosystems”.
     This year we offered a total of seven workshops and participants were able to choose two:
1. Jason Lavelle: Xeriscaping with Cacti and Native Plants
2. Shaun Symond: Native Plants for Your Home and Garden
3. Dena Greenwood: Attracting Birds with Native Plants
4. Tom Watkins: Non Native Plants and Their Management
5. John Neville: Water Harvesting from Simple to Complete
6. Joy Kimmel: Identifying Native Plants in the Verde Valley
7: Leilah Breitler: How to Make Salves & Tinctures Using Wild Herbs
     Advance tickets were $20 for KSB members and $30 for the general public. Besides the workshops, lunch and free penstomen plants were included.
     An exciting Silent Auction was held featuring 57 items varying from a mixed case of Arizona Stronghold Wines to meals at Rene’s at Tlaquepaque, Heartline Café, Red’s Restaurant, Elote Café and L’Auberge to a fine wool rug donated by Azadi Fine Rugs to Two seats on any Pink Jeep Tour. The variety was wonderful as well as the generous support of the community.
     The fifth annual prestigious Norman B. Herkenham award was presented to Max Licher, resident of Sedona for 28 years. Max was selected for this award based on his work cataloguing, identifying and photographing native species here in Sedona and the Verde Valley, and his continuing work on education in this regard. He has documented about 1200 species of native and naturalized flora of Sedona and Oak Creek Canyon, and has made this work available on the Southwest Environmental Information Network.
     In the evaluation forms, participants responded that they enjoyed the event, learned a great deal and thought everything was well organized. A special thanks to the committee of Co-Chairs Georgia Munsell and Nancy Spinelli, Debra Fleeger, Wendy Heald, Gail Heyer, Jane McGraw, Michelle & Gerry Snyder, Barbara Saul, Rich Spinelli, Bette & Venkat Venkateswaran, and Jan Wind who put in over 900 volunteer hours.
     From business sponsors, the silent auction donations and ticket sales, KSB netted over $13,000 which will be put to good use keeping Sedona beautiful.
     The 2012 Native Plant Workshop promises to be just as informative and is scheduled for the end of March.

Important!

Keep Sedona Beautiful, Inc.

Comment Request

Coconino National Forest Releases

Draft Management Plan

 Meetings on Plan Scheduled — Comments Requested

A draft of the Coconino National Forest Land Management Plan (Plan) is now available for public review and input on the Plan revision website:   

(http://www.fs.fed.us/r3/coconino/projects/plan-revision/imputs2.shtml)

This is a very important Plan to comment on.   

Individual comments are highly encouraged to positively affect this critical Plan that will have long-term effects on our environment, community and National Forest.  After extensive public meetings and cooperation the Coconino National Forest (CNF) amended its Forest Management Plan  in 1998.  The result of this community/Forest Service collaboration was Amendment 12 to the current Plan.  The CNF is currently revising its entire FMP for the first time since 1982.  This means that the provisions of Amendment 12 will no longer be a separate amendment within the Plan.  The provisions will become part of the overall Plan and may not exactly represent the values contained in Amendment 12.

Keep Sedona Beautiful, Inc. (KSB) strongly believes that we need to carefully monitor the merging of Amendment 12 into the revised Plan.  Slight edits, changes in management direction, goals, standards and guidelines could have significant impact on the original intent of Amendment 12. The management area of Amendment 12 encompasses 160,000 acres in the vicinity of Sedona.  This is the same 160,000 acres that the proposed National Scenic Area would encompass.

Of particular importance, Amendment 12 contains an important land exchange policy. It states: “This policy will allow disposal of National Forest lands in the planning area only if high-priority private lands can be acquired in the planning area.” The policy is clear, no land exchanges for private lands outside the planning area. 

KSB requests that you send comments to the Coconino National Forest concerning this Plan revision and insist that this land exchange policy stay intact.  Furthermore we ask that your comments call for a public review and meeting process that allows for public meetings in the Greater Sedona area, open discussion on the revised Plan, identification of any changes to Amendment 12 and where in the revised Plan such changes to  Amendment 12 be found. 

Comment Example: 

As an involved concerned resident of the Sedona Area I want to comment on the currently proposed revision to the Coconino National Forest Management (Plan).  In 1998 our community and the Coconino National Forest, after 3 years of effort and collaboration, developed Amendment 12.  The focal point of Amendment 12 was a policy that no land exchanges would be made for private lands outside the planning area. This important policy must be included into any proposed management plan.  Additionally, I ask that there be a public review and meeting process that allows for public meetings to take place in the Greater Sedona Area, open discussion on the revised Plan, identification of all changes to Amendment 12 and where in the Plan such changes can be found. 

Please make the above requested comments as soon as possible. Make additional comments prior to March 14, 2011 

Send Email Comments to: coconino_national_forest_plan_revision_team@fsfed.us   

Send Written Comments to: 

            Coconino National Forest

            Attention: Plan Revision

            1824 S. Thompson

            Flagstaff, Arizona 86001  

Public Meeting Schedule:

Tuesday, March 1, 2011- Flagstaff 6:00 p.m. Radisson Woodlands Hotel, 1175 West Route 66, Flagstaff, AZ 86001 

Wednesday, March 2, 2011- Camp Verde 6:00 p.m.

The Lodge at Cliff Castle, Conference Center, 333 Middle Verde Road, Camp Verde, AZ 86322

One on One Discussion Meetings:

For those who cannot attend the March 1 or March 2 meetings there will be two one-on-one meeting dates available. 

March 4, 2011, Sedona Public Library- Noon to 3 p.m.

3250 White Bear Road, Sedona

March 8, 2011, Red Rock Ranger District- Noon to 3 p.m.

8375 State Route 179, Sedona, Arizona

Keep Sedona Beautiful, Inc. will be contacting its National Scenic Area Coalition partners and asking the CNF to schedule public meetings on the Plan in the Sedona area. We will continue to keep you informed of and monitor the Plan’s progress. 

Tom O’Halleran, President

Keep Sedona Beautiful, Inc.