Forest Service Offers Planning Tools for Fall Colors Viewing

Forest Service Offers Planning Tools for Fall Colors Viewing

Thursday, September 19, 2013

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The U.S. Forest Service is urging people to get outdoors, spend time in rural communities and urban forests, and enjoy one of nature's most spectacular seasons with its Fall Colors 2013 campaign.

"America's public lands, particularly our national forests, are among the most spectacular venues to view the changes in fall colors," said U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell. "The Forest Service offers numerous resources to help you plan your experience. Nature is closer than you may think."

The Forest Service has launched an online map to help visitors see if trees are peaking in their state. The map will be shaded in green (not peaking) to bright red (peaking) to brown (past peak). Another map will help visitors find a national forest nearest them to enjoy the colors of fall.

For a more analogue approach to trip planning, the Forest Service is once again offering its Fall Colors Hotline – 1-800-354-4595. The hotline provides audio updates on the best places, dates and routes to take for peak viewing of fall colors on national forests.

Fall colors provide an economic boost to communities across the United States. The New England area alone receives an estimated $8 billion annually in local revenues from fall visitors. In the Midwest, millions of visitors hit the road to enjoy the sights, and in the West, the mountains offer destinations filled with tourists seeking views of shimmering gold aspens.

To visit the new USFS fall color map page, please click here.


Jeff
Hiking in the Smokies

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GAO Report Identifies Maintenance Gaps on National Forest Trails

GAO Report Identifies Maintenance Gaps on National Forest Trails

Monday, July 22, 2013

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The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) was recently asked by members of Congress to review the U.S. Forest Service's trail maintenance activities. The study, published in late June, concluded that while the Forest Service does a good job overall of offering trail-users recreational opportunities and maintaining the most popular trails, there remains a significant maintenance backlog, the result of a growing gap between trail maintenance needs and available resources.

The study points out that the Forest Service has more miles of trail than it has been able to maintain, resulting in a persistent maintenance backlog with a range of negative effects. In fiscal year 2012, the agency reported that it accomplished at least some maintenance on about 37% of its 158,000 trail miles, and that about one-quarter of its trail miles met the agency's standards. The Forest Service estimated the value of its trail maintenance backlog to be $314 million in fiscal year 2012, with an additional $210 million for annual maintenance, capital improvement, and operations. Trails not maintained to quality standards have a range of negative effects, such as inhibiting trail use and harming natural resources, and deferring maintenance can add to maintenance costs.

The Forest Service relies on a combination of internal and external resources to help maintain its trail system. Internal resources include about $80 million allocated annually for trail maintenance activities, plus funding for other agency programs that involve trails. External resources include volunteer labor, which the Forest Service valued at $26 million in fiscal year 2012, and funding from federal programs, states, and other sources.

Collectively, agency officials and stakeholders GAO spoke with identified a number of factors complicating the Forest Service's trail maintenance efforts, including:

1) Factors associated with the origin and location of trails

2) Some agency policies and procedures

3) Factors associated with the management of volunteers and other external resources

For example, many trails were created for purposes other than recreation, such as access for timber harvesting or firefighting, and some were built on steep slopes, leaving unsustainable, erosion-prone trails that require continual maintenance. In addition, certain agency policies and procedures complicate trail maintenance efforts, such as the agency's lack of standardized training in trails field skills, which limits agency expertise. Further, while volunteers are important to the agency's trail maintenance efforts, managing volunteers can decrease the time officials can spend performing on-the-ground maintenance.

Agency officials and stakeholders GAO interviewed collectively identified numerous options to improve Forest Service trail maintenance, including:

1) Assessing the sustainability of the trail system

2) Improving agency policies and procedures

3) Improving management of volunteers and other external resources.

