District of the Week, Wall Ranger District, Nebraska National Forest

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Wall Ranger District is located in South Dakota, but is part of the Nebraska National Forest.

Here are the two projects I could find on the SOPA.

Southwest Fence Relocation and Waterline Project (EA)

Install 3.6 miles of water pipeline with 5 stock tanks, move one existing fence from Lower Booth Dam north of FSR 227 and convert an electric fence to barbwire in the Camp Flat Allotment all in the southwest corner of the Fort Pierre National Grassland.

Status: Under Analysis

Management Unit: Wall Ranger District

Purpose: Grazing management

and

East 83 Prescribed Burn (CE)

Description: This project proposes burning approximately 25,000 acres of the Fort Pierre National Grassland over the next 10 years with the goal of improving wildlife habitat.

Forest of the Week: Wayne National Forest

waynenational-forest

I was trying for District of the Week but was stymied by plucking out one district from this SOPA. So I thought I’d link to the entire Forest’s Sopa.

What I thought was interesting about this SOPA was that there were many uses of CEs, but apparently no tree related vegetation projects.

Which is interesting when the various Post-Earth Island discussions of CEs occur, and the old “CE’s are only for mowing the office lawn” discourse.

Leasing of hayfields, mineral activities and recreation seem to be the major projects.

District of the Week- Powell Ranger District- Dixie National Forest, Utah

dixie national forest

We have lots of discussions about the kinds of projects the FS does, what environmental documentation is appropriate, what CE’s are used for, why the projects that do get litigated do, and why the ones that don’t don’t. In the spirit of mutual learning, every week I plan to post all the projects on a random district from a random forest. This will help us all get an idea of what’s really happening out there and maybe we’ll be able to make out some interesting patterns. Districts of the week can be reader-suggested as well.

Here’s a link to the website and below a summary of projects on the Powell District.

Powell Ranger District

South Central Red Canyon Fiber Optic Amendment (CE)

Enhance the reliability of an existing fiber optic line under special use permit to South Central Utah Telephone Association, Inc. by amending the permit to allow them to relocate and maintain the fiber optic line outside of Red Canyon Wash.

Status: Under Analysis

Management Unit: Powell Ranger District

Purpose: Special use management

Johns Valley Vegetation Project (EA)

The Dixie National Forest proposes to remove Pinyon and Juniper (PJ) from sage-steppe and riparian areas within Johns Valley to benefit wildlife and improve the environmental health of the area. A variety of treatments would be utilized.

Status: Under Analysis

Management Unit: Powell Ranger District

Purpose: Wildlife, Fish, Rare plants, Watershed management, Vegetation management (other than forest products)

Blue Fly Vegetation Management Project (EA)

The Powell Ranger District of the Dixie National Forest proposes a vegetation management project on the Paunsaugunt Plateau in southern Utah.

Status: Analysis Completed

Management Unit: Powell Ranger District

Purpose: Vegetation management (other than forest products)

Paunsaugunt Vegetation Management (EA)

The Powell Ranger District proposes a project on the Paunsaugunt Plateau to perform the following vegetation treatments: commercially harvest 866 acres of mixed conifer forest, regenerate 413 acres of aspen, reforest 194 acres of wildfire impacted lands, and pre-commercially thin 285 acres of mixed conifer forest.

Status: Analysis Completed

Management Unit: Powell Ranger District

Purpose: Forest products, Vegetation management (other than forest products), Wildlife, Fish, Rare plants

Tropic to Hatch 138kV Transmission Line (EIS)

Construction of upgraded transmission line from Tropic, UT to Hatch, UT. This project crosses multiple jurisdictions. The Dixie NF is the project lead.

Status: Analysis Completed

Management Unit: Powell Ranger District

Purpose: Special use management

Turns out the Dixie does an annual report linked here (2011):

DIXIE NATIONAL FOREST – BY THE NUMBERS
$1.2 million in projects funded by the Dixie National Forest RAC.
Implemented motorized recreation management on 152,529 acres improving 18 miles of stream and lake habitat and over 500 acres of soil and watershed improvement.
83,468 people served in the recreation areas and developed campgrounds.
Approximately $5 million of multi-year funding used to reconstruct the Pine Valley Rec-reation Area.
Received $780,000 from the Regional Office (Ogden, Utah) to initiate the Escalante Headwaters Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Project in 2012.
$400,000 and 1,400 acres stewardship agreement with the National Wild Turkey Federation. This is the largest stewardship project to date between the NWTF and the USFS.
244 volunteers contributed 19,121 hours, representing $363,300 of labor commitment to the forest.
The Fuels program treated 3,217 acres of prescribed fire, 2,681 acres of mechanical treatment, 311 acres of managed wildfire, and 4,235 acres of contract treatment, making a total of 10,444 acres.
13.2 miles of new transmission lines permitted by the Garkane Tropic to Hatch Record of Decision.
Improved recreation facilities and campground ADA compliant sites across the forest from 18% to 38%.
35,000 ccf of timber sold an increase of 250% from 2010.
$250,000 was contributed to 2,500 acres of habitat improvement and a program to translocation of nuisance Utah Prairie Dogs from private land to public land.
91% of forest was found suitable (with stipulations) for Oil and Gas leasing.
The Federal Highways Emergency Relief for Federally Owned Roads (ERFO) pro-gram awarded the forest over $600,000 to repair the Veyo-Shoal Creek Road.
Implemented Motorized Travel Plan in 3 Implementation Areas: Oak Grove, North Paunsaugunt, and Middle Mammoth.
$33,000 More Kids in the Woods grant was awarded to the forest for the Color Country Outdoor Youth Initiative.
100,000 seedlings planted in areas for fire restoration and impacts from the spruce beetle epidemic.
Over 6,500 log outs across the forest using both chainsaw and crosscut saws.