ASHLAND — Headwaters and the local World Wildlife Fund field office are closing down, opening the door to a new National Center for Conservation Science and Policy.

The new center will open Monday in the former Headwaters Environmental Center at 84 Fourth St., Ashland. It will combine the staffs of both Headwaters, established in 1974, and the Klamath-Siskiyou field office of the WWF, established in 1998.

The focus of the new center is to create science-based policy solutions to environmental conflicts, organizers say.

"Today marks the birth of an organization uniquely positioned to leverage credible science in land and water conservation efforts," said Tonya Graham, the executive director of operations for the new center.

"With a top-notch staff and help from our partners at WWF, we are moving forward to accomplish our mission of creating science-based solutions to protect and restore the life processes and ecological vitality that sustain all lands, rivers and communities," she added.

Graham is the former executive director of Headwaters and will manage operations for the center, which will employ nine people.

Dominick DellaSala, a forest ecologist and the former director of WWF's Klamath-Siskiyou program, will serve as the center's executive director of science and policy.

"During the past six years, science has been abused and cherry-picked in support of special interests intent on undercutting the nation's landmark conservation laws," he said. "The National Center for Conservation Science and Policy will be a voice of scientific reason in the timber and water wars that for decades have plagued management of the nation's natural resources."

Bill Eichbaum, vice-president of World Wildlife Fund, said his organization expects the center to be a permanent and effective force for conservation.

"WWF has been involved in the Klamath-Siskiyou ecoregion for eight years and it is now time to pass the baton to an organization headquartered in the region," he said.

WWF is providing a $130,000 grant to fund the new center for two years. With the regional conservation program established by its local field office, the global group is shifting its focus to other regions, officials said.

The WWF opened the local office after identifying the Klamath-Siskiyou region as one of the most biologically diverse temperate forests on the planet. Since 1998, it has offered scientific support for the creation of the 52,945-acre Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument, for the 2001 roadless rule and local support for restoring access to salmon habitat in the Rogue River Basin.

The WWF grant will be used by the center to continue salmon conservation projects started by WWF's "Freeways for Fish" campaign. Since 2003, the initiative has helped restore access to more than 300 miles of salmon habitat in the Rogue River Basin. Its goal is to restore an additional 900 miles by 2009.

Headwaters, which earned a reputation in its early days for taking federal land management agencies to task for controversial timber sales, was also known for supporting the 1994 Northwest Forest Plan and working actively to protect the plan's aquatic conservation strategy, coordinating annual forest conferences and implementing water quality improvement projects in the Upper Rogue River Basin.

In recent years, it has successfully created collaborative relationships on both forest and water issues with local governments and agencies.

"We're creating an organization where the sum of the parts is greater than the whole," DellaSala said. "The beauty of this is there won't be a big learning curve."

Reach reporter Paul Fattig at 776-4496 or e-mail him at pfattig@mailtribune.com.