The Deschutes County Commission approved a grant Monday to fund outreach and education at trailheads around Bend during forest restoration activities that will be taking place as part of the upcoming West Bend Vegetation Management Project.

The West Bend project is part of the Deschutes Collaborative Forest Project, which aims to restore forested areas to density levels more in line with historic levels prior to human intervention, said Phil Chang with the Central Oregon Forest Stewardship Foundation.

The West Bend project begins in the fall.

“Historically, forests in our area have very few large, widely spaced trees,” Chang said. “We’ll be reducing density by taking out some of the smaller trees to allow the larger trees to grow bigger, faster.”

The area affected by the West Bend project encompasses approximately 26,000 acres to the west and south of Bend’s urban growth boundary.

“There are 140 miles worth of well-used trails within the West Bend planning area,” Chang said. “The area includes some of the crown jewels of Bend’s trail system, like the Deschutes River Trail, Phil’s Trail Complex and, in the winter, the Meissner Nordic trails.”

Commission Chairman Alan Unger proposed the grant, which will be funded by the commission’s Video Lottery Fund Discretionary Grant Program. Unger pledged $1,500 from his share of the grant money, while commissioners Tammy Baney and Tony DeBone pledged $500 each.

“Having someone at the trails to do community outreach is important, so when the time comes to do real cutting people know what’s going on,” Unger said.

The money partially funds a temporary position at $12 per hour for 10 hours per week until Nov. 30. The employee will explain to trail users why the activities are necessary for a healthy forest.

“The restoration process is necessary but can be pretty visually dramatic when we’re doing things like thinning, prescribed burning and brush mowing,” Chang said. “When people see that kind of activity happening in the forest they can sometimes become concerned.”

The hope is that by doing community outreach prior to beginning the work, trail users will be prepared for the change in landscape, some temporary trail closures, burning, mowing and tree thinning.

“Most of the people I’ve talked to have been really understanding,” said Ally Steinmetz, the intern hired to do the community outreach. “They live in the area and have seen what can happen during large-scale fires when the forest is too dense.”

Steinmetz said most trail users just want to be informed when activity will be taking place.

“They just seem to want to know when and where so they don’t show up at their favorite trail only to find it closed,” she said.