Forest Service to host summer field trips for Travel Management

http://www.examiner.com/x-1197-Boomer-Biker-Examiner~y2009m6d2-Forest-Service-to-host-summer-field-trips-for-Travel-Management

The Mountain City, and Jarbidge & Ruby Mountains District Rangers (Elko, NV) announced today that they are planning six consecutive Saturday field trips, and are open to scheduling some additional field trips during the week if requested.
This series of field trips will concentrate on looking at roads and trails and discussing resource issues and public recreational travel needs as part of the ongoing Travel Management scoping process initiated back in January...

...One seasonal topic that may arise on these trips and that we would like to address is a concern that was discussed in Wednesday's commissioners meeting. The topic was closed roads and fire access. Elko County residents should know that the 2005 Travel Management Rule allows firefighters to travel on any road or cross country to respond to wildfires on the National Forest. The exception is Congressionally designated wilderness areas, which requires prior approval.
The public needs to know that the Forest Service will continue to suppress all human-caused wildfires to protect firefighters and provide for public safety. Fire emergencies allow agencies the use of a full complement of equipment and aircraft to manage the fire, including helicopters, fire engines, dozers, or retardant planes. The Forest Service and our inter-agency partners will work to keep wildfire away from structures and communities - using whatever equipment is available and necessary to get the job done...

"What a great way to gain input from the general public, enabling citizens who use the roads to offer comments and concerns on location."--aggie castronuevo

Historic Hidden Forest Cabin getting facelife

http://www.lvrj.com/news/45285857.html

http://www.lvrj.com/news/45285832.html

Kent Olson, 68, a historic log cabin restoration expert, on Tuesday checks out the Hidden Forest Cabin in the Sheep Mountains. The Hidden Forest Cabin is undergoing a $30,000 restoration. Historians believe the cabin was built in the late 1800s and was used by hunters, trappers, prospectors and maybe outlaws. Kent Olson flipped open his pocketknife and jabbed it into the bark of a log inside Hidden Forest Cabin. The blade stuck with ease.
"None of this lasts forever," he said, pulling the blade back out. "Pine doesn't do good getting soaking wet. Then you have the summer heat."
Olson, a mountain man from Husum, Wash., just north of the Oregon border, is the 68-year-old saw-slinger the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service sent last week to replace four rotting logs in the rare, century-old cabin and repair its leaking roof...

"Click on link for photographs of historic cabins in the Las Vegas, Nevada area"

At age 80, USFS cabin is still in shape, and it’s historic

http://www.bendbulletin.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090509/NEWS0107/905090445/1006/NEWS01&nav_category=NEWS01

The small log cabin near Elk Lake has been a summer base for U.S. Forest Service guards and their families and, more recently, an interpretive center for visitors.
And now, 80 years after it was built, the Deschutes National Forest’s Elk Lake Guard Station has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The building, located about 30 miles west of Bend off Cascade Lakes Highway, was added to the list because of the role it played in local events, said David Bogan, communications coordinator for the Oregon State Historic Preservation Office. The building’s application for the National Register notes that the guard station helped make the area a center for recreation.

"Paul Claeyssens says it in a nutshell...Historic buildings listed on the National Register still need a purpose, just like people, in order to survive. It sounds like the old Elk Lake Guard Station continues to have a purpose, long after its use as a guard station is long gone."--aggie castronuevo

Gov. Gregoire Presents Medal of Honor to Forest Service Officer

Slain Forest Service officer awarded Medal of Honor
From the PDN:

Peninsula Daily News

'Forest Service Officer Kristine Fairbanks, who died in the line of duty near Sequim in September, will be posthumously awarded the state's highest law enforcement award today.Gov. Chris Gregoire and Attorney General Rob McKenna will give the Medal of Honor to five officers at a ceremony at 1 p.m. at the Law Enforcement Memorial Site in Olympia.'

"It is sobering to be reminded that violence can happen to anyone, and anywhere; even on our National Forests."--aggie castronuevo johann

We are the Few, the Proud,
We are the ARCHYS.

(top center: Aggie waits patiently to go four-wheeling on the airfield trails. left: Matt Punke and Amanda Sanchez can't seem to get ARCHY ATV #2 to start up)

--aggie castronuevo johann

Old Packwood Ranger Station

http://www.columbian.com/article/20090424/NEWS02/704249948

"According to the newspaper article published in the Columbian and the Seattle P-I, the old Packwood Ranger Station in Gifford Pinchot National Forest is being sold after a 45-day waiting period. I first learned of this Ranger station in the 1980s while reading Tatoosh--female fire lookout, Martha Hardy's account of life atop Tatoosh Mountain watching for forest fires and enduring the loneliness inherent in that job. Like all old ranger stations, Packwood will be remembered as a part of Forest history; and this one as a part of the history of Gifford Pinchot NF, Mount Rainier, Tatoosh, and Packwood Ranger District.--aggie castronuevo johann"

