A Saratoga County advisory committee voted to extend its stewardship agreement with Saratoga PLAN for management of the Graphite Range Community Forest, continuing a $25,000-per-year payment to PLAN and adopting clarified language on waivers and volunteers, committee members said.

The presenting staff member summarized the recommendation: “We currently have a stewardship agreement with Saratoga Plan for the Graphite Range Community Forest. We pay $25,000 per year.” The staff member said the proposed new term would be two years with two possible one-year extensions and that PLAN requested modifications to the agreement’s mission statement, annual work-plan requirement, and clarifications on waivers, volunteers and agent authority. “They asked for additional clarification on waivers, volunteers, and agent. So I've run all this by the county's attorney's office. We're working on that,” the presenting staff member said.

Committee members said the stewardship arrangement has worked well. The presenting staff member noted that PLAN tracks volunteer hours and waiver forms and monitors access permits and events, and that when work requires county Department of Public Works action, the county performs that work. One committee member asked about volunteer injury coverage; the presenting staff member replied that PLAN and the county have a jointly developed waiver form and that PLAN maintains volunteer tracking and waivers.

A motion to approve the agreement extension was moved and seconded and approved by voice vote. The approval was conditioned on review and final approval by the county attorney’s office and the county staffer presenting the item.

The committee did not change the payment amount. The presenting staff member said the annual work-plan requirement in the original agreement is being updated to reflect frequent advisory-committee meetings with county supervisors and to fit the existing operational process.

The committee’s action was limited to extending and updating the contract language; no additional county funding or new operational duties were adopted beyond the existing $25,000-per-year payment and delegated management by Saratoga PLAN.