DECEMBER 8, 2006
Don’t rush…
Take the time
To be safe!
The “Challenges Facing the U.S. Forest Service: A Critical Review” Conference: This meeting, sponsored by the University of Montana in Missoula, Nov. 28-29, 2006, included presentations by Under Secretary Mark Rey, former Chief Jack Ward Thomas, Missoula District Ranger Maggie Pittman, Trinity University Prof. Char Miller, Conservation Northwest Executive Director Mitch Friedman, and Cinnabar Foundation President Jim Posewitz. Former Montana Congressman Pat Williams and former Missoula Mayor Dan Kemmis summarized and concluded the conference.
Rocky Mountain Research Station Publishes Conference Proceedings 2006 - Fuels Management-How to Measure Success: Conference Proceedings have just been published by the Rocky Mountain Research Station and is being distributed. The information will help wildland fuel managers develop, implement, and evaluate fuel management programs.
FS Enhancing Efforts to Meet “No Child Left Behind” Legislation: The Northern Research Station’s (NRS) "Adopt A School Program," designed to make the school district a “Center for Excellence” for environmental science education, expanded in FY 2006 to include six schools at three instructional levels. Funding from the Washington Office supported this expansion. The station now has a formal five-year plan of work that includes a revised science curriculum, water ecology field days, and new textbooks specifically designed to meet Pennsylvania’s new environment and ecology academic standards for all ninth-grade students; field days and an on-site ecology lab at the middle school; and discovery gardens and a terrarium at the elementary schools. Senior projects and summer internships for high school students are also in development. The schools are specifically looking for ways to use new materials to help students achieve academic success in science. Adopt a School is one component of a broader NRS environmental literacy strategy.
Deal Reached With Sacramento Municipal Utilities District (SMUD): The Forest Service, along with Pacific Gas & Electric Company, boating organizations, whitewater rafters, environmental groups and government agencies have reached an agreement with SMUD to modernize their hydroelectric system. The agreement will govern how SMUD operates 11 dams and eight power plants in the Sierra Nevada for nearly 50 years. The agreement ends five years of negotiations. In what has been hailed as a win/win situation, SMUD will make recreation improvements in an area of the Sierra Nevada that will increase water levels next year, providing water for boaters, anglers and wildlife. The Forest Service had much at stake since it manages most of the lands around the SMUD facilities. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will make the final decision sometime next year.
Traditional Gathering Policy Signing Ceremony: On Nov. 29, 2006, a Signing Ceremony for a Traditional Gathering Policy took place in Sacramento. Representatives from the Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the California Indian Basketweavers and the California Indian Forest and Fire Management Council were commissioned to craft a policy which, among other things, will restore, enhance and promote culturally used flora for use in basket weaving. The policy, based on extensive consultation with more than 200 tribal governments and organizations, serves as a model in working with tribal governments, communities and local traditional practitioners (food gatherers, basket weavers, medicine gathers, etc.) to ensure stewardship and perpetuation of culturally important plants.
Conservation of Open Space Strategy Sessions: On Nov. 28 and Dec. 1, 2006, the Conservation Fund, through a cooperative agreement with the Forest Service, convened invited representatives of wildlife, conservation, and land trust organizations; academia; and state agencies to discuss the role of the Forest Service in the conservation of open space. These first two sessions were held in Chapel Hill, NC, and Washington, DC, with a third session scheduled for Dec. 5, 2006, in Denver, CO. Approximately 25 participants were invited to each session. The intent of these sessions and the Nov. 13, 2006, Federal Register Request For Public Input is to promote discussion and obtain feedback as the agency develops its strategy on the conservation of open space, one of the Chief’s Four Threats. The strategy will be completed by May 2007.
Judge Invalidates Permit for Heli-skiing in the Bridger-Teton and Caribou-Targhee National Forests: A U.S. District Court judge ruled that the re-issuance of a Forest Service permit to allow helicopter skiing in the Palisades Wilderness Study Area (WSA) violated the Wyoming Wilderness Act of 1984, the National Environmental Policy Act, and the National Forest Management Act of 1976. The permit authorized an increase in service days for helicopter skiing that would occur primarily within the Palisades WSA. This study area is located in Wyoming on the Bridger-Teton and Caribou-Targhee National Forests. The Greater Yellowstone Coalition, Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance, Sierra Club, Wyoming Wilderness Association, Debra Patla and Merlin Hare brought the lawsuit to challenge the permit issued to High Mountain Helicopter Skiing.