In a 2010 document titled A Framework for Sustainable Recreation, the Forest Service noted the importance of analyzing recreation program needs and available resources and assessing potential ways to narrow the gap between them, which the agency has not yet done for its trails. Many officials and stakeholders suggested that the agency systematically assess its trail system to identify ways to reduce the gap and improve trail system sustainability. They also identified other options for improving management of volunteers. For example, while the agency's goal in the Forest Service Manual is to use volunteers, the agency has not established collaboration with and management of volunteers who help maintain trails as clear expectations for trails staff responsible for working with volunteers, and training in this area is limited. Some agency officials and stakeholders stated that training on how to collaborate with and manage volunteers would enhance the agency's ability to capitalize on this resource.

In commenting on a draft of the report, the U.S. Forest Service generally agreed with GAO's findings and recommendations. You can read the full report by clicking here.


Jeff
Hiking in the Smokies

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Forest Service grants $52.2M to protect working forests, rural economies

Forest Service grants $52.2M to protect working forests, rural economies

Sunday, January 22, 2012

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Earlier in the week the U.S. Forest Service announced that it is granting $52.2 million for 17 conservation and working lands projects across the U.S. in 2012.

The Forest Legacy Program has protected 2.2 million acres through public-private partnership using federal and leveraged funds of more than $562 million. The program works with private landowners, states and conservation groups to promote sustainable, working forests. Forest Legacy is an important component of the President’s America’s Great Outdoors initiative’s goal of conserving rural working farms, ranches, and forests by accelerating locally-driven landscape conservation priorities.

Intact forest lands supply timber products, wildlife habitat, soil and watershed protection, aesthetics, and recreational opportunities. However, as these areas are fragmented and disappear, so do the benefits they provide. Roughly 57 percent of the nation's forests are privately owned yet the country has lost 15 million acres of private working forests in the last 10 years with an additional 22 million acres projected to be at risk from development, wildfire and other threats in the next decade.

The Forest Legacy Program uses a competitive process to strategically select ecologically and socially important projects facing the greatest threat of conversion to other land uses. Projects that protect clean air and water, provide recreation, protect wildlife habitat, supports large-scale land conservation partnerships, and provide forest-related rural jobs receive strong consideration.

The state of Tennessee is the recipient of one the 13 major projects announced:

The Fiery Gizzard project ($500,000) will protect more than 3,200 acres within the South Cumberland region of Tennessee. The conservation easement will ensure that the extensive tablelands on the property are protected from development, sustainable forest management continues, hunting activities are maintained and important wildlife habitat is conserved.

To view information on the other projects receiving grants, please click here.


Jeff
HikingintheSmokys.com

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US Forest Service Announces 2011 Fee Waiver Dates

US Forest Service Announces 2011 Fee Waiver Dates

Monday, September 5, 2011

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Earlier in the year the U.S. Forest Service announced that they will be waiving day-use fees associated with many recreation sites or amenities in national forests nationwide on several days this year.

The next date for fee waivers will be on September 25th, National Public Lands Day.

The remaining fee waiver dates will occur during Veterans’ Day Weekend – November 11-13.

Day-use fees will be waived at all standard amenity fee sites operated by the Forest Service for these listed dates. Concessionaire-operated, day-use sites may be included in the waiver if the permit holder wishes to participate.

Fees are not charged for 98% of national forest and grasslands. More than two-thirds of developed recreation sites can be used for free. The Forest Service operates approximately 18,000 recreation sites nationwide, many including day-use areas, picnic and shelter sites, beach and lake areas, boat launches, trails and trailheads, and campsites and cabins.

To assist with travel planning, the agency has posted a special interactive map on its website that locates national forest sites within a certain radius of a chosen location. Users can type in their location and adjust the radius to suit their travel plans.

Campsites and locations that are reserved online will not be included in the fee waiver. Contact your nearest national forest or grassland for local details.

For more information on the Forest Service’s recreation fee program and how these funds are used, click here.


