Welcome Jesse Bruch to the Board! Justin (Jesse) Bruch is an owner and partner of Bruch and Bruch Construction and JJC Resources LLC. Along with his brother and sister, they are third generation owners of Bruch and Bruch, which began in 1982 by their parents. Generations of Bruchs have worked on road construction and excavation in the Port Angeles area since 1940. Sensitivity to natural resources is something we deal with every day and are happy to continue to innovate and improve with each project, whether that be road repair or construction, stream restoration or timber harvest. Jesse is excited to share his experiences with the OFC Board to help with the logistics and experience of how to move projects forward, in an efficient way, to provide the peninsula with as many family wage jobs as we can produce.
Welcome Caty Parham! Caty joined the collaborative in February 2026. She has varied experiences in conservation including land trust work, natural resource management work and other nonprofit experiences. She has worked with the US Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management and West Virginia Department of Natural Resources. In October of 2025, she moved to the Olympic Peninsula to pursue her new role as Conservation Easement Steward with North Olympic Land Trust. She is an avid mountain biker and hiker who is involved in volunteer trail stewardship on the Peninsula. As the Olympic Forest Collaborative Coordinator, Caty will be coordinating and facilitating collaborative meetings, field tours, board meetings and will be the point of contact for interactions with the Olympic National Forest and WA State Department of Natural Resources. She is eager to get more involved in the Collaborative’s efforts and continue to build her conservation experience here on the Peninsula.
The Olympic Forest Collaborative wrote a letter of support on March 31, 2026, for the Quileute Tribe’s Sitkum Watershed Culvert Restoration. The project goal is to replace two undersized and rapidly failing culverts along Forest Service Road 29 (FS 29) in the Sitkum Watershed, near Forks, Washington. Both project sites have been identified as high-priority locations by the North Pacific Coast Lead Entity and the Sitkum Watershed Restoration Action Plan (WRAP). The two culverts, located at mile posts 9.9 and 11.5, are on a forest road that supports forest management practices, future timber harvests, and also provides public access to the Sitkum Watershed for recreational and subsistence use. This project aligns strongly with OFC’s commitment to increasing acres treated and supporting forest restoration under the Northwest Forest Plan. FS 29 is a critical access route for forest management operations, including stand treatments and timber harvests. The road has a long history of washouts and closures. Replacing these vulnerable culverts before failure will prevent costly road disruptions, ensure secure access for restoration and harvest activities, and continue local partners’ aquatic restoration work within the Sitkum Watershed. The Quileute Tribe’s Fisheries staff relies on FS 29 for regular monitoring and survey work essential to responsible, collaborative fisheries management. These two projects are anticipated to protect downstream water quality for approximately 6.27 miles of river habitat by preventing mass wasting in the event of a road failure. Protecting downstream water quality and improving sediment transport processes in the Sitkum River will support important Chinook, coho, and steelhead populations. The collaborative was able to sign on and provide support on this important work.
The Boomerang stewardship sale in the Wynoochee watershed is one of the largest projects the Collaborative has worked on in partnership with Olympic National Forest, clocking in at more than 540 acres of treatable stands. When restoration thinning is complete, the Collaborative has identified a priority Aquatic Organism Passage culvert replacement at Milepost .53 of the Middle Fork Big Creek to enhance fish habitat and water quality starting in the upper watershed. This sale was awarded as a Collaborative Stewardship Sale on March 31, 2026.
Miles LeFevre of Resilient Forestry gained his cruising certification through the USFS in early March. This will help to further efficiency for stewardship sales and allow the Collaborative to expand cruising efforts across the Peninsula. Congrats Miles!