Blue Ridge Timber Company, in cooperation with Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, is helping the U.S. Bureau of Land Management Coos Bay District improve forage and calving habitat for the Roosevelt elk at the Dean Creek Elk Viewing Area through the agency's first stewardship contract.

Blue Ridge will create two 2.5-acre meadows in the hills behind the popular viewing area by clearing brush and small hardwood trees from relatively flat areas in the hillside. Volunteers from Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation will spread an elk forage seed mix on the meadows once the brush and trees are cleared.

The Stewardship Contracting program allows the BLM to sell trees and use the receipts from the sale of those products to conduct local restoration activities or infrastructure maintenance projects. The Dean Creek project allows the BLM to sell the trees removed as part of the meadow creation and routine road maintenance at Dean Creek and use the money to create calving meadows for the elk.

The project is expected to be complete by December. Between now and then, visitors may see increased logging truck and work crew activity in the area. The views at Dean Creek will remain largely unchanged, and all of the facilities at the Dean Creek Elk Viewing Area will remain open.