Jeff
HikingintheSmokys.com

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U.S. Forest Service Planning Prescribed Burn in Pink Beds Area

U.S. Forest Service Planning Prescribed Burn in Pink Beds Area

Saturday, March 5, 2011

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The Pisgah Ranger District of the Pisgah National Forest is planning to implement a prescribed burn in the Pink Beds area. The burn area will be up to 2,000 acres in size and will likely take place in the next six weeks depending on the weather. The purpose of the burn is to reduce the amount of hazardous fuels in the forest and to improve wildlife habitat. Forest Service Road #1206 (Yellow Gap Road), # 476 (Wolf Ford Road) and Sections of Pink Beds Loop trail (#118) and Barnett Branch (# 618) trail may be closed during the burn.

In 2011, approximately 24,000 acres of prescribed burns are scheduled on the four national forests across the state. The Pisgah, Appalachian and Grandfather Ranger Districts in Western North Carolina are working towards increasing the amount of acres treated annually as budgets allow.

Prescribed fire is a valuable wildlife and forest management tool. Many ecosystems throughout North Carolina include fire-adapted species. Many native plants and animals need fire in their habitats to reduce competition from invading species, and to add nutrients back into the soil.

Prescribed burns can reduce build-up of shrubs and dead wood. Burning the same tract of land on a rotation of every three to seven years reduces the buildup of vegetation (fuel), and decreases the chance of severe wildfire. Smoke from wildfires usually has a greater impact on nearby communities and carries more pollutants than smoke from controlled burns.

Prescribed burning also helps support strategic goals of restoring ecological systems to their natural resilience, restoring native vegetation, and protecting people and resources from catastrophic fires.

For more information on prescribed fire please visit the U S Forest Service website; http://www.fs.fed.us/fire/management/ and the NC Division of Forest Resources website; http://www.dfr.state.nc.us.


Jeff
HikingintheSmokys.com

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Betty White is made an honorary forest ranger

Betty White is made an honorary forest ranger

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

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After conquering Saturday Night Live earlier in the year, Betty White was made an honorary forest ranger by the U.S. Forest Service today.

White said in previous interviews that she wanted to be a forest ranger as a little girl, but that women were not allowed to do that then. During the ceremony at the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell remarked that despite those challenges, she found ways to make a difference in conservation and animal welfare.

"I am sorry you couldn't join us before," said Tidwell. "Judging from your illustrious career, you would have made marvelous contributions to our agency and to the cause of conservation across the United States," he said. "Betty, you are a role model for little girls – for all of us – never to give up on our dreams."

So what's next for Ms. White? Secretary-General of the U.N.?

You can read the rest of the press release by clicking here.


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Jeff
HikingintheSmokys.com

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Forest service using new methods to save hemlocks

Forest service using new methods to save hemlocks

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

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Back in mid-October the U.S. Forest Service began using a series of new approaches to save hemlock forests under attack from woolly adelgids.

The new approaches include aerial application of an adelgid-killing fungus, use of the chemical dinotefuran in high-priority areas where trees are in immediate danger of dying, expanding the number of sites that will be treated, releasing new species of predator beetles as they are evaluated, and allowing the use of the longer-lasting chemical, imidacloprid, on all treatment areas as needed.

“We are very concerned about how many hemlocks have already been killed by the hemlock woolly adelgid,” said Marisue Hilliard, forest supervisor of the National Forests in North Carolina. “It is a catastrophic pest that is continuing to kill eastern and Carolina hemlocks throughout their range. We intend to use all appropriate tools in conserving hemlocks for future generations.”

In 2005, the forest service identified 159 eastern and Carolina hemlock areas that were distributed throughout a conservation network designed to represent genetic diversity within the distribution of known hemlock stands. These areas were part of a larger conservation network of areas being treated in surrounding states. Initial treatments focused primarily on release of certain predator beetles and treatment of high-priority areas with imidacloprid.

Follow-up studies have shown that hemlocks in a number of the conservation areas have died. Hilliard decided in late August to increase the number of treatment areas. In addition, the wider range of allowed treatments will help forest managers select the treatments best suited for a specific area. The recent decision will also give the forest access to new treatments and predator options in the future.



Jeff
HikingintheSmokys.com

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