Recreation Sites Facility Master Planning Session: On Dec. 6, 2006, Rocky Mountain Deputy Regional Forester Greg Griffith and Director of Recreation, Heritage and Wilderness Resources Steve Sherwood met with congressional staffers to discuss recreation sites facility master planning for forests in Colorado. They'll explain the analysis process, opportunities for public involvement in planning and implementation, and alternatives for management of sites including partnerships.
Forest Service Asks for Public Input on Mountain Bike Strategy: The Forest Service is working with the International Mountain Bike Association to conduct public listening sessions throughout California to solicit input from mountain bicyclists and other trail users. The goal is to provide sustainable mountain biking recreation on the 18 national forests in California. Information from these sessions will be used to develop a mountain bicycle management strategy with two major components – a situational assessment that will characterize existing issues and opportunities, and an implementation toolbox that will provide managers with a number of prescriptions to address issues identified in the assessment. The sessions are scheduled in the Sacramento area on Nov. 30, San Diego on Dec. 5, Los Angeles on Dec. 6, Redding on Dec. 12 and the Bay Area (Sausalito) on Dec. 14, 2006.
Gallatin National Forest Travel Plan FEIS and Record of Decision Released: The Gallatin National Forest (MT) will release a Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) and Record of Decision (ROD) for Travel Planning on Dec. 8, 2006. The FEIS includes an analysis of resource effects for eight alternatives. The ROD details the Responsible Official's Decision for motorized and non-motorized winter and summer uses. Areas of interest and controversy will include some closures to both winter and summer motorized use. The proposed closures are primarily for the purposes of meeting the habitat requirements for the Grizzly Bear Conservation Strategy, conforming to the 2001 Montana State off- highway vehicle policy, which requires designation of routes, and ensures that a wide range of recreation opportunities are available near communities. Also, some snowmobile, motorcycle, and mountain bike use is being reconfigured in a Wilderness Study Area to be consistent with the Montana Wilderness Study Act. Implementation is expected to begin in March 2007.
Aspen Summit to be Held in Salt Lake City: University, agency scientists and forest health specialists from around the West will convene at an Aspen Summit in Salt Lake City, Dec. 18-19, 2006, to develop a response to the recently identified sudden die off of quaking aspen in the West. Up to 10 percent of aspen has been lost to die off in some areas within the last few years. Participants at the summit will: determine the factors observed to be associated with die off; identify factors and researchable questions that need to be studied; organize research needs into hypotheses that can be addressed within budgets; and prioritize projects. Through this summit, university and agency scientists will join forces to help managers conserve aspen in the West.
Rocky Mountain Research Station Publishes New Watershed Information Online: In response to flooding and landslides in the northwest, an early draft copy of Cumulative Watershed effects of Fuels Management in the Western United States is now online. This online synthesis includes chapters on the effects of forest management on flooding, sediment transport, and slope stability applicable to Northwest forests.
Forest Service Research Results Tell a Different Story about Hayman Fire Impacts then Reported by Denver Media: Denver Water Superintendent Kevin Keefe told the media that sedimentation in the city’s water collection system is worse than researchers estimated. The Rocky Mountain Research Station’s Soil and Water Engineering Unit from Moscow, ID, has measured sediment delivered into streams above Cheesman Reservoir and found that the largest erosion rate is only 25 percent of the maximum estimate. The Station has ongoing research in the Hayman burn area, and will continue to monitor the effectiveness of rehabilitation treatments, recovery rates, and erosion rates. The Research Station is working with the Rocky Mountain Region to clarify erroneous information that appeared in the media.
Two Pennsylvania Organizations Proposing Woody Biomass Fuels Plants: On Dec. 18, 2006, Stephen Bratkovich, biomass expert with the Northeastern Area Office of State and Private Forestry (MN), will be in Pennsylvania to help two organizations proposing woody biomass fuels plants. The Kane Area School District and the Elk Regional Health Center, both adjacent to the Allegheny National Forest (PA), were approved through the preliminary phase of the Biomass Energy Utilization grant process offered by the Technology Marketing Unit of the Forest Products Laboratory (FPL). The woody biomass utilization grant program is intended to help improve forest restoration activities by using and creating markets for small-diameter material and low-valued trees. Submission of grant applications will be for projects greater than $50,000 and less than $250,000 in value, and are due by February 2, 2007, to the Technology Marketing Unit of the FPL.