Invasive Species: Pepperweed

http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/inyo/news/2009/04/pepperweed.shtml

This invasive plant is native to Europe and southwestern Asia. Accidently introduced around 1900 through a shipment of sugar beets, the plant is aggressively spreading throughout the west, including California.--aggie castronuevo

R3 Lincoln National Forest: Perk_Grindstone Stewardship Project

http://www.fs.fed.us/r3/lincoln/news/Perk_Grindstone_III_DEIS_Response_to_comments_05_06_08.pdf


The objective of Perk-Grindstone is to restore fire-adapted forest systems to structural characteristics that would reduce large-size crown fires to more manageable surface fires. See link for DEIS Response released by the Forest Service May 2008.

Storing Carbon in Forests

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v458/n7235/full/458151a.html

"Planting, conserving and managing forests are key for attaining long-term mitigation of greenhouse gases, yet the land-use and forestry sector barely features in the Kyoto Protocol. In Climate Change and Forests, some 50 experts analyse the forestry-based discussions within climate-change negotiations, and offer technical and political reasons for why the Kyoto Protocol handles forestry in such a cumbersome way..."

http://www.alamogordonews.com/ci_11883566

"Lincoln Forest to benefit from recovery package funding

WASHINGTON ­ U.S. Senators Jeff Bingaman and Tom Udall said the Forest Service will soon release nearly $5 million in federal funding for two projects aimed at improving national forests in New Mexico.
Congress set aside $650 million in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to improve national forest lands and another $500 million for wild fire management.
The U.S. Forest Service has approved two projects, one in the Santa Fe National Forest and another in the Lincoln National Forest. "

Parks and Wildlife get stimulus

http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/parks_and_wildlife_get_stimulus/C41/L41/

"The press release included the following examples:
$375 million for restoration of the Mississippi River and its tributaries, the nation’s largest recreational fishery.
$280 million for the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service for refuge operations and maintenance and $165 million for resource management.
$230 million for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s operations, research and facilities.
$500 million for USDA Forest Service wildland fire management efforts.
$27.5 billion investment in highway infrastructure includes set asides for park roads, parkways, forest highways and refuge roads.
$290 million for the Natural Resources Conservation Service’s watershed and flood prevention operations.
$125 million for the Bureau of Land Management for projects including abandoned mine and well site remediation, road and trail maintenance, watershed improvement and high priority habitat restoration. "

Fire, Wildland Funding included in approved stimulus plan

http://www.firerescue1.com/legislation-funding/articles/453790-Fire-station-wildland-funding-included-in-approved-stimulus-plan/

"WASHINGTON — Hundreds of million of dollars are earmarked for fire stations and wildland management in the $787 billion stimulus plan approved by Congress Friday. "

Obama will shift Forest Service Policy

http://news.opb.org/article/4230-obama-administration-will-shift-forest-service-policy/


"The stimulus bill that passed the House last week directed more than a billion dollars to the U.S. Forest Service.
Portland Democrat Ron Wyden wants to keep Forest Service funding in the Senate stimulus bill too.
And Monday, the Obama administration signaled it wants a bigger budget for the Forest Service.
Central Oregon correspondent Ethan Lindsey reports."

Will the Stimulus put jobs in our Woods?

"Neither U.S. Forest Service nor the U.S. Bureau of Land Management local officials know how much money will be available for the agencies or what the restrictions will be on how it could be spent.
"But a recovery of jobs in local communities would be a priority," predicted Patty Burel, spokeswoman for the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest. Jim Whittington, her counterpart at the BLM's Medford District, concurred."

http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090212/NEWS/902120320

Clovis found on Lincoln National Forest

News Flash!



While conducting a survey in the Guadalupe Mountains of southcentral New Mexico, Lincoln National Forest Archaeologists recently located the proximal portion of a Clovis projectile point. Diane White, commented "I've been doing archaeology for 20 years" and thought she would never find anything as important as a Clovis artifact. Shortly after recovering the stone point, LNF archaeologists suffered from a temporary scare as the Clovis point was discovered missing by Amanda Sanchez. It turns out that one of the staff members had set the artifact next to the office candy dish, where it was picked up by another conscientious archaeologist, and locked up for safekeeping.

The Clovis point fragment is made of tan chert. It measures 2.5cm in length, 2cm wide, and .5cm in width just above the flute. There is a distinct flute on one side, and what appears to be a partial flute on the obverse. The point was broken ~3mm beyond the full flute. There appears to be at least two separate breaks, one of which is hinged.

Archaeologists are yet unsure of the total significance of this recent find. The site appears large and boundaries have not been completely identified. At least one archaeologist, forest service SCEP and Graduate student at New Mexico State University, Agnes Castronuevo hopes to find more associated with the site, perhaps even mammoth bones! "Blackwater Draw anyone?"