Recently, the community of Happy
Camp took inventory of the many organizations doing great things on the Klamath River with
an eye toward celebrating and encouraging collaboration. The effort was the culmination of
two Leadership Classes that had been conducted in the community by The Ford Family
Foundation, http://www.tfff.org/ The leadership
group shares a mission for “a vibrant community collaborative assisting local groups
to provide quality services from state of the art facilities.’ Their core values
include benefiting the community as a priority; using partnership and a collaborative
approach; inclusiveness of all organizations and individuals; and communication and
dissemination of information.
The meeting highlighted several collaborative community
relationships. For instance, the Happy Camp Fire Safe Council has reduced fuels on 300
acres. The U.S. Forest Service has identified complimentary shaded fuel breaks and other
fuel reduction projects on adjacent federal lands that will additionally increase the
community’s resistance to catastrophic fire.
The Happy Camp Community Services District (HCCSD) talked about the
several water tanks that had been created in the community. HCCSD has worked
collaboratively with the Karuk tribe in installing pipes for the water system.
Rosie Bley spoke about the newly renovated Happy Camp Community Computer
Center. In addition to online training and college courses, there are new classes about
“Safely Buying and Selling on E-Bay,” creating digital images, pricing, and
e-commerce. Also, the Karuk Tribe recently obtained a $900,000 “Paths to Prosperity”
grant. A portion of this will be used to
increase public awareness of occupational opportunities in the area and to help the
community obtain vocational and professional training through distance learning.
The Klamath Knot Arts Council provides after school arts enrichment
programs. It also wants to expand to an elder program. It is currently working on some
repair on the new building to which it has located. http://www.klamathknotarts.com/
One of the exciting new building projects under way is an art center
to be built through a partnership of the U.S. Forest Service, Klamath Siskiyou Art Center
and Karuk Tribe. This has been partially funded by RAC (Siskiyou Resource Advisory
Committee) money from the now sunseted Secure Schools and Communities Act. The
construction will utilize small diameter roundwood, stone and a sort of adobe mixture of
wood chips and clay. A series of community meetings to help plan and design the facility
will be held over the next months http://www.roundwoodproject.org/
The current Happy Camp library is a building 20 feet by 44 feet in
size. The roof leaks, the windows leak and it is not a retreat for anyone wishing to read
or study. The local Family Resource Center has bounced from building to building searching
for a permanent home. The Fire District has been told that money is available to build a
fire house, but land needs to be acquired. The local ambulance district also need a new
home base. A coalition of these organizations has formed to explore building a combined
use facility in the style of the new art center. They have applied for planning funds
through a Community Development Block Grant.
There appears to be a lot of facility planning in store for the
community. Happy Camp Health Services transferred the medical practice to the Karuk Tribe
some time ago, which has moved services from the old clinic building. The old clinic board
of directors is now looking for creative community uses for the vacant facility.
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