Wilderness Forum Recommendations Forthcoming: On Dec. 18, 2006, Rocky Mountain Regional Forester Rick Cables will hear wilderness management recommendations from a citizen group that engaged with the Forest Service nearly nine months ago. Beginning in April 2006, a group of partners, interest group representatives, and individuals took part in a series of wilderness recreation forums, field trips, and workshops the Rocky Mountain Region hosted to analyze Colorado wilderness use impacts, especially in the magnet areas that attract millions of visitors annually. A core group of participants synthesized the information presented in three forums and three field trips into a series of management recommendations that will be presented to Cables.
AND IN THE MEDIA…
Associated Press: On Friday, December 8th, the AP ran a story titled Lawmakers say prospects for timber payments bleak, written by Matthew Daly. A last-ditch effort to pressure Congress to continue payments to rural counties hurt by cutbacks in federal logging appears to be failing, an Oregon lawmaker said late Thursday. But Rep. Greg Walden said he and other Western lawmakers will continue to push for the program, which has distributed more than $2 billion to Oregon and other states in the past six years. "We're looking for every vehicle possible to get an extension of some duration at full funding," said Walden, a Republican who chairs the forestry subcommittee in the House. "It's not over 'til the last gavel goes down." Congress is scheduled to adjourn for the year on Friday.
The Oregonian: On Thursday, December 7th, the Oregonian published a story titled Missing dad’s body found, written by Peter Sleeth and David Austin. The search for the missing San Francisco father lost in the Southern Oregon woods for 12 days came to an end at 12:03 p.m. Wednesday when his body was spotted at the bottom of a rugged canyon in the Siskiyou National Forest, a half mile from the Rogue River. Searchers had hoped for a better outcome because of the pattern of clothes James Kim had left in his five-mile scramble down Big Windy Creek, a drainage that flows into the Rogue. Authorities don't know how or when Kim died but planned an autopsy Wednesday night. The results would be made public today. "It appears to me that he was highly motivated and he knew what he was doing coming down," an emotional Josephine County Undersheriff Brian Anderson told reporters. "We were having trouble in there. He traveled a long distance. That was some of our frustration. We could never get ahead of him."
Associated Press: On Thursday, December 7th, the AP published a story titled Firefighters Families Can't Get Aid Yet. More than $1 million donated after an arson blaze killed five firefighters can't be distributed to their families because the charity didn't follow IRS rules. Riverside County asked the Central County United Way in Hemet to handle the donations when offers started pouring in after the U.S. Forest Service firefighters died in October. However, tax-exempt charitable organizations cannot raise money for a group as small and specific as the families of five firefighters. Under federal law, such groups can give money to individuals only if those individuals or families are part of a wider class and if giving the money ultimately benefits the community. ''This was a spontaneous effort -- there wasn't time to go to a bunch of tax attorneys and CPAs,'' said Riverside County Supervisor Marion Ashley. ''We feel like the IRS is the Grinch that stole Christmas.'' Bob Duistermars, the local United Way's chairman, said the problem stemmed from ignorance about the process and confusion because of special exemptions made for the families of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Greenwire: On Wednesday, December 6th, Greenwire ran a story titled, Agencies introduce 'America the Beautiful' pass for rec areas, written by Dan Berman. The price of visiting "America the Beautiful" will rise next year for people who buy annual passes for recreation areas on federal lands. The Interior Department and Forest Service yesterday announced a new "America the Beautiful" pass for visiting recreation areas on federal land. But the price of the pass, which will go on sale next month for $80 per person per year, is being questioned by outgoing Senate Parks Subcommittee Chairman Craig Thomas (R-Wyo.), who says it is too expensive. The pass was authorized in a last-minute rider to an omnibus appropriations bill in December 2004. Thomas opposed the language extending fee collection authority for land management agencies besides the National Park Service, and the $80 annual fee is cause for concern.
PERSONNEL NEWS…
JON (TED) FREEMAN has accepted the Supervisory Appraiser in NFS in Washington, D.C.
IN THE NEAR FUTURE…
THE CHIEF, DALE BOSWORTH will be traveling to Mississippi on Thursday to present an Award to the National Forests in Mississippi…and the ASSOCIATE CHIEF, SALLY COLLINS will be traveling to Atlanta on Thursday for the Region 8 Retirees luncheon…THE DEPUTY CHIEF FOR STATE AND PRIVATE, JIM HUBBARD will be traveling to San Diego, CA for an ESRI meeting on Thursday and Friday…
The Chief’s Desk is compiled from input by field units and Washington Office staffs as well as from news articles, newsletters and other sources.