AGA has engaged with different segments of the local community to co-create an Applegate Valley Vision. This began with listening to hundreds of residents in more than a dozen neighborhoods, as well as a series of discussions with the Business and Nonprofit Networks, local artists, food producers and farmers, youth, elders, and Spanish speakers. The insights from this endeavor are being shared back to the community and other stakeholders for the prioritization of issues and projects. The community is being engaged and empowered to turn ideas into action and put place-making projects in motion– in neighborhoods, in organizations, in collaborative working groups and networks, and with the counties. We anticipate the Applegate Valley Vision plan will be used by community members, community organizations, and local government to inform the direction of the Applegate Valley for years to come.
Applegate Values and Visions
We believe that the integration of new people and new ideas can enhance the existing and long-held values of the Applegate Valley…
so that agriculture and land stewardship will continue to provide local and organic food from farms;
so ranches and forests tended by friends and neighbors within our peaceful valleys will thrive;
so local businesses will prosper;
so that the wooded mountains which provide us with the clean air, pure water and quiet that we cherish will also be restored and resilient in the face of a changing climate;
so that our rural community may develop a healthy and balanced relationship with fire and the wildlands that surround us;
so that safety, privacy and access to services, work, schooling, and recreational opportunities are available to an increasingly diverse and connected community, and that this connection honors the long history of these unique creek and river valleys;
so that our continued belief in, and support of, our Applegate Valley enhances the economic outlook, social capacity, and ecological balance for the community at large;
so that upcoming generations are able to have an equitable opportunity to enjoy the good fortune to flourish in this place we all hold so dear.
Summary of Focus Areas, Goals, and Strategies
A Greater Applegate staff gathered and organized the community’s comments to build the framework for the Applegate Valley Vision. After months of sorting through the assets, challenges, gaps, and opportunities, 25 categories, or goals, emerged.
These 25 categories are organized to form five major focus areas (as seen in the graphic to the right). Individual sections have been developed from comments made during the listening sessions, network gatherings, written communications, working group meetings, and break out groups during the Community Convenings held in June of 2022.
This structure represents what we heard from our community, and is a cohesive approach to what it will take to achieve a resilient, vibrant, and inclusive rural community, economy, and environment (detailed “Ideas for Action” can be seen if you click on “view the plan” below).
The word cloud signifies words used most frequently by community members during the listening sessions to describe what they most love and appreciate about the Applegate. The larger the word, the more often it was named.
